Soviet squad of the 1979 Challence Cup

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Peter25

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Sep 20, 2003
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One of the most unheralded international hockey events has to be the 1979 Challence Cup where the NHL All Stars and the national team of the Soviet Union met in a three-game series. Soviets won the series 2-1 (the final game was 6-0 for the Sovs).

What do you think about this Soviet team? This was their line up in the final game:

Goalies:
Vladislav Tretiak, Vladimir Myshkin (played the last game)

Defensive pairings:
Sergei Starikov - Valeri Vasilyev
Vasili Pervukhin - Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
Yuri Fedorov - Sergei Babinov
Alexei Kasatonov (didn't play but was on the bench)

Vyacheslav Fetisov would have been a lock to make the team but he was injured at the time. He was IMO the top defenseman in the world as early as 1977 or 1978 so he was a big loss for the Soviets.

Forward lines:
Alexander Golikov - Vladimir Petrov - Boris Mikhailov
Sergei Kapustin - Viktor Zhluktov - Helmut Balderis
Mikhail Varnakov - Vladimir Kovin - Alexander Skvortsov
Viktor Tyumenev - Irek Gimayev - Sergei Makarov

(Valeri Kharlamov and Vladimir Golikov were absent because of injuries).

How would you rank this Soviet team? Was it as good or better than the 1981 team that steamrolled over Team Canada in the Canada Cup?


EDIT:

Team NHL had also a pretty decent team with likes of Guy Lafleur, Gilbert Perreault, Bryan Trottier, Bobby Clarke, Mike Bossy, Larry Robinson, Borje Salming, Denis Potvin, Bill Barber, Clark Gillies, Bob Gainey, Darryll Sittler, Serge Savard and two Swedes Anders Hedbergh and Ulf Nilsson. Marcel Dionne was benched in the final game!
 
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