Ice hockey athletes from the Soviet Union entered the international level only in 1953 at student competitions in Vienna. Then, in 1954, at the World Championship in Stockholm, the local team surprised the audience with confident victories, beating the Canadians with a 7: 2 crush ratio.
The team from Russia was officially recognized for the first time as one of the top hockey representatives in the world. It is worth mentioning that the player from Canada still took revenge in 1955. They beat the Russians with a score of 5: 0. By the way, then goalkeeper Nikolai Puchkov enjoyed the greatest popularity.
Russian hockey and Canadian hockey
Anatoly Txarasov, the coach of the USSR team, did his best to make Russian hockey different from Canadian hockey. The team’s defeat from Russia began after 1956 when for the next six years the athletes failed to win the championship. Most notably the 1957 defeat in the World Cup, which was staged on ice in Moscow. After that, the hockey players took only second place, losing to Sweden.
Since 1970, the domestic team started to gain momentum and, as many are certain, the next ten years became the most successful in Russian hockey history. Even in 1972, serious changes took place, a number of players and coaches changed in the team. Then the 1972 Super Series began.
In the first stage, the domestic team fought well. Each match attracted tens of thousands of fans on the arena. In the decisive match with the best representatives of NHL Canada, the Russian team still lost. However, after that, the Canadians actually lost their invincible position in the hockey arena.
Early 1980, after Viktor Tikhonov took over as coach, the USSR team faced another round of defeat. Besides, the ’80s were marked with a number of significant takeoffs, team composition changed, players interchangeably, the game strategy also underwent changes. The Soviet Union defended its Olympic title and outperformed the Canadians.