The USSR national ice hockey team is a hockey team that represented the Soviet Union in international ice hockey competitions. The governing organization of the team was the USSR Hockey Federation. Officially, within the IIHF, the team existed from 1952 to 1991. Over the course of 39 years of its existence, the national team was the strongest in the world. She took part in 34 world championships, 22 of which she won. She took part in 9 Winter Olympic hockey tournaments, winning 7 of them. It is the only team in the world that has never returned from the World Championships and Olympic Games without a set of medals. It should be noted that the success of the team depended to some extent on the dubious nature of the amateur status of Soviet players: in the USSR, hockey, like all sports, was nominally amateur, unlike North Americans and Western Europeans. In 2008, on the eve of its 100th anniversary, the International Hockey Federation conducted a survey among 56 experts from 16 countries to determine the symbolic world hockey team for the last 100 years, and according to the survey results, four out of six places on the world team went to USSR hockey players .
In pre-revolutionary Russia, ice hockey was not particularly popular, but attempts by some sports clubs to join the game led to the fact that in 1911 Russia joined the International Ice Hockey League, created three years earlier (under this name the International Ice Hockey Federation existed until 1978), however, this step did not have an impact on the popularity of the game, and Russia soon left the organization. After 1917, the situation with hockey in the country did not change. Bandy (Russian hockey, also known as bandy) remained the main national winter sport; the attitude towards ice hockey was negative. Here is what the magazine “Physical Culture and Sports” wrote about the new game at that time (1932 No. 9): “The game is of a purely individual and primitive nature, is very poor in combinations and in this sense does not withstand any comparison with “bandy”. The question of whether we should cultivate Canadian hockey can be answered in the negative..." A turning point in the development of ice hockey occurred in 1946, when the All-Union Committee on Physical Culture and Sports decided to hold the first USSR ice hockey championship, and this The decision gave impetus to the development of hockey throughout the country. Soviet hockey players, performing under the flag of the Moscow national team, played their first international matches in 1948 with the Czechoslovak team LTC (Prague). The match ended with a score of 6:3 in favor of the Muscovites. In 1952, the country's top sports leadership decided to join the All-Union Ice Hockey Section in the International Ice Hockey League, this step gave Soviet athletes the right to compete at the World Championships, and the previous decision in 1951 on the entry of the USSR Olympic Committee into the IOC - and to participate in Olympic hockey tournaments.
On September 2, 1972, the super series began in which the legendary victory of the USSR national ice hockey team (in terms of goals scored) over the Canadian national team took place.
USSR Super Series - Canada (Summit Series) 1972
Tournament details
Host country Canada - USSR
Host cities Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Moscow
Time 09/2/1972 - 09/28/1972
Tournament statistics
8 matches played
Goals scored 63 (7.88 per game)
Before the start of the 1972-1973 season, for the first time in the history of hockey, a series of matches was organized between the best professionals in Canada and the Soviet Union national team. The first four games took place in Canada, the next four in Moscow. As a result, the Canadian team won 4 victories, the USSR - 3, one meeting ended in a draw. The Soviet team scored 32 goals, the Canadian team - 31. 
The USSR national team was led by the USSR Honored Coach Vsevolod Bobrov during the Super Series '72 against the Canadian national team, and the USSR Honored Coach Boris Kulagin assisted him. Anatoly Firsov, recognized as the best striker of the 1971 World Cup, was not included in the USSR national team. In the Soviet team, the top scorers were Alexander Yakushev - 11 points (7 goals + 4 assists), Vladimir Shadrin - 8 (3+5) and Valery Kharlamov - 8 (3+5).
The Canadian national team for the duration of the “super series” was led by Harry Sinden, the ex-mentor of the Boston Bruins, a talented, decisive and tough coach, a supporter of aggressive and offensive hockey [source not specified 48 days]. His assistant was John Ferguson. For Team Canada, the most productive player was Phil Esposito, who scored a total of 13 points. His teammate, the best Canadian defenseman at the time, Bobby Orr, missed the series due to a knee injury. Also missing from the Canadians was Bobby Hull, who, due to signing a contract with the new WHA league, was not allowed by the NHL bosses to participate in this series. 
The USSR national team arrived in Montreal on the evening of August 30 on Aeroflot flight No. 301 and almost immediately encountered a political problem. One of the Czechoslovakian emigrants in Canada, who sued the Soviet Union in Quebec provincial court for crushing his car during the Prague Spring by Soviet tanks and sought damages of $1,889, unexpectedly got his way. A Quebec court ordered the Soviet team's hockey equipment to be sealed until the money was paid. Alan Eagleson intervened and wrote his personal check to the Czech.
On the morning of August 31, the hockey players held a training session without the presence of the public at the Arena (the Canadiens' training rink). On September 1, the Canadians flew to Montreal and attended the next training session of the Soviet team at the Forum skating rink, becoming victims of the latter’s trick - deliberately relaxed exercises on the ice. “Russian strikers during training at the Forum did not seem to know how to correctly distribute their body weight when throwing. The defenders, big and clumsy, almost fell, trying to suddenly change direction,” Canadian goalkeeper Dryden later recalled: 66.
Before the start of the first game, NHL goalkeeper Jacques Plante appeared in the locker room of the USSR national team and, through an interpreter, began to give Tretyak advice on how to counter the Canadian forwards. Plant expected the defeat of the USSR and decided to help the Soviet goalkeeper. To make it more clear, he showed all this on the layout:
- Be careful when Frank Mahovlich is on the ice. He shoots at goal continuously, from any distance, from any position. Roll out further to meet him. Mind you, Yvan Cournoyer...is the fastest forward in the NHL, and Dennis Hull can shoot the puck from the red line. And remember: the most dangerous player on our team... Phil Esposito. This guy sends the puck without preparation even into the tiny slots of the goal. Don't take your eyes off him when he's on the spot. Here the defenders cannot cope with him.
USSR national team in Canada
The first game
The first game of the series was watched by several million people in Europe, more than twenty-five million Canadians and Americans, and about twenty million television viewers in the Soviet Union watched the game at home. True, in the USSR, due to the time difference (in Moscow at the start of the game it was 4 o’clock in the morning), the game was shown only at 12 noon on September 3, and on the same day in the evening the show was repeated again.
The game started at 20:00 local time. The Montreal Forum was filled to capacity with the public. The meeting was attended by the Government of Canada, headed by Prime Minister P. Trudeau. The spectators warmly welcomed the players of the USSR national team and greeted the announcement of the names of the players of the Canadian national team with a storm of applause. This was unusual for Soviet players and had a slightly overwhelming psychological impact. The ceremonial part lasted almost 30 minutes and ended with the symbolic throwing of the puck by P. Trudeau.
30 seconds after the start of the meeting, Phil Esposito volleyed the puck hit by Tretyak into the goal. At the beginning of the 7th minute of the match, Bobby Clarke won a throw-in. The puck went to Ron Ellis, who passed it to Paul Henderson. A shot followed, and the puck ended up in the goal.
Soviet hockey players, continuing to play passes and play combinations, began to correct the situation. First, Zimin scored in a positional attack after Yakushev’s well-calibrated pass, and then, in the minority, Mikhailov and Petrov ran into a counterattack, the latter finishing off the puck hit by Dryden into the goal. During the break, the head coach of the Bobrov team encouraged the hockey players: “Guys, you see that you can play with them on equal terms.” According to Boris Kulagin, the defenders of the USSR national team were given the task: to fiddle with the puck in their own zone as little as possible, and immediately give it to the forwards, who managed to gain speed]. In the Canadian locker room, in turn, there was tense silence - the players began to realize that they were facing an opponent of equal strength and class.
The USSR national team took the lead in the second twenty minutes thanks to two goals by Valery Kharlamov. Both of these pucks were so memorable to the Canadian goalkeeper Dryden that he described them in detail in his book, separately highlighting the skill of the Soviet hockey player. At the end of the period, the Canadians headed to the locker room with their heads down.
At the beginning of the third period, the Canadian team stormed Tretyak's goal, and Clark managed to score one goal in one of the episodes. However, the Canadians, as they later admitted, no longer had the strength to do more. Soviet hockey players, in turn, continued to increase the pace, which ultimately resulted in the final score of 7:3. An unpleasant aftertaste from the game was the intentional rudeness of the Canadians in the last minutes of the meeting and the reluctance to shake hands after its completion.
There is a legend that the very next morning after the game, Valery Kharlamov was offered a million dollars to move to the NHL. “I can’t agree to the transition without Petrov and Mikhailov,” Kharlamov answered jokingly. Canadians took his words at face value: “Oh, we'll work it out. They will get the same amount”:48. The fee first appeared on September 4 in the Globe & Mail, which quoted Harold Ballard, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as saying he would give a million for the "best young forward in the world." The captain of the USSR national team thanked Ballard for the invitation and, “naturally, refused”
Second game
Compared to the match in Montreal, eight new hockey players appeared on the Canadian team, including goalkeeper Tony Esposito, who stood strong and confidently in goal and helped the team out more than once. The reshuffle was intended to “crush the Russians,” as Sinden noted that they were “faster and more agile.” There were also changes in the Soviet team - Starshinov replaced Vikulov and took a place in the center of the line - between Maltsev and Kharlamov. Mishakov moved to Petrov and Mikhailov, and young Anisin appeared as the tenth forward.
The Canadians changed their tactics greatly in the second meeting, playing clear defense and not allowing the Soviet forwards to break through to the goal, as a result of which the defense easily threw the puck out of their zone. At times the Canadians' play was too rough. Professional goalkeeper Dryden later wrote: “At times I felt embarrassed and even ashamed of my own people. If I were the Russians, I would probably think: “These Canadians must be real animals if they allow themselves such antics.”
The first goal was scored by Phil Esposito in the second period. The Canadians scored their second goal at the beginning of the third period, when Cournoyer beat Tretyak one-on-one. But soon the USSR national team reduced the gap: Yakushev scored the puck, converting the majority.
The decisive moment of the match was the third twenty minutes, when in the seventh minute the Soviet team, losing only one goal, had a chance to equalize the score with a power play, but missed a goal after an individual pass by Pete Mahovlich. After 2 minutes, the Canadians scored another goal, setting the final score 4:1.
The Soviet coaches were very unhappy with the actions of the two American referees. So, at the end of the 2nd period of the meeting, an incident occurred when Clark played carelessly with his stick and hit defender Tsygankov on the helmet. But the referee did not see this violation and sent Tsygankov off the field for hitting his opponent with a stick, since he stopped Ellis at the boards with a forceful move a few seconds later. Kharlamov tried to find out from the referee the meaning of such actions, but was immediately punished with a 10-minute disciplinary fine for talking (but with the right to replace the player on the court).
Andrei Starovoitov, the head of the Soviet hockey federation, burst into the referees' locker room after the match, almost breaking down the door, and declared: “American referees allowed Canadian hockey players to act like a gang of robbers.”
The players of the USSR national team, in turn, noted that they were not quite tuned in to the game. Alexander Yakushev noted that “after the first match we were overwhelmed with emotions and it was difficult to get ready for the next game. (...) We spilled a lot in the opening meeting. In the end, I just didn’t have enough strength.” And Alexander Ragulin argued that this game marked the peak of acclimatization of Soviet hockey players
Third game
Game four
Team Canada in the USSR
After four matches in Canada, the teams had a break of two weeks. The Soviet hockey players returned home, where they continued training, and the Canadian national team, consisting of 35 hockey players, went to Stockholm on September 13 and played two friendly matches there with the Swedish national team - 4:1 (September 16) and 4:4 (September 17; they escaped defeat only 47 seconds before the final siren).
On the evening of September 20, the Canadian team arrived in Moscow. Most of the professionals on Team Canada have never been outside of North America. Once in the USSR, a country with a completely different political system, they experienced psychological shock. Rumors about the omnipresence of the KGB played a big role, which completely intimidated some players. Having settled in the Intourist Hotel, the players first began to look for listening devices. They had no doubt about their existence. One of the most nervous was Frank Mahovlich. Back in Canada, he quite seriously suggested that the trainers take tents with them and set up camp, like Napoleon, outside Moscow: “There is a Cold War going on. The Soviets can do anything. They can start construction at four in the morning near the hotel and not let us sleep. To strengthen their propaganda, they need victory, and they are ready for anything” [source not specified 1666 days].
General suspicion resulted in a number of characteristic cases. Thus, Canadian players intensively searched for “spy bugs” in their rooms. In one of the rooms, under the carpet, a box was found, screwed to the floor with five screws. Considering it a listening device, the Canadian decided to unscrew the screws. When the last screw was loosened, a terrible roar was heard, and a through hole opened up in front of the astonished “bug fighter.” It turned out that he had unscrewed a huge chandelier that hung on the floor below in the conference room - it fell straight onto the tables, breaking into pieces. Fortunately, no one was injured, since the incident happened at half past two in the morning. But for this brawl, the hotel management billed the Canadian team $3,850.
In another room, Wayne Cashman suspected the presence of listening devices in the mirror of his room. He pulled it off the wall and threw it out the window.
Many other inconveniences plagued Canadians in the USSR. Frequent night phone calls, confusion in the training schedule, problems with nutrition. The Canadian team even brought with them a whole container of food - beef, milk and beer. However, according to the Canadian team, all this quickly disappeared from Intourist. If beef and milk could be forgiven, then beer could never be forgiven. “That’s when we got really angry when they stole our beer after the fifth match,” Rod Gilbert said quite seriously.
Despite all the misunderstandings and inconveniences, during their stay in Moscow the Canadians visited theaters, ballets, museums and the Kremlin, meeting many ordinary Muscovites. However, what liberated the players most of all was the presence of their wives or girlfriends in Moscow.
To win the Series, Soviet hockey players only needed to score three points in the four remaining meetings. At the same time, Soviet hockey players were not psychologically prepared for the great glory that “fell” upon them upon their return to the USSR. So, Alexander Ragulin, Vladislav Tretyak, and Boris Kulagin admitted this. Before the start of the Moscow series of games, Vic Hadfield, Rick Martin and Jocelyn Govremont said goodbye to the team and flew home. At the same time, the injured Bobby Orr remained in the team, who attended the Moscow matches as a spectator.
Fifth game
On September 22, the Sports Palace in Luzhniki was filled to capacity. About 3,000 Canadian fans arrived in Moscow, standing out clearly from the Soviet spectators with their active style of cheering. Present in the government box were the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L. I. Brezhnev, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A. N. Kosygin, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council N. V. Podgorny with his closest associates.
Before the start of the fifth match, during the announcement of the hockey players, Phil Esposito slipped and fell right on his fifth point. However, the Canadian was not taken aback and, getting down on one knee, bowed to the fans, thereby earning applause. Tretyak later recalled on this occasion: “If I or any other of my teammates had fallen like that, we would have found no place for ourselves out of shame. We could never do it the way Phil Esposito did, as an artist, with such elegance." According to Esposito himself, he caught Brezhnev’s own gaze from the podium and blew him a kiss.
The hockey teams learned lessons from previous meetings. Thus, the Canadian defenders avoided risk and played a strictly positional game, while the Soviet defenders now not only accurately passed the ball to their attackers, but actively walked forward into the Canadian zone and shot at goal from the blue line. At the end of the first period, Gilbert Perrault, having received a pass from Rod Gilbert, walked around Ragulin, literally laid the puck on the opening Parise, and Jean-Paul sent it into the goal past Tretyak. In the 23rd minute, Henderson found Bobby Clarke, who had escaped marking, with a pass, and he, cutting the corner, went to Tretyak and pushed the puck between his legs. 2:0. Then, in the 32nd minute, Henderson himself brought the score to 3:0, scoring a puck that bounced off the goalkeeper.
After the second period, Canadian journalist Bill Good interviewed goalkeeper Dryden for Canadian television. He asked if it would be difficult for them to maintain their lead in the final twenty minutes. "No. Now the usual adrenaline has begun to affect us: you don’t feel tired when three thousand fans are cheering you on like crazy,” answered Dryden
In the third period, the Canadians were not ready to continue the tactics of pressure in the front zone, which had paid off in the first two periods. They went on the defensive, allowing the USSR team to move the puck into their zone. Experienced defender Kuzkin began to close the gap - he launched an attack that was completed by Blinov. 3:1. And although Henderson and Clark soon restored the three-goal gap, the Canadians practically did not attack from the middle of the last period.
In the 50th minute, Anisin corrected the puck after a throw by defender Lyapkin. 4:2. Then, just eight seconds later, Shadrin picked up the puck and reduced the gap to 4:3. In the 52nd minute, defender Gusev completed the attack started by Kharlamov - 4:4, and then Vikulov, having beautifully won a duel in the corner of the Canadian zone, went one on one with Tony Esposito and calmly beat the goalkeeper - 4:5.
Scoring five goals from 11 shots, the Soviet team shocked the pioneers of hockey, winning their third victory in five matches. Nevertheless, Canadian fans saw off their players with a standing ovation. Canadian coach G. Sinden was so disappointed with the result of the game that he did not come to the post-match press conference.
Game six
Seventh game
Eighth game 
Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated his song “Professionals” to this super series
The USSR national hockey team is a hockey team that represented the Soviet Union in international hockey competitions.
The governing organization of the team was the USSR Hockey Federation. Officially, within the IIHF, the team existed from 1952 to 1991.
Over the course of 39 years of its existence, the national team was the strongest in the world.
She took part in 30 world championships, winning 19 of them.
She took part in 9 Winter Olympic hockey tournaments, winning 7 of them.
It is the only team in the world that has never returned from the World Championships and Olympic Games without a set of medals.
It should be noted that the success of the team depended to some extent on the dubious nature of the amateur status of Soviet players: in the USSR, hockey, like all sports, was nominally amateur, unlike North Americans and Western Europeans.
In 2008, on the eve of its 100th anniversary, the International Hockey Federation conducted a survey among 56 specialists from 16 countries to determine the symbolic world hockey team for the last 100 years, and according to the survey results, four out of six places on the world team went to USSR hockey players .
In pre-revolutionary Russia, ice hockey was not particularly popular, but attempts by some sports clubs to join the game led to the fact that in 1911 Russia joined the International Ice Hockey League, created three years earlier (under this name the International Ice Hockey Federation existed until 1978), however, this step did not have an impact on the popularity of the game, and Russia soon left the organization. After 1917, the situation with hockey in the country did not change. Bandy (Russian hockey, also known as bandy) remained the main national winter sport; the attitude towards ice hockey was negative. Here is what the magazine “Physical Culture and Sports” wrote about the new game at that time (1932 No. 9): “The game is of a purely individual and primitive nature, is very poor in combinations and in this sense does not withstand any comparison with “bandy”. The question of whether we should cultivate Canadian hockey can be answered in the negative..." A turning point in the development of ice hockey occurred in 1946, when the All-Union Committee on Physical Culture and Sports decided to hold the first USSR ice hockey championship, and this The decision gave impetus to the development of hockey throughout the country. In 1952, the country's top sports leadership decided to join the All-Union Ice Hockey Section in the International Ice Hockey League, this step gave Soviet athletes the right to compete at the World Championships, and the previous decision in 1951 on the entry of the USSR Olympic Committee into the IOC - and to participate in Olympic hockey tournaments. 
Domestic hockey developed by leaps and bounds. A big event was in 1948 the international matches of Soviet hockey players, then under the flag of the Moscow team, with the Czechoslovak team of the LTC (Prague). The guests included players who formed the basis of their country's national team, which had won gold medals at the World Championships the year before (albeit in the absence of the Canadians, the founders of hockey, at that tournament in Prague). Those distant friendly matches showed that our hockey players can not only compete with the leading teams in the world on equal terms, but also outplay them. In the first game on February 28 on the ice of the Dynamo Central Stadium, the Muscovites won 6:3. Soviet hockey players were distinguished by excellent skating technique and high-speed play. And this is not surprising - most of them went through bandy school, and some continued to combine performances in both sports.
In 1949, a hockey player was awarded the title of “Honored Master of Sports” for the first time. It was Anatoly Tarasov.
The next season was marked by two events: on February 18, 1951, the first winner of the USSR Cup was the Krylya Sovetov team (Moscow), which in the final defeated the then national champion, the MVO Air Force, with a score of 4:3, and readers saw the first Soviet book about hockey called "Hockey". Its author was Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov.
In the 1951-52 season. In the USSR, the first television report about a hockey match was carried out. 
1954 – a phenomenal triumph of domestic hockey in the debut world championship. For the first time participating in competitions of this rank, held on the ice of Sweden, the Soviet Union team, led by its unsurpassed leader Vsevolod Bobrov, became the champion, defeating the Canadians in the decisive match - 7:2. Bobrov was the first of our hockey players to be recognized as the best forward at tournaments of this level. The team was coached by Arkady Ivanovich Chernyshev and Vladimir Kuzmich Egorov. 
1956 - the golden debut of domestic hockey at the Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy). Along with the Olympic gold medals, Soviet hockey players became winners of the highest awards at the World Championship and European Championship. Vladimir Egorov, Anatoly Tarasov and Arkady Chernyshev were awarded the title “Honored Coach of the USSR” established in the same year. In the same season, the first artificial ice skating rink in our country, the Sokolniki summer skating rink, was put into operation in Moscow. 
On November 3, 1956, the Sports Palace was opened in Luzhniki (Moscow), which for many years was the main hockey arena of the Soviet Union. From February 24 to March 5, 1957, the World Ice Hockey Championship was held for the first time in our country. On the Moscow ice, the USSR national team, without losing a single match, won only silver medals. In the decisive match with the Swedes, our hockey players only needed a victory. After two periods, the championship hosts led 4:2. In the third twenty minutes of this dramatic match, the Scandinavians scored two goals, achieved a draw, and with it the gold medals. 
1957 - Vsevolod Bobrov was awarded the highest state award of that time (Order of Lenin).
In 1961, for the first time, a provincial team won medals at the USSR Championship. Gorky's Torpedo won silver, with Viktor Konovalenko shining in goal. 
After a seven-year break, in 1963 in Sweden, the Soviet Union team became the world champion. This victory marked the beginning of a nine-year hegemony on the world podium for our team. The USSR national team was led for the first time by the Chernyshev-Tarasov duo.
The hockey tournament at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck (Austria) ended in victory for Soviet hockey players.
On December 8, 1964, the most popular children's hockey tournament for the Golden Puck club prize was born, and already in March 1965, their first All-Union final took place in Moscow. It was these competitions that gave domestic hockey many “stars” who shone on ice arenas around the world. The inspirer of these competitions for our children and the president of the club until the last days of his life was Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov. 
On January 1, 1965, the title “Master of Sports of the USSR of International Class” was established. The first to receive it were the hockey players of the Soviet national team, who once again won the World Championships in Finland.
On March 15-24, 1967, the first international tournament of junior teams from eight countries was held in Yaroslavl, which became the predecessor of the European Youth Championships (the first of which took place at the turn of 1967 and 1968 in Finland). The juniors of our team became champions for the first time a year later at the second continental championship in Germany.
November 30, 1967 - the first international tournament for the Izvestia Newspaper Prize started on the Luzhniki ice. 
1968 In Grenoble, France, the USSR team won Olympic gold medals for the third time and at the same time excelled in the European Championship.
On October 10-12, 1969, CSKA hockey players in Klagenfurt (Austria) successfully debuted in the final of the 4th European Champions Cup, winning this honorable trophy after defeating the local Klagenfurt (9:1, 14:3).
In February 1972, the USSR team once again won Olympic gold in Sapporo, Japan. These were the last competitions in which the main team of our country was led by Chernyshev and Tarasov. Vitaly Davydov, Viktor Kuzkin, Alexander Ragulin and Anatoly Firsov become three-time Olympic champions.
September 2, 1972. The first match of the '72 Super Series with Canadian hockey professionals. The stunning success of the Soviet team under the leadership of Vsevolod Bobrov. The NHL legends were defeated with a score of 7:3. 
From March 31 to April 15, 1973, the World Hockey Championship was hosted by Moscow for the second time. The competition ended with the unconditional victory of the USSR team.
In the 1973-74 season. For the first time, matches of the national championship began to be conducted by three referees: the chief referee and two assistants, and the first unofficial world championship among youth teams was held in Leningrad, which ended in victory for the hosts. In the spring of 1974, a portrait of a foreign specialist was placed for the first time in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Toronto, Canada). It became Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov. Next to the portrait are the words: “Anatoly Tarasov is an outstanding hockey theorist and practitioner who has made a huge contribution to the development of world hockey. The world should thank Russia for giving Tarasov to hockey.” 
In September-October 1974, the USSR national team successfully played a series of eight matches with the Canadian national team, formed from professional stars of the World Hockey Association (WHA).
In December 1975 - January 1976, the first super series took place between club teams of the USSR and the NHL. CSKA and Krylya Sovetov in a difficult struggle turned out to be stronger than the overseas hockey players.
In February 1976, the USSR national team, after winning an exciting and dramatic match with Czechoslovakia, once again became the winner of the hockey tournament at the Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck (Austria). However, at the 76 World Championships in Katowice, Poland, Soviet hockey players were content with only silver medals.
In September 1976, the first international tournament, the Canada Cup, was held. Our country was represented by an experimental team led by Viktor Tikhonov, which failed to reach the finals.
December 1976 - for the first time, overseas professionals, represented by the WHA team “Winnipeg Jets,” took part in the traditional tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper.
December 27, 1976 – January 2, 1977, the Soviet Union national team won the first official world championship among youth teams.
At the 1977 World Championships in Vienna, the USSR team won only bronze. Organizational conclusions were not long in coming. Boris Kulagin was replaced as her senior coach by Viktor Tikhonov.
1978 The USSR national team, in a difficult struggle on the Prague ice, regains the title of world champions.
On November 10, 1978, Vyacheslav Starshinov (Spartak) was the first of our hockey players to score his 400th goal in the national championships. 
February 8-11, 1979 - the USSR national team won the Challenge Cup. In a series of three matches, she emerged victorious over the NHL team, made up of the strongest hockey players in this league. In the decisive match, Soviet hockey players defeated their opponents - 6:0.
March 14-27, 1979 – Moscow hosted the World Championships for the third time. An enchanting performance by the USSR national team and yet another gold medal.
Misfire of Soviet hockey players at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. In the decisive match, our team unexpectedly lost to the hosts of the competition, the US team.
September 1981 – victory of the USSR national team at the Canada Cup. In the final, the Maple Leaves were defeated with a score of 8:1.
February 1984 - victory of Soviet hockey players at the Olympics in Sarajevo (Yugoslavia). Legendary goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak becomes an Olympic champion for the third time.
April 1986 – the fourth World Championship was hosted by Moscow. The Soviet Union team became the strongest on the planet for the twentieth time.
February 1987, a series of two matches “Rendezvous-87” between the national teams of the USSR and the NHL. Results – 3:4, 5:3.
February 1988 - victory of the Soviet hockey team at the Olympics in Calgary (Canada).
1989 CSKA, under the leadership of Viktor Tikhonov, became the national champion for the 12th time in a row. The beginning of the mass departure of our hockey players overseas.
1990 The hegemony of the Moscow army team on the hockey throne in the country, which won 32 times, including 13 seasons in a row, has been broken. The gold medals of the USSR Championship were won by the Dynamo Moscow hockey players. CSKA wins the European Cup for the 20th time. Based on the results of the overseas season, Sergei Makarov (Calgary Flames) was recognized as the best rookie in the NHL. He was the first Russian hockey player to receive an individual prize in this North American league.
1991 For the first time since 1951, CSKA found itself behind the national championship medalists. The USSR Championship, which started in the fall of 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December, ended in the spring of 1992 as the CIS Championship.
February 1992 – our country’s team wins the Olympics for the 8th time. She is already winning gold medals in Albertville (France) under the name of the CIS team. Andrey Khomutov becomes a three-time Olympic champion. But this is no longer the USSR national team... Another story has begun... 
Olympic awards
Hockey
Gold 1956
Bronze 1960
Gold 1964
Gold 1968
Gold 1972
Gold 1976
Silver1980
Gold 1984
Gold 1988
Sports awards
Ice Hockey World Championships
Gold Sweden 1954
Silver Germany 1955
Gold Italy 1956
Silver USSR 1957
Silver Norway 1958
Silver Czechoslovakia 1959
Bronze USA 1960
Silver Switzerland 1961
Gold Sweden 1963
Gold Austria 1964
Gold Sweden 1965
Gold Yugoslavia 1966
Gold Austria 1967
Gold France 1968
Gold Sweden 1969
Gold Sweden 1970
Gold Switzerland 1971
Silver Czechoslovakia 1972
USSR Gold 1973
Gold Finland 1974
Germany Gold 1975
Silver Poland 1976
Bronze Austria 1977
Gold Czechoslovakia 1978
USSR Gold 1979
Gold Sweden 1981
Gold Finland 1982
Germany Gold 1983
Bronze Czechoslovakia 1985
USSR Gold 1986
Silver Austria 1987
Gold Sweden 1989
Gold Switzerland 1990
Bronze Finland 1991
HALL OF FAME
BABICH Evgeniy Makarovich
01/07/1921 - 06/11/1972 BOBROV Vsevolod Mikhailovich
01.12.1922 - 01.07.1979
BYKOV Vyacheslav Arkadievich
24.07.1960
BYCHKOV Mikhail Ivanovich
22.05.1926 - 17.05.1997
VASILIEV Valery Ivanovich
03.08.1949
VINOGRADOV Alexander Nikolaevich
28.02.1918 - 10.12.1988
GURYSHEV Alexey Mikhailovich
14.03.1925 - 16.12.1983
DAVYDOV Vitaly Semenovich
03.04.1939
ZHIBURTOVICH Pavel Nikolaevich
08.09.1925 - 21.02.2006
KOMAROV Alexander Georgievich
25.06.1923
KRYLOV Yuri Nikolaevich
11.03.1930 - 00.00.1979
KUZKIN Viktor Grigorievich
06.07.1940
KUCHEVSKY Alfred Iosifovich
17.05.1931 - 15.05.2000
MAYOROV Boris Alexandrovich
attack
11.02.1938
MIKHAILOV Boris Petrovich
06.10.1944
MKRTYCHAN Grigory Mkrtychevich
03.01.1925 - 14.02.2003
PUCHKOV Nikolay Georgievich
30.01.1930 - 08.08.2005
RAGULIN Alexander Pavlovich
05.05.1941 - 17.11.2004
SIDORENKOV Genrikh Ivanovich
11.08.1931 - 05.01.1990
STARSHINOV Vyacheslav Ivanovich
06.05.1940
TRETYAK Vladislav Alexandrovich
25.04.1952
UVAROV Alexander Nikolaevich
07.03.1922 - 24.12.1994
UKOLOV Dmitry Matveevich
23.10.1929 - 25.11.1992
FETISOV Vyacheslav Alexandrovich
20.04.1958
FIRSOV Anatoly Vasilievich
01.02.1941 - 24.07.2000
KHLISTOV Nikolay Pavlovich
10.11.1932 - 14.02.1999
KHOMUTOV Andrey Valentinovich
21.04.1961
EGOROV Vladimir Kuzmich
25.09.1911 - 09.06.1996
ZAKHVATOV Sergey Ivanovich
29.09.1918 - 29.12.1986
KOSTRYUKOV Anatoly Mikhailovich
07.07.1924
KULAGIN Boris Pavlovich
31.12.1924 - 25.01.1988
TARASOV Anatoly Vladimirovich
10.12.1918 - 23.06.1995
TIKHONOV Viktor Vasilievich
04.06.1930
CHERNYSHEV Arkady Ivanovich
16.03.1914 - 17.04.1992
EPSTEIN Nikolay Semenovich
27.12.1919 - 06.09.2005
ALFER Vladimir Filippovich
10.03.1927 - 09.12.2003
BELAKOVSKY Oleg Markovich
06.09.1921
KOROLEV Yuri Vasilievich
19.06.1934
STAROVOITOV Andrey Vasilievich
06.12.1915 - 23.03.1997
SYCH Valentin Lukich
21.09.1937 - 22.04.1997
KARANDIN Yuri Pavlovich
22.03.1937
SEGLIN Anatoly Vladimirovich
08.08.1922
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45 years of the 1972 Super Series. What happened to the players of the USSR national team
The best hockey player of the 20th century, professor and scout for the New York Rangers.
The super series between the national teams of the USSR and Canada took place from September 2 to 18, 1972. It consisted of eight matches between Canadian professional hockey players and Soviet players. The first four meetings took place in different cities of Canada, the rest - in Moscow. According to the results of the Super Series, the Canadians won four victories, the USSR team won three times, and a draw was recorded once. The Soviet team was led by the Honored Coach of the USSR Vsevolod Bobrov, and coached the Canadian team Harry Sinden. We tell you how the players’ careers developed after the first ever Super Series and what each of them is doing now.
Goalkeepers
Career after the Super Series: The main goalkeeper of the USSR national team for 12 years, won many more world championships, and added two Olympic victories to Sapporo’s gold. Became the best hockey player of the 20th century according to the International Hockey Federation, a member of the NHL and IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame. In the 1990s, he worked as a goalkeeper coach in Chicago, and for several years was part of the coaching staff of the Russian national team.
What he is doing now: Since 2006, he has held the position of President of the Russian Hockey Federation, and is also a member of the Supervisory Board of CSKA.
Victor Zinger
Career after the Super Series: Tretyak’s replacements were forced to sit on the bench for all eight meetings with the Canadians. He played for Spartak Moscow, but played no more than 25 meetings during the season. He finished his sports career at the age of 37, graduated from the Higher School of Coaches in 1973, becoming a certified specialist, and worked at Spartak.
He died at the age of 72 after a long illness on September 24, 2013. He was buried in Moscow at the Khimki cemetery.
Alexander Sidelnikov
Career after the Super Series: Having become a goalkeeper only at the age of 17, Alexander was Tretyak’s backup in the national team for six years. He spent his entire career at Krylya Sovetov. In 1974 he won the USSR Cup. A year later, he suffered cruciate ligament ruptures in both legs, which forced him to miss the entire season. At the end of his career, he worked in the structure of his native club.
He died on June 23, 2003, while on vacation in the Arkhangelsk region. Doctors diagnosed acute heart failure. Alexander was 52 years old.
Alexander Pashkov
Career after the Super Series: in his collection there is one gold each from the Olympics, the World Championship and the USSR Championship. He played for Dynamo, Khimik and Krylia Sovetov. At the end of his career, he worked as the director of the Spartak Sports and Youth Sports School, and in 1987-1992 he was a goalkeeper coach in the USSR national team, then worked at CSKA in the same position.
What he is doing now: worked as a commentator on TC “Sport”, now he acts as a hockey expert in the press.
Defenders
Yuri Lyapkin
Career after the Super Series: Without making it to the Sapporo Olympics and the 1972 World Cup, Yuri played six matches in the legendary Super Series. Lyapkin later won three world championship gold medals, and became an Olympic champion in 1976. At the end of his career, he worked as a coach-consultant and general manager of Krylya Sovetov.
What he is doing now: is a member of the Council of Legends of the Night League and participates in veteran tournaments. The Ice Palace "Arena-Balashikha" is named after Yuri Lyapkin.
Vladimir Lutchenko
Career after the Super Series: played all eight matches with the Canadians, playing paired with Alexander Ragulin. He won the Olympics twice (1972,1976). He played for the Moscow Army Men. After finishing his playing career, he worked as the director of the CSKA hockey school, then at the Spartak farm club. In 1997, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a children's coach.
What he is doing now: He has been working as a scout for the New York Rangers for more than ten years and plays for the USSR Hockey Legends club in the Night Hockey League.
Valery Vasiliev
Career after the Super Series: the first tough guy of Soviet hockey won eight world championships and two Olympics, as well as the ’74 Super Series. Repeatedly recognized as the best defenseman in international tournaments. He was the captain of the USSR national team, a participant in the victorious 1981 Canada Cup. He spent his career at Dynamo Moscow. He was known for playing incredibly hard. He managed to work as vice-president of the HC MVD and general manager of the HC Krylya Sovetov.
He suffered three heart attacks and died after a serious illness at the age of 62 on April 19, 2012. He was buried at Troekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Gennady Tsygankov
Career after the Super Series: There were legends about the physical abilities of the Khabarovsk resident - he had the strongest lungs, he could play with cracks in his bones and fractures. He played for CSKA for ten years and finished his career in SKA Leningrad. Won six World Championships and two Olympics. Since 2000, he worked as deputy director of the Olympic Reserve Sports School in St. Petersburg.
In 2003, the defender was diagnosed with prostate cancer. On February 16, 2006, the great player passed away.
Alexander Gusev
Career after the Super Series: truly revealed himself after the Super Series, at the 1976 Olympics he was one of the best pairs of defenders in Russian hockey with Valery Vasiliev. He played for CSKA, SKA MVO and Leningrad SKA.
What he is doing now: continues to appear on the ice as part of the “Legends of USSR Hockey”.
Alexander Ragulin
Career after the Super Series: winner of the largest number of medals among hockey players at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships (27). He was known for his rational play, high speed, excellent throwing and ability to see the court. He played for Khimik and CSKA. At the Super Series in Moscow, the Canadians provoked Ragulin into a fight, which resulted in a clash on the ice, and Esposito cut Alexander’s face with a stick. In the 2000s, he was the president of the sports public organization “Hockey Veterans”. He worked as a member of the Presidential Council for Physical Culture and Sports.
IN The great hockey player suffered four heart attacks and died on the night of November 18, 2004 in the Burdenko Hospital, and was buried in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
Victor Kuzkin
Career after the Super Series: one of six three-time Olympic champions, spent his entire career at CSKA. The country's record holder for the number of champion titles won in the USSR championships (13). At the age of 36, Kuzkin ended his career as a hockey player and began working as an assistant head coach in the “army” team. For three years he was a consulting coach at the Japanese club Jujo Seishi. In 2005 he was inducted into the IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame.
P In the last years of his life he was engaged in diving in Sochi. On June 24, 2008, during one of the dives, Kuzkin’s heart gave out.
Yuri Shatalov
Career after the Super Series: a graduate of Omsk hockey played only two matches in the Super Series. He spent most of his career at Krylya Sovetov. He stood out for his hard work, dedication and excellent understanding of the game. After finishing his playing career, he worked at the Gorky plant and was engaged in business.
What he is doing now: plays as part of the USSR Hockey Legends team.
Evgeniy Paladiev
Career after the Super Series: played only three matches with the Canadians, but it was he who started the scoring attack in the debut match, which was continued by Yakushev, and finished with an accurate throw by Zimin. He spent seven years at Spartak Moscow and became world champion three times. I hung up my skates at the age of 28. He worked at a sports base in Khimki near Moscow, and coached a factory team. In the 90s, he worked part-time as a security guard at a state farm and was engaged in private transportation.
U measures on the morning of January 9, 2010 after a long illness. Evgeniy Paladyev’s personalized sweater hangs under the arches of the sports palace in his native Ust-Kamenogorsk.
Forwards
Career after the Super Series: Canadian journalists nicknamed the top scorer of the Soviet team “Russian Yak-15”. Two years later, a new series of meetings took place with Canada, which established Yakushev as the most virtuoso, unshakable and persistent hockey player. At the 1975 World Cup he was recognized as the best striker of the tournament. For 16 seasons he defended the colors of his native Spartak, shining in a trio with Shchadrin and Shalimov. At the end of his playing career, he worked as a coach in the red and white team, coached the Ambri-Piotta club in Switzerland, and in the late 90s he headed the Russian national team.
What he is doing now: Chairman of the Council of Legends of the Night Hockey League, author of the book “Everything Honestly. About hockey and more" (2016), chairman of the board of trustees of Spartak.
Vladimir Shadrin
Career after the Super Series: He spent almost his entire career in his native Spartak, and at the age of 31 he left to play in Japan. Two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion. Returning to his homeland, he worked as the head coach of Spartak, the head coach of the country's youth team (from 1992 to 1997) and the general director of the Sokolniki Sports Palace.
What he is doing now: For some time he served as vice-president of the red-and-white club, is a member of the USSR Hockey Legends team, and an honorary veteran of Spartak.
Valery Kharlamov
Career after the Super Series: It was in matches with the Canadian national team that the whole world learned about the great Soviet forward. Along with Tretyak and Yakushev, he was one of the leading players of the USSR national team. Two years later he also shone in the Super Series, and his two goals against the opponent’s goal are still considered masterpieces. For many years, the trio of Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov inspired fear and horror in all opponents. Two-time Olympic champion and eight-time world champion. Considered the best hockey player in the USSR.
On August 27, 1981, he and his wife Irina died in a car accident on Leningradskoe Highway. Kharlamov was only 33 years old.
Chance, illness and disasters. 10 world champions with tragic fates
Great hockey players are world champions whose careers and lives ended tragically.
Vladimir Petrov
Career after the Super Series: was one of the most productive players in domestic hockey. Three times he became the top scorer of the world championships, and at the 1973 world championship in Moscow he scored 18 goals, which is an absolute record. Since 1984, Petrov worked as a hockey functionary and managed to be the general manager of Spartak Moscow, CSKA and SKA. He was known for his toughness and tenacity both on and off the ice. In 2006, Petrov was inducted into the International Hockey Federation's Hockey Hall of Fame.
Went to Kharlamov. The great Vladimir Petrov died
The legendary striker Vladimir Petrov, whose line with Kharlamov and Mikhailov was considered the best in the history of world hockey, has died.
Career after the Super Series: became famous as one of the most fearless and unyielding hockey players, a “man without flaws” won dozens of various titles, two Olympic golds, and was captain of the USSR national team for a long time. After finishing his playing career, he became a coach (worked for SKA, CSKA, and the Russian national team).
What he is doing now: member of the IIHF coaching committee, member of the supervisory board of CSKA, acts as an expert in the press.
Alexander Maltsev
Career after the Super Series: coach of CSKA and the USSR national team Anatoly Tarasov said: “The USSR national team is CSKA plus Maltsev.” He is the absolute record holder of the USSR national team: he played 319 matches, scoring 212 goals. In all the years he spent at Dynamo, he never became the champion of the USSR.
What he is doing now: in 2009, the Bank of Russia announced the release into circulation of a commemorative silver coin with a denomination of two rubles from the series “Outstanding Athletes of Russia” with the image of Maltsev. In the winter of 2016, he was urgently hospitalized, but was soon discharged from the hospital. Now retired.
Vyacheslav Anisin
Career after the Super Series: played for Spartak, CSKA, Krylya Sovetov, SKA, and at the end of his career he played in Yugoslav and Italian clubs. In the 1973/74 season he became the top scorer of the USSR Championship. Three-time world champion. Since 1996 he has worked as a coach. Father of Olympic figure skating champion Marina Anisina and scandalous hockey player Mikhail Anisin.
What he is doing now: According to rumors, in the summer he assigned his son to Dynamo Moscow, a member of the USSR Hockey Legends team, and regularly attends KHL matches in Moscow.
A contract instead of a “black mark”. Who hired Anisin to Dynamo?
Mikhail Anisin not only returned from the Major League, but also signed a contract with Dynamo. Who installed the scandalous forward?
Career after the Super Series: the author of the first Soviet goal against the Canadians in the 72 Super Series, became a two-time Olympic champion, and spent most of his career at Spartak. After leaving the red-and-white club, the forward played briefly for SKA MVO and Krylya Sovetov, and then moved on to coaching. He became one of the first Russian scouts in the NHL, worked in Philadelphia, and also worked as a commentator and sports columnist.
What he is doing now: From 2009 to 2013 he worked in the KHL Scout Bureau, in 2015 he underwent a serious operation, and now acts as a hockey expert in the press.
Yuri Blinov
Career after the Super Series: 1972 was the most successful year in the striker's career - Olympic gold in Sapporo, silver at the World Championship, performance in the Super Series. He played for CSKA, SKA MVO and Saratov Kristall. He was known for his love of football.
What he is doing now: plays for the USSR Hockey Legends team, attends hockey matches in Moscow.
Vladimir Vikulov
Career after the Super Series: formed the legendary trio with Polupanov and Firsov, which was created by Anatoly Tarasov. Vikulov was often called the “most cunning” forward in the USSR, as well as a “magician of the puck.” He played for CSKA from 1964 to 1979, winning the USSR championship 12 times. He ended his career with SKA Leningrad at the age of 33.
WITH He suffered from serious leg diseases; in the last years of his life he walked with great difficulty and drank heavily. Died on August 9, 2013.
Yuri Lebedev
Career after the Super Series: failed to gain a foothold in CSKA and moved to Krylya Sovetov, where he became the most titled hockey player in the history of the team, spent 13 seasons at the club, and won six world championships. At the end of his career, he worked as a coach and president in his native club.
What he is doing now: continues to play in veterans' tournaments for the USSR Hockey Legends team, and attends CSKA matches.
Alexander Bodunov
Career after the Super Series: a graduate of CSKA, but spent most of his career at Krylya Sovetov, with whom he became the USSR champion in 1974. He played on a line with Anisin and Lebedev; in the championship season, this trio won the Labor Prize, scoring 64 goals. In 1996, he became the first coach of the newly created Vityaz near Moscow.
Alexander Martynyuk
Career after the Super Series: During his career he changed three clubs - Spartak, Krylya Sovetov and the Austrian Kalefenberge. The striker went down in the history of Soviet hockey as the author of the record for goals scored in one match as part of the national team. The historical event took place on April 8, 1973 in a match with the German national team. Martynyuk scored eight times.
What he is doing now: still plays for veteran teams and trains almost every day.
Vyacheslav Solodukhin
Career after the Super Series: a graduate of Leningrad hockey, played for the local SKA. Having made it to the Super Series, he became the first hockey player from the city on the Neva to play against the Canadian team. Four years later, as a member of CSKA, he went to Canada, where he played with Montreal.
U measures in 1979 at the age of 29 in his own garage from car exhaust fumes.
Vyacheslav Starshinov
Career after the Super Series: won all his medals until 1972, and after the Super Series, in which he played only one match, he actually ended his career. As a member of the USSR national team, Starshinov became a two-time Olympic champion and a nine-time world champion. In 1975, he defended his PhD and entered graduate school, subsequently becoming a professor. He worked as a coach in the Japanese club Oji Seishi, as well as Spartak. He served as president of the red and white club.
What he is doing now: is the honorary president of Spartak.
Alexander Volchkov
Career after the Super Series: At the age of 17 he made his way into the CSKA team, and at 20 he received a call to the USSR national team. As part of the army team, he became a ten-time national champion. In 1973 he won gold at the World Championships. He ended his playing career at the age of 31 in Leningrad SKA, which he then coached. He worked as the head coach of CSKA, Vityaz, Sibir and Khimvolokn from Mogilev. Trained the Mironov and Kvartalnov brothers, Sergei Samsonov and Oleg Kvasha.
What he is doing now: plays in veteran tournaments for the USSR Hockey Legends.
Evgeny Mishakov
Career after the Super Series: Mishakov was called Tarasov’s favorite player; he played for CSKA, Sputnik Kaluga, SKA MVO and CSKA. Two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion. After finishing his playing career, he worked as a coach, and in the 90s he repeatedly traveled to the United States to work under contract with young hockey players.
P In the last years of his life he was seriously ill and could only move on crutches. Died of acute heart failure on May 30, 2007.
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