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. Julian Edelman Patriots Jersey . 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 Brady Youth Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round pick Nik Stauskas to his rookie contract. Sony Michel Patriots Jersey . As a follow-up, TSN.ca offers you the opportunity to chime in on all the big issues with our insiders. Read up on all the questions and answers, and put in your own two cents on our popular Your Call feature. http://www.patriotsjerseysauthentic.com/Sony-Michel-Super-Bowl-Jersey/ . Mauer struck out to end the inning, with a runner on third base in the seventh on Wednesday and the Twins trailing 1-0. Everybody does this, of course, in a sport with a 30 per cent success rate at the plate long proven to be a benchmark of excellence.DENVER - The question was simple: Are you coming back next year?As was the case with almost everything Sunday, Peyton Manning didnt have much of an answer. Or at least not the ones Broncos fans were looking for.A few minutes after Denvers 24-13 loss to Indianapolis in the AFC divisional playoffs, the 38-year-old quarterback was noncommittal about returning for the 2015 season, which would be his fourth in the Mile High City.Asked in his postgame news conference where his mindset is for next season, Manning reiterated what he had said earlier to Broncos play-by-play voice Dave Logan: I didnt have a great answer for him.Asked again, directly, if he could say Im coming back, Manning didnt budge, saying he was more focused on the disappointment of the loss to his former team.I cant give a simple answer without processing it, he said. I cant say that. I could not say that.A marked contrast from last year at the Super Bowl, when Manning committed to coming back for 2014, or as recently as two weeks ago, when he said he certainly planned on being back for 2015 if the Broncos would have him.Until the middle of November, that never looked as if it was in doubt.Then, came the 22-7 loss to the Rams that motivated the Broncos to revamp their entire offence, turning a unit that broke NFL records for scoring and passing in 2013 into a grind-it-out operation.Around then, questions percolated about the health of the 17th-year quarterback. In the aftermath of his 26-for-46, 211-yard performance against his former team — his second home playoff loss in the AFC divisional round in three seasons in Denver — Manning was forthcoming about a thigh bruise he suffered in a Dec. 14 game at San Diego. Yes, it lingered, but it wasnt bad enough to keep him out of this one.Nothing more to it than that, he said. And I ... felt good with it coming into the day.If hes not injured, that leaves only one obvious explanation for the deterioration of his game.Hes getting old. Fast.Stats tell part of the story. Since the Rams game, his quarterback rating has been 84.6, about 13 points below his career average.Pictures do, too. Even for a quarterback who cant run, it waas hard watching him roll out in the third quarter, then pass up the run and instead throw an incompletion despite a 20-yard gap between him and any defender on a third-and-5. Tom Brady Patriots Jersey. .Didnt play well enough today and didnt play well enough consistently in the second half of the season, especially in the games we lost, Manning said.His unwillingness to commit made coach John Foxs same stance behind the same podium a few minutes earlier seem more understandable.Asked about a pregame report that he could be available if the Broncos suffered a loss Sunday, Fox hardly shot it down.I dont make those decisions, he said. I dont control that. My intentions are to be a Denver Bronco and have been since I got here.It should make Monday, and Tuesday and beyond interesting at Broncos headquarters, where executive vice-president John Elway will be meeting with everyone, figuring out whether he needs to go to the Plan B that he readily admitted he didnt have when he threw all his chips in with Manning in the 2012 off-season.The goal was Super Bowl titles. Instead, Manning is 2-3 in the playoffs with Denver.Because of uncertainty about his comeback from multiple neck surgeries, Manning didnt receive a signing bonus when he came to Denver, so the cost of him leaving would be negligible and would free up the $38 million he stands to make over the next two seasons.Still, Elway spent $60 million in guaranteed money last off-season on long-term contracts to upgrade his defence, which he said was the missing piece after Denvers 43-8 loss to the Seahawks last season in the Super Bowl.The idea — one Elway reiterated to Manning at midseason when things started going south — was that the quarterback shouldnt have to do it all himself.But the Broncos cant do it when hes not playing well, either. And so, its time for some soul searching, which for Manning will begin Monday.It may not be pretty.Ive always taken a pretty accurate look and fair evaluation of myself, he said. I think Im as honest with myself as anybody else is and probably as critical of myself as anybody else is.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '