The Best Moment In Each National Team's History

[Namba 17]

Continue.
3. 1979. Total domination of the USSR team.
Challenge cup, February - the NHL team was outplayed totally.
WC, April. Every game was won, in the final round USSR scored 51 and let in 12. The second-best team scored 25 and let in 30. Tikhonov said, that it was "an ideal" team.
Rude Pravo, September. Every game was won, 1st place.
Izvestia cup, December. Every game was won, 1st place.

tbc later...

 

[MaxV]

For Russia:

1. 1972 Summit Series Game 1 - Yes, they didn't win the tournament, but this game was proof that Soviet hockey and their players are as good as world's best.

2. 1981 Canada Cup - The crown jewel for the careers of Green Unit, Tretiak and Vasiliev. Most people don't know this, but this was actually the very first time that the Green Unit played together, as Larionov was still playing for Khimik in the Soviet League. So the whole argument of Soviets winning because of chemistry...

3.1979 Challenge Cup - Seems to be forgotten, but this was still a great win. This was the crown jewel for Mikhailov, Petrov and others from that 70s generation.

4. 1987 Canada Cup game 1 - In general that whole series was awesome. On paper, they were facing the best team ever assembled and they more then held their own. Of course it would have been great to win, but this was certainly a positive point.

5. 1954 World Championship - Yes, I know, I know, the competition was very weak at that time, still this tournament played a MASSIVE role in building of hockey program in Russia. This was the first time they participated and the first time they won the gold.

6. 1976 Olympic Games - As it was already stated, a great come back. OG gold was the top priority.

7. 2008 World Championship - This might be controversial, as there were so many other championships, but that was such a dramatic comeback and on top of that the whole story of no titles in more then a decade.

There were certainly plenty of others, including being the last team to eliminate Canada at best-on-best, but I'm sorry the standards of Russia are much higher then simply beating Canada. Canada played badly in that tournament anyway.


I'm not familiar with every gold Soviets have won (lots of them). Perhaps some posters familiar with history can bring examples of dramatic games. I know they had some serious games vs Czechoslovakia.

 

[Batis]

Continue.
3. 1979. Total domination of the USSR team.
Challenge cup, February - the NHL team was outplayed totally.
WC, April. Every game was won, in the final round USSR scored 51 and let in 12. The second-best team scored 25 and let in 30. Tikhonov said, that it was "an ideal" team.
Rude Pravo, September. Every game was won, 1st place.
Izvestia cup, December. Every game was won, 1st place.

I consider the Soviets performance at the 1979 WHC to be their finest performance ever and also arguably the finest performance by any team ever. Whether it is the best moment for Soviet hockey is of course up for debate as the most impressive moment does not have to be the best moment . But outscoring Czechoslovakia with 17-2 over 2 games is nothing short of incredible. Almost incomprehensible to be honest.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Finland's best moment will be beating Canada in a Best-of-the-best Tournament final.

Somewhere at Barkov/Laine/Ristolainen's peak this will happen.

Oh, that definitely.

 

[Iapyi]

Every nation that ever competed in international hockey has had its best moment. For some countries its easy to figure out what it was, and for other nations it is difficult. Here are my suggestions for some of the better national teams. I'll let you tell me how I'm wrong.

Canada: Probably the toughest since Canada has been so dominant in international hockey (at least when we care). I'm going to declare it a three way tie between the Henderson goal in the 1972 Summit Series, Lemieux's goal assisted by Gretzky to win the 1987 Canada Cup, and Sidney Crosby's golden goal to win the 2010 Olympic gold medal in Vancouver.

Russia/ Soviet Union: There have been many great moments in Russian/ Soviet hockey, but from all the World Championships, Olympic gold medals I'm going to go with the 1981 Canada Cup victory because its the Soviets only best on best tournament win.

U.S.A: The "Miracle on Ice" tops the list because it just has that American underdog spirit about that victory. I'll give an honourable mention to the 1996 World Cup victory over Canada.

Sweden: Its the 2006 Olympic gold medal, and its not even close.

Finland: Finland is difficult because they have finished second so many times, but don't have an Olympic gold medal or Canada/ World Cup to show for it. I'm going to go with the 1995 IIHF World Championship just because they beat Sweden in Sweden for the championship and that had to be sweet. Honourable mentions go to the 2011 World Championship, and the 2016 World Juniors.

Czech Republic: It has to be the 1998 Olympic gold medal.

Slovakia: The 2002 IIHF World Championship win is the nations high point since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

Switzerland: Its either winning silver in the 2013 IIHF World Championships, or upseting Canada in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Belarus: The time they upset Sweden in the 2002 Winter Olympics and came fourth in the tournament.

Latvia: That time they almost upset Canada in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, even though they were heavily outshot.

Great Britain: Surprisingly winning the 1936 Winter Olympic gold medal.

Germany: I don't know, probably the silver at the 1930 IIHF World Championships.

there was great controversy AND the great brit team was canadian players.

http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-15/

http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/02/0...ic-gold-in-hockey-from-undefeated-team-canada

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2010/01/1936-olympics-garmisch-partenkirchen.html

 

[Iapyi]

Continue.
3. 1979. Total domination of the USSR team.
Challenge cup, February - the NHL team was outplayed totally.
WC, April. Every game was won, in the final round USSR scored 51 and let in 12. The second-best team scored 25 and let in 30. Tikhonov said, that it was "an ideal" team.
Rude Pravo, September. Every game was won, 1st place.
Izvestia cup, December. Every game was won, 1st place.

tbc later...

surely the russians don't take to much pride in having a 100% professional team beating a team that got slapped together for some exhibition games? i'm not positive but i don't think the nhl team even had a practice before the games.

 

[Fenway]

Ya, those two for sure and also..... The Forgotten (and original) Miracle on Ice at the 1960 Olympics held at Squaw Valley... which you... "forgot" Weissy Baby.

That was a very big deal in the Boston area,

 

[BalticWarrior]

For Latvia its definitley the victory over Russia in 2000 World Championship.

 

[MaxV]

surely the russians don't take to much pride in having a 100% professional team beating a team that got slapped together for some exhibition games? i'm not positive but i don't think the nhl team even had a practice before the games.

Yeah, ok. Nice try.

That was a 3 game series.

Exhibition? There was a TON of hatred towards Soviets from NHL side, they wanted to destroy them.

 

[Namba 17]

Continue.
4. WC-1954. The first tournament for the USSR team and what a debut it was! The game before the last game was a game vs mighty Sweden team with great Swen Tumba. Tumba opened the score and in the 3-d period a snow storm interrupted the game (sounds like a bad Hollywood screenplay, but it was in reality). After the storm USSR managed to equalize score. The last game was against Canada. In case of Canada defeated USSR another game between Sweden and USSR should have taken place. Nobody believed, that USSR managed to do a thing against Canada and tournament organizers began to sell tickets for planned tie-breaking game between the Soviets and Swedes (Hollywood continues). There are a lot of legends and gossips about the night before the game in Soviet coaching stuff. They said that someone (some believes it was Tarasov) suggested to retain strength, not to struggle against Canada to be prepared to Sweden game. They said that someone suggested to wake Bobrov up to ask his opinion about this and that Chernyshov answered to it "There is no need to wake Bobrov up" which became an aphorism (Hollywood go on).
Anyway, USSR won 7-2 and everybody realized that a new hockey power appeared.

 

[MaxV]

Czech fans haven't replied yet. Everyone assumes that it's the OG gold, but they also had MAJOR political beef games with Soviets that went WAY beyond hockey.

 

[Theokritos]

Czech fans haven't replied yet. Everyone assumes that it's the OG gold, but they also had MAJOR political beef games with Soviets that went WAY beyond hockey.

Winning gold over the Soviets in 1972 on home soil was massive for Czechoslovakia. Also, defeating the USSR twice in the 1969 World Championship, less than a year after the Invasion, was a huge thing.

 

[Namba 17]

I consider the Soviets performance at the 1979 WHC to be their finest performance ever and also arguably the finest performance by any team ever.

Agree. Soviet team was just on another level. I've never seen anything like that.

 

[Namba 17]

Continue.
5. CC-1981. Everybody knows about that.

So, that's my top-5 USSR/Russia national team best moments.

 

[Fenway]

For the Soviet Union I am going to submit Game 1 of the 1972 Summit Series.

Game 1 proved that the USSR players could indeed compete against the best from the NHL. Most 'experts' didn't even think the Russians could win one game.

 

[Theokritos]

Folks, stop with the trolling and try to add something to the debate instead of mocking people. Both sides are called upon.

 

[Batis]

surely the russians don't take to much pride in having a 100% professional team beating a team that got slapped together for some exhibition games? i'm not positive but i don't think the nhl team even had a practice before the games.

You should really check out this interview with Larry Robinson from game 3 of the Challenge Cup where he compares the tension surrounding the game with the tension of a game 7 Stanley Cup final and even says that he has a even bigger lump in his throat during this game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgm0V-LAlxc&t=56m25s

The Challenge Cup was hyped up as the series of the century and I would say that the level of play during the series was incredibly high.

And if you check out the line-up of the NHL All-Stars you will see that they had plenty of players who played together at the club level (many of them even on the same line). Yes the Soviets still had an advantage when it comes chemistry but it is not as if there was no chemistry in the NHL line-up.

 

[VMBM]

USSR/Russia:
1. AINEC - 1976 OG gold. The very same year USSR lost to CSSR at WC. OG was the main award for USSR, we had no rights to lose this tournament.
The decisive game vs CSSR. After the first period USSR is 0 CSSR is 2. And then - simultaneously two minor penalties in the USSR team - it's 5 on 3 for full 2 minutes! When the score was 0-2! CSSR couldn't score, in the 2nd period USSR managed to equalize, but CSSR managed to score again, when it was 9 minutes before the end of the game. USSR scored twice, though, and got golden medals.
But that was a GAME! Probably, the most dramatic game on OG hokey tournament ever

And not even close?

1976 Olympics was one the worst big hockey tournaments ever, quality-wise! (Arguably the worst in the 1970s.) You know that a tournament is poor when the West Germany ends up winning a medal (bronze); they never even got close in any other tournament, Olympics or World Championships. Sweden and Canada did not participate with any kind of team, plus USA had a poor team, and Finland one of its worst teams ever. Obviously USSR and CSSR would still have been the favourites, even if those other teams had had their best or at least a good team (minus Canada, of course, but it wasn't very realistic at the time anyway), but I think the overall quality of a tournament should matter in this conversation.

As for the Soviets, it saved some of their reputation in 1976, but I think the win at the 1978 World Championship (that you had #2) was the most important Soviet win up to that point, and it happened in the most hostile of places (for the Soviets), Prague. In the gold-medal game vs Czechoslovakia, they needed to win by two goals, and this they achieved - just barely (3-1). A loss (or a tie, or a win only by a goal) would have meant that USSR would have lost the gold medal for the third time in a row - a total disaster for Soviet hockey. And unlike at the 1976 OG, Canada and Sweden had teams present - not great ones, but anyway. Also, Tikhonov said that the 1978 WHC was the happiest victory of his career, even though USSR went on to win e.g. the 1981 CC, 1984 & 1988 OG, and numerous world championships.

BTW, In the game vs CSSR at the 1976 Olympics, USSR (just) needed a tie to win the gold... Yes, the game still had a fairly dramatic ending, and Kharlamov's GWG was a nice icing on the cake.

 

[VMBM]

You should really check out this interview with Larry Robinson from game 3 of the Challenge Cup where he compares the tension surrounding the game with the tension of a game 7 Stanley Cup final and even says that he has a even bigger lump in his throat during this game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgm0V-LAlxc&t=56m25s

The Challenge Cup was hyped up as the series of the century and I would say that the level of play during the series was incredibly high.

And if you check out the line-up of the NHL All-Stars you will see that they had plenty of players who played together at the club level (many of them even on the same line). Yes the Soviets still had an advantage when it comes chemistry but it is not as if there was no chemistry in the NHL line-up.

Not to mention that important players like Valeri Kharlamov (g1) and Vladimir Golikov (g2) were injured, and so USSR had to create some new line-combinations for game 2 and 3. There were also a lot of newcomers on the team. I mean, did e.g. Viktor Tyumenev (Krylya Sovetov at the time) have much experience of playing together with Mikhailov and Petrov (game 2)? I don't think so. Or Irek Gimaev playing with anybody on the team? Tretiak was also playing badly in the first two games, and so Tikhonov put Myshkin in goal for the deciding game... hardly an ideal situation, although it worked in that game.

 

[Ivo]

For Czech Republic and Slovakia a frontrunner is the 1969 World Championships where Czechoslovakia beat the Soviet Union twice in the same tournament. This was only a few months after the Soviet Union invaded and occupied the country, so it was felt as hugely important and satisfying.

Of course, from a sports perspective only, it's Nagano for the Czechs and 2002 World Championships for Slovaks.

 

[Namba 17]

And not even close?

1976 Olympics was one the worst big hockey tournaments ever, quality-wise! (Arguably the worst in the 1970s.) You know that a tournament is poor when the West Germany ends up winning a medal (bronze); they never even got close in any other tournament, Olympics or World Championships. Sweden and Canada did not participate with any kind of team, plus USA had a poor team, and Finland one of its worst teams ever. Obviously USSR and CSSR would still have been the favourites, even if those other teams had had their best or at least a good team (minus Canada, of course, but it wasn't very realistic at the time anyway), but I think the overall quality of a tournament should matter in this conversation.

As for the Soviets, it saved some of their reputation in 1976, but I think the win at the 1978 World Championship (that you had #2) was the most important Soviet win up to that point, and it happened in the most hostile of places (for the Soviets), Prague. In the gold-medal game vs Czechoslovakia, they needed to win by two goals, and this they achieved - just barely (3-1). A loss (or a tie, or a win only by a goal) would have meant that USSR would have lost the gold medal for the third time in a row - a total disaster for Soviet hockey. And unlike at the 1976 OG, Canada and Sweden had teams present - not great ones, but anyway. Also, Tikhonov said that the 1978 WHC was the happiest victory of his career, even though USSR went on to win e.g. the 1981 CC, 1984 & 1988 OG, and numerous world championships.

BTW, In the game vs CSSR at the 1976 Olympics, USSR (just) needed a tie to win the gold... Yes, the game still had a fairly dramatic ending, and Kharlamov's GWG was a nice icing on the cake.

It was a game against the main rival with the most dramatic scenario ever. That 2 min PK precisely was, probably, the best moment in the whole USSR team history. As for quality of the whole tournament - it didn't matter - it was great CSSR team and it was enough, even if tournament consisted of that one game it would be the best moment. You just feel it when you rewatch the game. Yes, 1978-WC probably was more meaningful, but I just couldn't put anything ahead of that game.

 

[Iapyi]

You should really check out this interview with Larry Robinson from game 3 of the Challenge Cup where he compares the tension surrounding the game with the tension of a game 7 Stanley Cup final and even says that he has a even bigger lump in his throat during this game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgm0V-LAlxc&t=56m25s

The Challenge Cup was hyped up as the series of the century and I would say that the level of play during the series was incredibly high.

And if you check out the line-up of the NHL All-Stars you will see that they had plenty of players who played together at the club level (many of them even on the same line). Yes the Soviets still had an advantage when it comes chemistry but it is not as if there was no chemistry in the NHL line-up.

i was a younger man then and personally experienced the exhibition series. i also remember and experienced the way society was at the time.

did the players take it serious? yes.

was a set of exhibition games in which the soviet union had a huge advantage? yes.

did the nhl team even have a practice together? i can't remember but i don't think they did.

does any of this matter when my only point before the desk fort got all defensive was that surely in all the decades they've been playing hockey was they had greater accomplishments then this exhibition series.

i guess what it comes down to is they have so little to grasp onto when they have actually "beaten" the best that they need to use this 3 game exhibition series from almost 40 years ago.

i guess i just thought they had greater achievements then this piddly little series so if it makes them feel good then i guess they can latch onto it and hold it dear to their hearts.

all the power to them.

 

[VMBM]

does any of this matter when my only point before the desk fort got all defensive was that surely in all the decades they've been playing hockey was they had greater accomplishments then this exhibition series.

Yes, they did. But who chose this as USSR's greatest achievement anyway?

It still deserves a mention. And 3 games is still more than USSR and Canada played at the 1976, 1981 and 1984 Canada Cups. Don't forget that especially in 1981-87 the Soviet Union and Canada were often considered the only hockey countries in the world that mattered.

 

[Iapyi]

Yes, they did. But who chose this as USSR's greatest achievement anyway?

It still deserves a mention. And 3 games is still more than USSR and Canada played at the 1976, 1981 and 1984 Canada Cups. Don't forget that especially in 1981-87 the Soviet Union and Canada were often considered the only hockey countries in the world that mattered.

i suppose. i guess canada has so many greater achievements and victories that an exhibition series seems very insignificant to me.

i'm not trying to belittle or be obnoxious about this, it just seems to me the great ussr hockey machine should have higher standards. but again i suppose they 'won' and those 'wins' are very rare so it apparently is a big deal to them.

if we would have won it would be bottom rung or more likely not even on the ladder.

 

[Orange Dragon]

For Czech republic (including former Czechoslovakia):

1. "Tournament of the Century", Nagano 1998
Many generations of Czechoslovak hockey players dreamed about the gold medal from Olympics. They often came close but always fell short. On route to gold Czech team defeated all heaviest favorites in USA, CAN and RUS with memorable Hasek performance.

2. "Hockey against tanks", WHC 1969
Few months after invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw pact forces, Czechoslovaks managed to defeat the Soviets in both matches in the tournament. It might sound silly to the outsider but ice hockey was the only way how could tiny Czechoslovakia fight back. It wasn't possible politically and it was absolutely unthinkable to fight back with arms. Every player on ice new that whole nation is watching and expects nothing but victory against Soviets. Although Czechoslovakia finished third in the tournament, players were welcomed at home as champions and true heroes.
http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-18/

3. "The golden hat trick", 2001 WHC
The era of Czech international dominance was sealed with the third victory at World Championships in row and Czech hockey was its absolute peak. Until these days no one was able to replicate this feat since the playoff format was adopted at Worlds.

4. 2005 full NHL lockout WHC
Quite a lot of posters here don't recognize this tournament as best on best tournament even though all NHL players were available, and average Czech fan probably doesn't even care about such things, but Czechs proved again they can win against the best.

5. 1976 Canada cup
Everyone was expecting Canada-Soviet show, but Czechoslovakia managed to surprise everybody including Canada, when they beat their team 1-0 in the group stage. Czechoslovakia finished second in the tournament after losing both final games (including 6-0 blowout loss), but proved they can stack against the world's best very well.