(A)

On the night of September 9, 1976, more than seventeen thousand spectators at the Montreal Forum and millions of North American TV viewers watched what many believe was one of the best hockey games ever played. The match was between the world champions, Czechoslovakia, and a very strong Canadian team. A 34-year old man from Bratislava named Vladimir Dzurilla, who normally repaired refrigerators, became the hero of the night. He stopped all 29 shots that night, helping his team to a 1–0 win.

(B)

Dzurilla was unknown to North American hockey fans, but in Europe he was a highly regarded and well respected veteran goalkeeper. He had started to play for the Czechoslovakian national team 16 years earlier in 1960 (when he was 18) and had achieved a lot at international level. For example, in 1965 he was chosen as the best goalkeeper of the world championships and he was an All-Star in 1965 and 1969.

(C)

Vladimir Dzurilla was born in 1942 in Bratislava, Slovakia. His mother tried to encourage him to do something with music but Vladimir preferred to go to soccer and hockey games with his father. When he was 13, Dzurilla visited the best local club, Slovan Bratislava, for a tryout as a hockey goalkeeper. They didn’t even give him a chance, so Dzurilla and a friend decided to go to a smaller club named Kovosmalt Petrzalka. There he was given a tryout and the coach, who was a former goalkeeper, immediately saw the natural talent in Dzurilla.

(D)

Dzurilla played the 1956 – 57 season for the Kovosmalt team and soon Slovan Bratislava, the club that had sent him away, wanted him badly. Dzurilla went on to play for Slovan Bratislava between 1957 and 1973. He then played for Zetor Brno between 1973 and 1978. Dzurilla fi nished his playing career in Germany where he played for Augsburger EV (1978 – 79) and SC Riessersee (1979 – 82).

(E)

After his playing career was over, he became a trainer in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Germany. His last hockey game came in the Swedish capital (the home of the royal family) in May 1995 when the local Old-timers played against the World Old-timer All-Stars. The ever-popular Dzurilla won the player of the game award. Unfortunately he suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Düsseldorf, Germany on July 25, 1995, only a few days before his 53rd birthday.

When we want to answer the question how long the tin can has been around us, we need to go way back to the 19th century to answer the question. In 1810, British businessman Peter Durand was granted a patent for the tin can. There is an interesting story behind this, involving Britain and France competing to find the best method.

The French government offered a 12,000 francs reward for anybody who could find a revolutionary means of keeping food fresh. An unknown man from Paris named Nicholas Appert spent 15 years researching before he finally developed a special glass container as the solution. His invention was put to the test and was successful. The French were impressed, and Napoleon himself presented Appert with the reward.

Of course, the British heard about it. They did not want to simply copy the success of the French. They wanted to do better. So they turned to tin instead of glass. Tin does not break as easily as glass and air can be pumped out easily. Thus was born the tin can.

He was given the patent for the tin can, but Durand himself did not go into mass production.

The first tin can production was begun by two other Englishmen named Bryan Donkin and John Hall. Donkin and Hall studied Durand’s tin can patent and started a canning factory. By 1813, they were supplying food in tin cans to the British army. The first tin cans were so thick that people needed a hammer to open them. As cans became thinner, it became possible to invent useful can openers. In 1858, Ezra Warner patented the first can opener. The U.S. military used it during the Civil War. In 1866, J. Osterhoudt patented the tin can with a key opener that you can find on sardine cans. The inventor of the familiar household can opener was William Lyman. William Lyman patented a very easy-to-use can opener in 1870 with a wheel that rolls and cuts around the top of a can.