Soviet national ice hockey team

USSR Sbornaya
Association	Soviet Ice Hockey Federation
Most games	Alexander Malzew (321)
Most of the points	Sergei Makarov (248)
statistics
First international game 23-2 against GDR (April 22, 1951 in Berlin , GDR )
Last game 2-2 against Sweden (November 10, 1991 in Frankfurt am Main , Germany )
Biggest win 28-2 against Italy (December 26, 1967, Colorado Springs , USA )
Biggest loss 8-2 to Canada (Jan 9, 1968, Ottawa , Canada )
Olympic games
Participation	10 (from 1956)
Best result:	eight-time Olympic champion
World Championship
Participation	34 (from 1954)
best result	22-time world champion
World cup
Participation	since 1976
best result	five-time winner
(As of February 26, 2010)

Scene from the decisive game against Canada at the 1954 World Cup

The Soviet national ice hockey team ( Russian : Сборная СССР по хоккею с шайбой ; transcription : Sbornaja SSSR pa chokkeju s schaiboi ) was considered the best national ice hockey team in the world.

When it appeared on the international competition stage in 1954, the Soviet Union began to replace Canada as the dominant ice hockey nation, and from 1963 onwards, its selection team finally won most of the intercontinental tournaments. However , "Sbornaja", consisting primarily of Russian players, was only able to win the Canada Cup once ( 1981 ). With the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 and the assumption of legal succession by Russia , the Soviet national team also ceased to exist. Based on the founding of the CIS by former Soviet republics, the United Team took part in the ice hockey competitions of the 1992 Winter Olympics, which continued the successful tradition of the USSR selection by winning the gold medal. The same was initially true for the Russian team , which from then on took the place of the “Sbornaja” and in 1993 increased the collection of World Cup titles to 23. But already with the disappointing performance at the World Cup in 1992 , when the record world champion came back from a major event without winning a medal for the first time in his history with fifth place, the end of the Soviet / Russian ice hockey era had been indicated. In fact, Russia went without a medal for the next eight years. The only exception during this period was the 1998 Winter Olympics , in which the team took silver.

Dispute over continued Soviet dominance

Since the shift in the balance of power in amateur ice hockey in the mid-1950s in favor of the Soviet and Czechoslovak teams, the question of legitimate amateur status has repeatedly been raised among observers. In order to bring about a supposed equality of opportunity against the teams of the two Eastern Bloc countries, which consisted of so-called state amateurs , efforts were therefore primarily made by the Canadian association to lift the rigorous entry ban for professional athletes at World Championships and the Olympic Games.

When an application by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association for admission of six to nine players to the National Hockey League per tournament at the international amateur ice hockey association IIHF failed, the record world champion from Canada stayed away from all events between 1970 and 1976. However, when professional players were allowed to take part in ice hockey world championships and Olympic tournaments from 1976 onwards, the teams from Canada and the USA, which primarily benefited from this measure, did nothing to change the long-standing Soviet dominance. The North American teams continued to consist largely of college players from the CIS and NCAA , as numerous professionals were not available due to the play-offs taking place at the same time in the NHL or voluntarily refused to start at the Winter Games or World Cup. The fact that amateur ice hockey was played on significantly wider playing fields than in the NHL also made the North American style of playing, which is more physically robust than the Soviet and Czechoslovakian versions, often ineffective.

The main reason for the superiority of the "Sbornaja", however, was cited by many experts as the unmistakable interplay of the well-rehearsed squad, which for years was almost identical to that of the Soviet serial champions CSKA Moscow . This fact, which also gave the USSR an advantage over Czechoslovakia, allowed Soviet teams to persist against professional teams on North American soil. The encounters against the other “ice hockey superpower” Canada in the two Summit Series in 1972 and 1974 as well as in the Canada Cup were marked by the game of two equal opponents. At club level, CSKA Moscow also won most of its comparisons against the host NHL teams in the North American tours held as part of the Super Series .

Trainer

• 1953 Anatoly Tarasov
• 1954–1957 Arkady Chernyshev
• Vladimir Yegorov
• 1958–1960 Anatoly Tarasov
• 1961–1972 Arkady Chernyshev
• 1972–1974 Vsevolod Bobrov
• 1975–1977 Boris Kulagin
• 1977–1991 Viktor Tikhonov

Major players

• Helmuts Balderis
• Vsevolod Bobrov
• Vyacheslav Bykov
• Valery Kharlamov
• Vyacheslav Fetisov
• Anatoly Firsow
• Alexei Kassatonov
• Viktor Konovalenko
• Vladimir Krutov
• Igor Larionov
• Sergei Makarov
• Alexander Malzew
• Boris Mikhailov
• Vladimir Petrov
• Alexander Ragulin
• Vladislav Tretyak

statistics

Olympic games

• Olympic Champion : 1956 , 1964 , 1968 , 1972 , 1976 , 1984 , 1988 , 1992 ( as a united team )
• Silver medal : 1980 ( see also Miracle on Ice )
• Bronze medal : 1960

No participation in the Olympic Games up to and including 1952

World Championship

• World champions : 1954 , 1956 , 1963 , 1964 , 1965 , 1966 , 1967 , 1968 , 1969 , 1970 , 1971 , 1973 , 1974 , 1975 , 1978 , 1979 , 1981 , 1982 , 1983 , 1986 , 1989 , 1990
• Silver medal : 1955 , 1957 , 1958 , 1959 , 1972 , 1976 , 1987
• Bronze medal : 1960 , 1961 , 1977 , 1985 , 1991

No World Cup participation up to and including 1953 and 1962

Summit Series

• 1972 - Lost to Canada with three wins, one draw and four losses
• 1974 - Won against Canada with four wins, three draws and one loss

Canada Cup

• 1976 : Third place
• 1981 : first place
• 1984 : semi-finals
• 1987 : Second place
• 1991 : Fifth place

See also

• List of the international matches of the Soviet national ice hockey team
• Soviet U20 national ice hockey team
• Ice hockey in the Soviet Union
• Russian national ice hockey team

Web links

Commons : Soviet National Ice Hockey Team  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• НЕОФИЦИАЛЬНЫЕ МАТЧИ СБОРНОЙ СССР
• ВСЕ МАТЧИ СБОРНОЙ СССР ПО ХОККЕЮ
• Soviet Squads at azhockey.com

Remarks

1. ↑ Who Was Better? Team Canada or Team Soviet Union: The Final Stats (1972-1987). Retrieved on March 4, 2010 (English, According to unofficial statistics, there were 30 comparisons between 1972 and 1987 between a Soviet national team and a team Canada, which was exclusively made up of professionals . With 13 to 12 wins in favor of the USSR and five draws, the balance sheet is almost balanced ( Goal difference URS 124 - CAN 109). ).