List of the international matches of the Soviet national ice hockey team
The list of international matches for the Soviet national ice hockey team includes all official Sbornaja ( German selection ) games . The Soviet national ice hockey team played 900 games in its history from 1954 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. The result was an impressive record of 725 wins, 110 draws and only 65 defeats. The Russian national ice hockey team is the legal successor to the USSR selection. Taken together, the record balance shows nine Olympic victories and 27 world championship titles.
History of the team
After the first game against the GDR national ice hockey team on April 22, 1951, which ended with a clear 23-2 for the Soviets, they became a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1952 . The team appeared on an international level from 1954. The first opponent was the Finns on January 29, 1954 . The game in Tampere ended with an 8-1 away win. With their first participation in a world championship in the same year, the first title win could be celebrated immediately. In the last tournament game, the then record world champion and Olympic champion Canada was beaten 7-2.
This first triumph heralded a changing of the guard at the top of ice hockey. Canada as the motherland of the sport and at that time 6-time Olympic champion and 15-time world champion, had to cede dominance to the Eastern Europeans. From 1954 to 1991 the Sbornaja won eight Olympic victories , 22 world championship titles and 27 European championship successes as well as 19 victories in the domestic Izvestia Cup . The biggest victory was recorded against Italy on December 26, 1967 . The final score was 28: 2 after it was 18: 0 after the first third. The last game was played on November 10, 1991 on the occasion of the Deutschland Cup . There they separated from the Swedes with 2-2 goals.
The largest number of games was played by striker Alexander Malzew , who played 321 games and scored 213 goals in his 15-year international career (1968 to 1983). This is also a record. The most effective goalscorer (for players with more than 50 games) was Vsevolod Bobrov . In 59 international matches he was able to celebrate 94 goals (1.59 goals per game). The Sbornaya and its successes are closely linked to the name of the legendary coach Viktor Tikhonov , who looked after the team from 1977 to the end. He was the head coach of the gang in 413 games, of which his team came out on top 338 times.
International matches
1954 to 1959
1960 to 1969
1970 to 1979
1980 to 1989
1990 to 1991
Web links
- chidlovski.com: List of results (English)
- hockeyarchives.ru: Result list (Russian)
Notes & individual references
- ↑ chidlovski.com: Website about the Soviet national ice hockey team (English)
- ↑ hockeyarchives.ru: Archive of the results of the international matches (Russian)
- ↑ chidlovski.com: Leaderboards
- ↑ chidlovski.com: coach of the Soviet national ice hockey team (English)