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The Soviet national ice hockey team was the national men's
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
team of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. From 1954, the team won at least one medal each year at either the
Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...
or the Olympic hockey tournament. After 1991, the Soviet team competed as the CIS team (part of the Unified Team) at the 1992 Winter Olympics. After the Olympics, the CIS team ceased to exist and was replaced by
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
at the 1992 World Championship. Later that year other
former Soviet republics The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
(
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
,
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, Latvia, Lithuania and
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) established their own national teams. The
International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...
(IIHF) recognized the
Ice Hockey Federation of Russia The Ice Hockey Federation of Russia (russian: Федерация хоккея России, ''Federatsiya Khokkeya Rossii'') is the Sport governing body, governing body overseeing ice hockey in Russia. In 2019 Russia had 110,624 ice hockey playe ...
as the successor to the Soviet Union hockey federation and passed its ranking on to Russia. The other national hockey teams were considered new and sent to compete in Pool C. The
IIHF Centennial All-Star Team The IIHF Centennial All-Star Team is an all-star team of hockey players from international ice hockey tournaments. The team was chosen based on the players' "impact in international ice hockey over a period of at least a decade," with a requirement ...
included four Soviet-Russian players out of a team of six: goalie
Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Considere ...
, defenseman
Vyacheslav Fetisov Viacheslav Alexandrovich "Slava" Fetisov (Russian: Вячеслав Александрович Фетисов, ''Vjačeslav Aleksandrovič Fetisov''; born 20 April 1958) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for HC CS ...
and forwards
Valeri Kharlamov The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...
and Sergei Makarov who played for the Soviet teams in the 1970s and the 1980s were selected for the team in 2008.


History

Ice hockey was not properly introduced into the Soviet Union until the 1940s, though bandy, a similar game played on a larger ice field, had long been popular in the country. It was during a tour of
FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Foot ...
of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in 1945 that Soviet officials first got the idea of establishing an ice hockey program. They watched several exhibition matches in London, and
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
President
Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, th ...
would later say that "This was the time when the Russians got the idea for their hockey team. The Russian soccer players were more interested in watching Canadian players play hockey than in soccer." The
Soviet Championship League The Soviet Hockey Championship (russian: Чемпионат СССР по хоккею) was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, i ...
was established in 1946, and the national team was formed shortly after, playing their first matches in a series of exhibitions against
LTC Praha LTC (Lawn Tennis Club) Praha was a Czech ice hockey club founded in 1903 in Prague. The main sport in this club was originally tennis, with hockey being a minor sport; hockey at the time rather meaning bandy. This changed in 1927 when there was a ...
in 1948. The Soviets planned to send a team to the 1953 World Championships, but due to an injury to
Vsevolod Bobrov Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov ( rus, Все́волод Миха́йлович Бобро́в, p=ˈfsʲevələd bɐˈbrof; 1 December 1922 – 1 July 1979) was a Soviet athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey. He is consider ...
, one of their star players, officials decided against going. They would make their debut at the 1954 World Championships instead. Largely unknown to the larger hockey world, the team surprised many by winning the gold medal, defeating
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in the final game. The Soviets played their first exhibition tour in Canada in 1957, which perpetuated a rivalry between the countries. Throughout the rest of the 1950s the World Championships were largely contested between Canada and the Soviet Union. That changed in the early 1960s. Canada won the gold in 1961, and after missing the 1962 tournament due to political issues, the Soviets would win the gold medal every year until 1972. They faced perhaps their greatest upset at the 1976 World Championships; in their opening match against host
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, the Soviets were defeated 6–4. In 1972 the Soviets played Canada in an exhibition series that saw the Soviet national team play a team composed of
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) players for the first time. Both the Olympics and World Championships did not allow professionals, so the best Canadian players were never able to compete against the Soviets, and in protest at this Canada had left international hockey in 1970. This series, known as the Summit Series, was a chance to see how the NHL players would fare. In eight games (four in Canada, four in the USSR), the teams were close, and it took until the final 34 seconds of the eighth game for Canada to win the series, four games to three, with one tie. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Soviets also had one of their most notable losses. Playing the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in the medal round, the Soviets lost 4–3. This match, later dubbed the Miracle on Ice, was notable because it had the Soviets, recognized as the top international team in the world, against an American team composed largely of university-level players. The Americans would go on to win the gold medal in the
tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
, while the Soviets finished with the silver, only the second time they failed to win gold at the Olympics since their debut in 1956. The reforms of the 1980s in the Soviet Union had a detrimental effect on the national team. No longer afraid to speak out against their treatment, players like
Viacheslav Fetisov Viacheslav Alexandrovich "Slava" Fetisov (Russian: Вячеслав Александрович Фетисов, ''Vjačeslav Aleksandrovič Fetisov''; born 20 April 1958) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for HC CS ...
and
Igor Larionov Igor Nikolayevich Larionov (russian: Игорь Николаевич Ларионов; born 3 December 1960) is a Russian ice hockey coach, sports agent and former professional ice hockey player, known as "the Professor". Along with Viacheslav ...
openly critiqued the management style of their coach, Viktor Tikhonov, which included being secluded in a military-style barracks for eleven months of the year. They also sought the chance to move to North America and play in the NHL, though the authorities were reluctant to allow this. Negotiations with the NHL began in the late 1980s over this, and in 1989 several players, including both Fetisov and Larionov, were permitted to leave the Soviet Union and join NHL teams.
Yuri Korolev Yuri Nikolayevich Korolyov (russian: Юрий Николаевич Королёв; born 25 August 1962 in Vladimir) is a Soviet artistic gymnast who competed during the 1980s, winning many World and European Medals. Part of a deep Soviet team t ...
was head of the research group for the national men's team from 1964 to 1992, and contributed to the team winning seventeen Ice Hockey World Championships and seven Winter Olympic Games gold medals. Soviet journalist
Vsevolod Kukushkin Vsevolod Vladimirovich Kukushkin (russian: link=no, Всеволод Владимирович Кукушкин; born 3 May 1942) is a Russian journalist, writer and ice hockey administrator. He has written for ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'', TASS, RI ...
traveled with the national team as both a reporter and an English to Russian
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
. He had access to the team's locker room and the opportunity to speak directly with the players and be part of their daily life. In his 2016 book ''The Red Machine'', Kukushkin reported that the nickname for the Soviet national team came into usage during the 1983
Super Series The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception ...
, when a headline in a
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
newspaper headline read "The Red Machine rolled down on us".


Statistics

Leading scorers ( Olympics, World Championships,
Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...
s, 1972 Summit Series) # Sergei Makarov – 248 points #
Aleksandr Maltsev Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
– 213+ points #
Valeri Kharlamov The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...
– 199 points # Boris Mikhailov – 180 points # Vladimir Petrov – 176 points


Tournament record


Olympic Games


World Championship


Summit Series

* 1972 – Lost to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
* 1974 – Won series against Canada


Canada Cup

* 1976 – Finished in 3rd place * 1981 – Won championship * 1984 – Lost semifinal * 1987 – Lost final * 1991 – Finished in 5th place


Challenge Cup and Rendez-vous vs. NHL All-Stars

* 1979 – Won series * 1987 – Tied series


Other tournaments

*
Deutschland Cup The Deutschland Cup is an in-season international ice hockey tournament hosted by the German Ice Hockey Federation which has been contested in most years since 1987. Early years (1987–1997) In 1987, the German Ice Hockey Federation created the ...
: Gold medal (1988, 1991) *
Nissan Cup Nissan Cup (french: Coupe Nissan) was an ice hockey tournament for men's national teams, which was played in Switzerland between 1988 Nissan Cup, 1988-1994 Nissan Cup (November), 1994. Originally played in November, the tournament was later moved ...
: Gold medal (1990)


Team


Notable players

File:Boris Petrovich Mikhailov Panini 1979.jpg, link=Boris Mikhailov (ice hockey) File:Vladimir Vladimirovich Petrov Panini 1979.jpg, link=Vladimir Vladimirovich Petrov File:Valeri Kharlamov Panini 1979.jpg, link=Valeri Kharlamov *
Yevgeny Babich Yevgeni Makarovich Babich (7 January 1921 – 11 June 1972) was an ice hockey player who played in the Soviet Hockey League. Biography Babich played for HC CSKA Moscow. He was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame in ...
* Helmuts Balderis *
Vsevolod Bobrov Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov ( rus, Все́волод Миха́йлович Бобро́в, p=ˈfsʲevələd bɐˈbrof; 1 December 1922 – 1 July 1979) was a Soviet athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey. He is consider ...
*
Vyacheslav Bykov Vyacheslav Arkadevich "Slava" Bykov (russian: Вячеслав Аркадьевич Быков, born 24 July 1960 in Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a former Soviet and Russian ice hockey player and a former head coach of the ...
*
Vitaly Davydov Vitali Semyonovich Davydov (russian: Виталий Семенович Давыдов), born 1 April 1939 in Moscow, is a retired Russian ice hockey player who spent his entire club career with Dynamo Moscow of the Top Soviet Hockey Championship. ...
*
Vyacheslav Fetisov Viacheslav Alexandrovich "Slava" Fetisov (Russian: Вячеслав Александрович Фетисов, ''Vjačeslav Aleksandrovič Fetisov''; born 20 April 1958) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for HC CS ...
*
Anatoli Firsov Anatoli Vasilievich Firsov (1 February 1941 – 24 July 2000) was a Russians, Russian ice hockey left wing and center, who competed internationally for the Soviet Union, USSR. In the IIHF World Championships, he won the scoring title four times a ...
*
Valeri Kamensky Valeri Viktorovich Kamenski (russian: Валерий Викторович Каменский) (born 18 April 1966) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player. Playing career Before the National Hockey League (NHL), h ...
*
Sergei Kapustin Sergei Alekseevich Kapustin (russian: Сергей Алексеевич Капустин) (13 February 1953 in Ukhta, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union – 4 June 1995) was an ice hockey player who played in the Soviet Hockey League. He played ...
* Alexei Kasatonov *
Valeri Kharlamov The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...
*
Vladimir Krutov Vladimir Yevgenyevich Krutov (russian: Владимир Евгеньевич Крутов; 1 June 1960 – 6 June 2012), nicknamed "The Tank", was a Soviet ice hockey forward. Together with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, he was part of the fam ...
*
Alfred Kuchevsky Alfred Iosifovich Kuchevsky (russian: Альфред Иосифович Кучевский; 17 May 1931 – 15 May 2000) was a Soviet professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for the HC Krylya Sovetov Moscow of the Soviet Championship League a ...
*
Igor Larionov Igor Nikolayevich Larionov (russian: Игорь Николаевич Ларионов; born 3 December 1960) is a Russian ice hockey coach, sports agent and former professional ice hockey player, known as "the Professor". Along with Viacheslav ...
* Sergei Makarov * Alexander Maltsev * Boris Mikhailov * Vladimir Petrov * Alexander Ragulin *
Vyacheslav Starshinov Vyacheslav Ivanovich Starshinov (russian: Вячеслав Иванович Старшинов; born May 6, 1940 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian former ice hockey player, coach and executive. Starshinov played in the Soviet Hockey League fo ...
*
Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Considere ...
*
Valeri Vasiliev Valeri Ivanovich Vasiliev (russian: Валерий Иванович Васильев; August 3, 1949 – April 19, 2012) was a Soviet and Russian ice hockey defenceman, who competed for the USSR. An eight-time Soviet all-star, Vasiliev was capt ...
*
Alexander Yakushev Alexander Sergeyevich Yakushev (russian: Александр Серге́евич Якушев) (born January 2, 1947) is a former ice hockey player and coach for the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow, Soviet Union, Alexander Yakushev is best known to ...
*
Yevgeni Zimin Yevgeni Vladimirovich Zimin (russian: Евге́ний Влади́мирович Зими́н; 6 August 1947 – 28 December 2018) was a Soviet ice hockey player who played in the Soviet Hockey League. He played for HC Spartak Moscow. ...
* Viktor Zinger


Amateur status of players

Until 1977, professional players were not able to participate in the World Championship, and it was not until 1988 that they could play in the Winter Olympics. However, the Soviet team was populated with amateur players who were primarily full-time athletes hired as regular workers of a company ( aircraft industry, food workers, tractor industry) or organization (
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
,
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
,
Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
) that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours social sports society hockey team for their workers in order to keep their amateur status. By the 1970s, several national hockey federations, such as Canada, protested the use of the amateur status for players of Eastern Bloc teams and even withdrew from the 1972 and 1976 Winter Games in protest.


Coaching history


See also

* Russia national ice hockey team *
CIS national ice hockey team The CIS national ice hockey team was an ephemeral national ice hockey team that represented the Commonwealth of Independent States. Essentially the former Soviet team under a different name, the CIS team existed in the few months between the dis ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Hockey CCCP International



1972 Summit Series.com




{{Footer Olympic Champions Men's ice hockey Former national ice hockey teams
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...