1979 Challenge Cup Game 1 Goals - NHL vs USSR

[H222009]

that vladislav tretiak is amazing

[znogypogy]

that diving goal by lafleur is one of the best ive ever seen, suprised its the first time ive ever seen it

[spxmet]

3:13 Trying to work around Datsyuk? ... Sounds like it!

[robertsteven]

I'm Canadian, and I've heard that excuse for years that Canada didn't have enough time to practise. Everytime Canada loses, which was often, it's always "we didn't have enough time to practise". You know, the Russians probably didn't practise that much either. They had to play with their club teams in Russia during the season, so it's not like the Russians could practise 24/7. Also, the Canadians had the added advantage of having Canadian bias referees and playing at home.

[9davlkol]

The nhl from what i saw played great in game 1. Then they lose in game 2 and then got murdered in game 3. Did they give up or did the Soviets just finally play as great as they could have. I guess I've always wondered that. I hope this question made sense. If anyones got an opinion on this I'd love to hear it.

[unnamed00]

Yes the Soviets got better with each game, while the NHLers seemed to be tiring out.

[9davlkol]

yea i suppose so. the soviets were just too well conditioned for the nhl to keep up with. and thanks. its always good to get a second opinion on these things.

[danynumero6]

@unnamed00 They said it best in the movie Miracle. The NHL All-Stars played as individuals. The Soviets played as a team.

[Audioquest56]

Mostly Montreal Canadiens on team NHL with a select few Islanders, Flyers, Leafs. Still, what an amazing group of players. Had they had enough time to play and practice with each other, I'm sure the NHL would have won this. Little did the Soviets realize that in less than one year, they would endure the ultimate embarrassment losing in the Olympics to a group of American college hockey players.

[unnamed00]

They said they had enough practice and that this was not a problem since many were teammates.

[Soundgarder]

@Audioquest56: Would, would, would...

[alexkvaskov]

And the third game was 6-0 in our favor - but the Canadians didn't even give us the Challenge cup - bastards

[unnamed00]

No, the Canadians didn't give the Canada Cup in 1981.

[alexkvaskov]

@unnamed00 Neither did they in 79

[unnamed00]

Maybe they did not give that also, did not hear anything about that.

[rawdawg440]

@alexkvaskov Well the Canadiens made up for it today by kicking your ass 7-3!

[alexkvaskov]

@rawdawg440 just wait for the world championship in may ur going down

[BBQFanNo1]

@alexkvaskov The Russians picked up a big paycheck for coming to North America. No one in the United States and Canada was holding a gun against their Red Army scum commie bastard heads forcing them to stay on the ice to finish the game against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976,Lol.

[alexkvaskov]

@BBQFanNo1 And that is related to my comment.. how?

[NiagaraFalls4424]

The Soviets were really way ahead of their time when it came to advanced styles that did not begin to change in the NHL until the 1980's Stanley Cup winning Oilers teams came around from the mid 1980's on.

[clay70]

Not only was Bossy the master goal scorer, but like Gretzky he was deadly on passes from behind the net..

[BramOtown]

basically canada against russia

[scottwill19]

basically u suck cock

[clebo99]

Am I not seeing it right or was Bossy wearing #25?

[unnamed00]

Yes he was. Shutt had #22.

[MrStones64]

Bossy sucks cock.

[ezhongren]

that was so sweet time! WE WERE BEST IN HOCKEY! USSR rules!

[farrienzo]

they kicked our ass

[artistforrealart]

THANKS!!! Please send the whole games!.

[SamVincent16]

soviets played more like modern day hockey than 70's/early 80's style

[JimR541]

I always felt that if the NHLers had played as a team for a few weeks or so that they might have beaten the Soviets.

[keisari1]

You may be right. But NHLers also had little small rink benefit. For example nowadays Canada and USA have succeeded worse in big rink (Nagano 98 and Torino 06) than in small rink (World Cups and Salt Lake City 02).

[pastorfergus]

@keisari1 Certainly, the larger smaller rink fits well with Canada's physical style of play, but I think you're overstating its impact on Canada's international results. The Salt Lake City rink was actually Olympic sized, not NHL sized. In Nagano, the Canadian team didn't lose a game until it lost in the semifinals in a shoot-out. And of course, in 1972, Canada won the last 3 of the 4 games in Russia on the big surface.

[LatimerKyle]

did they play 6 on fucking 5!?

[Arsenal0304]

Tretiak didn't play so well in this game or game 2. He didn't play very well against the USA in their Olympic game in '80, either. Tretiak was so essential to Soviet dominance that if he had a bad game they could easily lose

[ververgaert]

Lafleur and Perreault at their best. A young Sergei Makarov number 24 for the Soviets. Bobby Orr with some commentary. Yes the Soviets won this series but they probably would rather have won at Lake Placid in 1980.Its worth noting this was Team NHL not Team Canada. This meant Salming, Hedberg and Nilsson played with the Canadians. The Russians were a machine in this era and revenged their loss to the US at the Olys with their 81 Canada Cup victory.

[Cercopithecus47]

Well, Larry Robinson at least more or less said that the Canadian players felt they were playing for their country, when he was being interviewed (between periods) in the final game. Of the 3 Swedes, only Salming got a plenty of ice time.

Of course this series didn't have the same meaning as, say, '72, but the hockey that was played here was much faster and better, and both the Soviets and Canadians (sorry!) had much better teams than in '72.

[DavidEmailman]

What an incredible match in all of sports history. And incredible skill, and seen as well. I was just a kid then when I saw this on TV. Thanks for posting this.

[skullrimer]

lol this match have won the ussr show the ussr goals loser

[Audioquest56]

That NHL squad is full of Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders - 2 teams that dominated at that time.

[rogermaris1961]

But Dryden rarely played well against the USSR, but you were right about playing Cheevers, it was a mistake

[GeneSimmons20]

In his great career as a coach, Bowman made few mistakes. Selecting Cheevers to start in the deciding game was one of them. Cheevers was atrocious. Dryden was a proven performer and was the obvious choice. Cheevers played in the meaningless 1974 Summit Series. 1972 was the last time he had sipped from the Stanley Cup because Dryden and the Canadiens often stood in the way. Had Dryden played in Game 3, the score would not have been 6-0 Russia and, in all likelihood the N.H.L. team would have won.

[Vladdistar]

It did not matter who were in goal for NHL on that fateful night. The Soviets simply steamrolled over the NHLers in fashion... with Dryden in goal it would probably have been 3-0, and still a shutout for Myshkin.

[tirella09]

yes i remember too. I was 24 then and was thinking of going in from NJ to see the Soviets but watched it from home. Great Talent on both sides

[nycgrneys]

I was at this game..a Thursday night in February 1979..NHL scored 16 seconds into the game..then again a moment later but the goal was kicked in by either Gillies or Bossy and disallowed..sat upstairs with my father..I think the tix were $8 each..the Soviets would come from behind on Saturday to take game 2 and then embarrassed the NHL 6-0 on Sunday night to win the series..this was the team that the US olympic team would defeat at Lake Placid a year later.