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With the world commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this week, TSNs Dave Naylor explores the story of hockeys famed Stastny brothers. Seattle Supersonics Shirts . Stastny premieres tonight at 6pm et/3pm pt on TSNs SportsCentre. Marian Stastnys eyes fill with tears and his deep voice struggles for the words to aptly describe the day, more than 34 years ago, when he knew his life would never be the same. Marian and his younger siblings, Peter and Anton, were starring at the 1980 European Championship in Innsbruck, Austria. Before the tournament was over, his brothers needed to talk to him but Marian had no idea what was coming. No idea that he was about to learn he might never see Peter and Anton again, that he would be returning behind the Iron Curtain without them to a life he would not recognize. And then he learned the secret his brothers had been keeping from him, that Peter and Anton were defecting to Canada and the NHL without him, understanding that Marian couldnt go since his wife and three children remained back in Czechoslovakia. I said `did I hear you well? Youre not coming back? What are you trying to do? Marian says, his face recreating the look of fear and confusion it must have worn more than three decades ago as it dawned on him what was about to happen. The 61-year-old then recalls the fever that washed over him, the likes of which he had never experienced before or since. It was the worst moment I had to go to in my life so far because I realized it will be over for me and I cannot go with them because I didnt have my family with me … My kids, my wife. All these years later, after engineering his own escape from Czechoslovakia in 1981 and making Quebec City his permanent home since retiring from the NHL in 1986, Marian Stastny still wrestles with trying to comprehend the choice his brothers made. I never understood, he says. I dont understand it even today. What Marian Stastny had no trouble understanding was what he was about to face upon returning to Czechoslovakia after his brothers defected. He was kicked off the national team, told he could not practice his profession as a lawyer and shunned by nearly everyone. His punishment was a lesson to anyone else who might have similar ideas as those of Peter and Anton: if you defect, those you leave behind will pay the price. Peter and Anton had escaped by jumping into a car that drove them through the night to Vienna where they took room in the Intercontinental Hotel, waiting for instructions on when to proceed to the Canadian embassy. With spies and secret police in tow, the Stastnys were whisked through the streets of Vienna as if something out of a James Bond movie, first to the Canadian embassy and then the airport bound for Amsterdam and then Montreal. It was an incredible story of escape, with Anton and Peter going from being under the thumb of the Soviet-backed government of Czechoslovakia to living out their dreams of freedom and playing the game they so dearly loved alongside the worlds best. All, however, while carrying the burden of what Marian was sustaining back home. I felt really responsible for all the misery that he had to go through, said Peter. They punished him miserably, they made him nobody, nothing. They isolated him... he lost all his friends because you talk to him `hi Marian, you were called to the police station... so gradually with psychological terror, he was completely isolated. Marian Stastny begged for an opportunity to resume the life he had known before his brothers defected, but to no avail. He petitioned the government to allow him and his family to join his brothers in Canada on humanitarian grounds since there was nothing left for him in Czechoslovakia. It all went nowhere, leaving him with just one option. Using forged documents to escape via Hungary, Marian, his wife and three children managed to make it to Canada as well in 1981, where he was reunited with his brothers in Quebec City. I still have it in my mind right now, when they walk through those doors... Marian, his wife and three children, said Anton. You get something like lungs back in your body, before you felt like you dont breathe as youre supposed to. And once reunited, the three played like four, their ability to instinctively know where each other was on the ice helping turn them into one of the best lines of the 1980s and perhaps the best brother line in NHL history. It was a remarkable journey for the three who grew up among six siblings with their parents in a two-bedroom flat not far from Bratislava Castle and the centre of the city. It wasnt the dreariest of the communist housing projects, but it was very simple nonetheless. Out back in the area between the buildings was something called a yama, which essentially was a dip in the land that would fill naturally with water in the fall. In the winter, it would turn to ice. And so the Stastny brothers, who would one day form one of the greatest NHL lines of the 1980s, began here. They would play all day, from sun-up to sun-down, eventually joining their national team, allowing people beyond their borders to learn about, as Quebec Nordiques president Marcel Abut put it, there is a mother in Czechoslavakia who got a son who is a star on the left side, another son who is a star in the centre, and another one who is the star on the right wring... I said `thats it, we have to go and pick them up. How do we do this? And so began the quest to get the Stastnys out of Czechoslovakia and the remarkable journey that saw two of them separated from one in a world where politics and sports did not mix. How different their story would have been if Marian had never managed to escape with his family, had the communist governments of Eastern Europe not all crumbled, allowing them to reunite with friends and family left behind. During this week which marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Stastnys provide a reminder of both the triumphs and the challenges presented by that chapter in European political and sports history. Tom Meschery Jersey .Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. Jeff Green Jersey .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. https://www.supersonicsjerseys.com/340s-dennis-johnson-jersey-supersonics.html . The 25-year-old McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, was eligible to play for either Ireland or Team GB when golf makes its return to the Olympics in Brazil for the first time since 1904. NEW YORK -- Zack Wheeler once again zeroed in on the Atlanta Braves. The Mets rookie beat the NL East leaders for the third time, pitching shutout ball into the seventh inning and sending New York past Atlanta 5-3 Tuesday night. "I feel pretty comfortable against them," he said. "Not to bash them, but it was a pretty easy game plan." Wheeler improved to 3-0 with a 2.89 ERA against the team with the best record in the majors. He is the only pitcher with three wins over the Braves this year -- there are just four teams that have beaten Atlanta more often this season. Wheeler (6-2), raised in the Atlanta suburbs, defeated the Braves at Turner Field with six shutout innings in his big league debut in June, then topped them at Citi Field in July. Now, another victory. All that success against the team he grew up watching is nice for him, he said, but "not so much for our friends back home." Marlon Byrd and Ike Davis homered and speedy Eric Young Jr. sparked the Mets, stealing two bases, scoring twice and making a diving catch in left field. Mets rookie catcher Travis dArnaud doubled for his first hit in the majors, ending an 0-for-10 rut. "It was definitely weighing on me a little bit," he said. Coming off a 12-strikeout performance at San Diego, the 23-year-old Wheeler came out zinging fastballs in the upper 90s mph. The righty was one strike away from throwing seven scoreless innings -- instead, he left with the bases loaded and two outs, and reliever Carlos Torres gave up Andrelton Simmons three-run double. Wheeler allowed six hits, struck out five and walked three. He drew a nice ovation when manager Terry Collins pulled him, and walked to the dugout with his head down. "I wasnt sure he was going to give me the ball," Collins said. "It was going to be a wrestling match." Byrds two-run homer capped a three-run burst in the sixth off Brandon Beachy (2-1), who was making his fifth start since having Tommy John surgery 14 months ago. The Braves had won his previous outings. "I thought he did fine, I really did," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Just that one inning, gave up three runs." Wheeler briskly trotted toward the mound to begin the seventh with a 4-0 lead. He quickly retired the first two batters before Paul Janish doubled and pinch-hitter Joey Terdoslavichh walked. Xavier McDaniel Jersey. Wheeler got ahead of Jason Heyward at 1-2, but wound up walking him to load the bases. Collins signalled for Torres, and soon the game nearly was tied. Simmons cleared the bases with his double into the left-field corner and kept going to third when shortstop Omar Quintanilla sailed his relay home. Torres backed up the play and caught the errant toss in the air, yet almost cost himself with a wild toss toward third that second baseman David Murphy alertly tracked down. Reliever Scott Rice retired Freddie Freeman on a fly ball to protect the 4-3 lead. LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth for his fifth save. Byrd hit his career-best 21st homer and second in two days. Davis added an insurance run in the eighth with a drive into the top rows of the upper deck in right. "Im just glad I can come out and help the team. Hit big homers, not just like selfish homers, ninth inning, down by 10. Getting home runs that help the team win," Byrd said. Young reached on Simmons throwing error from shortstop to lead off the first, stole second and scored on Davis two-out single. Young beat out a clever push bunt toward Simmons to start the sixth and stole his career-high 28th base. NOTES: Heyward made a sparkling catch in right-centre, diving onto the warning track to rob Juan Lagares of extra bases. ... Mets rookie C Travis dArnaud. ... Atlanta LF Justin Upton was a late scratch. He said he felt stiffness around his neck. Evan Gattis took Uptons place. ... Braves LHP Paul Maholm (bruised left wrist) is set to come off the DL and start Thursday night at St. Louis. ... Braves LHP Alex Wood (2-2, 2.61) starts Wednesday vs. Mets LHP Jonathon Niese (5-6, 4.25). ... Torres is still scheduled to start Friday night at home against Detroit. ... Mets All-Star 3B David Wright (strained right hamstring) says hes still optimistic about playing again this season. He said it would be important "to get back out there and try to finish up strong." Theres no set timetable for his rehab. ... The Mets are 8-7 against Atlanta this year. ... Mets closer Bobby Parnell (herniated disk in neck) will undergo therapy and strengthening, and go back to doctor next week. He hasnt pitched since July and said surgery remains an option. An operation would require four to five months of recovery time, which would get him back for spring training. ' ' '