What was the greatest tournament win by a men's team other than Canada?

[Miller Time NYR]

Lake placid miracle on ice 1980 without a fraction of a doubt.

 

[Everlasting]

Sweden 94? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbjbYT3mg4Q&feature=related

Also 2006 when the swedes won the world championchip and the olympics

 

[Drake1588]

The greatest tournament win by any team in history is the Miracle on Ice. It is bigger than 1972.

Moreover, you can close the book. It's never going to get bigger than 1980. You aren't going to see a shocking result like 1980 ever again, chiefly because of the unique circumstances. There will never be Russian pros serving under amateur status with the Red Army again. These tourneys will either involve amateurs or pros across the board, but not a mixed bag.

The Canadians' best NHL players, for example, will never be defeated in Olympic play by college players from the States — not because such a result is impossible, but because such a matchup is inconceivable. Every team is going to bring its very best, or else its best amateurs.

The 1980 victory is absolutely a bigger deal than 1972. Canadians will dispute that, of course, but they eked out a victory in a series that they were supposed to win. The stage was bigger in 1972, yet the 1980 result produced a huge shockwave in North America. Where 1972 marked some of the best hockey that anyone had seen, and introduced Soviet hockey to the world, the result in 1980 produced millions of hockey fans where there had been none, in the world's wealthiest country. That victory is the direct forerunner to the 30-team NHL.

Of course, nothing comes close after 1980 and 1972 (regardless of the order in which you choose to rank the two).

 

[jekoh]

The greatest tournament win by any team in history is the Miracle on Ice. It is bigger than 1972.

I dont know, that 1972 win by Czechoslovakia over USSR in the World Championships was pretty massive, the USSR had won the previous 9.

 

[Peter25]

Biggest Russian/Soviet wins:

- 1954 World Championships: The Soviet Union participated in the hockey tournament for the first time and won the gold medal straight away.

- 1964 Olympics: The first olympic gold medal for the Soviet Union

- 1973 World Championships: The Soviet Union was crushingly dominant on their home ice in Moscow. Trojka Petrova (Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov) scored an unthinkable 86 points in the tournament.

- 1978 World Championships: The Soviet Union ended a short period of Czechoslovakian dominance in world hockey. Czechs had won the 1976 and 1977 World Championships, and they had an extremely strong team in the late 1970s. The Soviets led by Trojka Petrova and the young Fetisov on defense beat the Czechs in Prague and ended the Czech winning streak.

- 1979 Challenge Cup: The Soviets revenged the 1972 loss to Canada by defeating the NHL All Stars convincingly in New York. The final game ended with a crushing 6-0 victory for the Soviets. The NHL All Stars never matched the speed and stamina of the athletically more gifted Soviets.

- 1979 World Championships: Another crushingly dominant victory on home ice for the Soviets. The Soviet national team of 1979 is still the best hockey team ever assembled.

- 1984 Olympics: Viktor Tikhonov got his olympic gold medal after the fiasco in Lake Placid. So did the KLM line with Fetisov and Kasatonov on defense.

- 1992 olympics: The Soviet Union had just broken up, but the Russians won the gold medal against Eric Lindros and Canada.

- 2008 world championships: Russia ended a 15 year drought. A Russian team had previoisly won the gold in 1993.

 

[Sony Eriksson*]

What BobRouse said. It's easily the 1980 U.S. win at the Olympics.

 

[New User Name]

Miracle On Ice without a doubt.

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

Hasek winning the Olympics.

Yup. Most dominant performance I ever saw.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

The greatest tournament win by any team in history is the Miracle on Ice. It is bigger than 1972.

Moreover, you can close the book. It's never going to get bigger than 1980. You aren't going to see a shocking result like 1980 ever again, chiefly because of the unique circumstances. There will never be Russian pros serving under amateur status with the Red Army again. These tourneys will either involve amateurs or pros across the board, but not a mixed bag.

The Canadians' best NHL players, for example, will never be defeated in Olympic play by college players from the States — not because such a result is impossible, but because such a matchup is inconceivable. Every team is going to bring its very best, or else its best amateurs.

The 1980 victory is absolutely a bigger deal than 1972. Canadians will dispute that, of course, but they eked out a victory in a series that they were supposed to win. The stage was bigger in 1972, yet the 1980 result produced a huge shockwave in North America. Where 1972 marked some of the best hockey that anyone had seen, and introduced Soviet hockey to the world, the result in 1980 produced millions of hockey fans where there had been none, in the world's wealthiest country. That victory is the direct forerunner to the 30-team NHL.

Of course, nothing comes close after 1980 and 1972 (regardless of the order in which you choose to rank the two).

By that reasoning, "David and Goliath" was a greater story than "The Iliad" because David was a huge underdog.

The twists and turns, power shifts, and undercurrents weaved into the '72 series are a lot more epic (in the true sense of the word) and compelling than a one-off win for the US over Russia.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Biggest Russian/Soviet wins:

- 1954 World Championships: The Soviet Union participated in the hockey tournament for the first time and won the gold medal straight away.

- 1964 Olympics: The first olympic gold medal for the Soviet Union

- 1973 World Championships: The Soviet Union was crushingly dominant on their home ice in Moscow. Trojka Petrova (Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov) scored an unthinkable 86 points in the tournament.

- 1978 World Championships: The Soviet Union ended a short period of Czechoslovakian dominance in world hockey. Czechs had won the 1976 and 1977 World Championships, and they had an extremely strong team in the late 1970s. The Soviets led by Trojka Petrova and the young Fetisov on defense beat the Czechs in Prague and ended the Czech winning streak.

- 1979 Challenge Cup: The Soviets revenged the 1972 loss to Canada by defeating the NHL All Stars convincingly in New York. The final game ended with a crushing 6-0 victory for the Soviets. The NHL All Stars never matched the speed and stamina of the athletically more gifted Soviets.

- 1979 World Championships: Another crushingly dominant victory on home ice for the Soviets. The Soviet national team of 1979 is still the best hockey team ever assembled.

- 1984 Olympics: Viktor Tikhonov got his olympic gold medal after the fiasco in Lake Placid. So did the KLM line with Fetisov and Kasatonov on defense.

- 1992 olympics: The Soviet Union had just broken up, but the Russians won the gold medal against Eric Lindros and Canada.

- 2008 world championships: Russia ended a 15 year drought. A Russian team had previoisly won the gold in 1993.

I'd add the 1981 Canada Cup win. Only time the Soviets beat a Gretzky led team for a tournament championship.

 

[zeus3007*]

I don't believe anything comes close to the Miracle on Ice back in 1980.

This, despite what we Canadians think, this is probably the most impressive hockey win ever.

I mean, Canadian's don't lose hockey tournament, humph. If we don't win, it isn't important.

 

[Epsilon]

My problem with considering the Miracle On Ice for this is that people remember winning a game, not a tournament. Had the USA lost that final game to Finland, would their upset over the Soviets really be remembered that much less fondly than it is today?

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

1980 might be a little too easy, because of the enormity of the upset.

I'll go with the OP on this one, simply because it was a true best-on-best that included a pretty stacked Canadian team that was still defeated by the USA.

Although the 1980 Miracle was more of an upset, I think because you had so many unbelieveably great players involved, that it has to rank as the best win by the USA ever, if not the most miraculous.

 

[Peter25]

I'd add the 1981 Canada Cup win. Only time the Soviets beat a Gretzky led team for a tournament championship.

True. How could I forgot that? LOL.

Anyway, the Soviets rebounded strong in 1981 after the Lake Placid fiasco. The Soviets easily won the World Championships in Sweden. The final between Soviet Union and Sweden ended with an unthinkable score of 13-1.

Canada Cup was played in the next fall. The Soviet Union was surprisingly vulnerable in round robin, and was less than stellar in the semifinal against Czechoslovakia, but crushed Canada 8-1 in the final. Canada, led by Gretzky, Lafleur, Bossy, Dionne, Trottier, Gainey, Potvin, Robinson and Bourque, was a favorite before the final, but the Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretyak stoned them in the first period, and after that Canada simply collapsed. An unknown but very solid centerman Sergei Shepelev scored three straight goals, and Canada was defeated. The third period was only a formality.

The defeat came as a big shock to Canada which also affected the future Canada Cups. The 1981 final was judged by a Swede Dag Olsson, but the future Canada Cup finals and semifinals in 1984 and 1987 were judged by Canadian referees even when Canada was playing. The decision was made by Alan Eagleson, a convicted criminal and the organizer of this tournament.

It is widely recognized that the refereeing in the 1984 semifinal and 1987 finals was hugely biased and unfair in favor of Canada, and thus the reputation of this tournament was tarnished. In any other sport it would be unthinkable to have a referee from a country that is participating in the game. Shame.

 

[DamonDRW]

I don't agree. The USSR had an almost unlimited amount of preparation time which in my opinion made them appear a lot better than they actually were. Prep time is a HUGE factor in these short tournaments where most teams are assembled only days or weeks before the tournament starts. Once the prep time advantage was gone the Russian / Soviet / Czech competitiveness was greatly reduced.

Agree to an extent. Still this does not explain Czech domination late in 90s and early 2000s. I think they were the best team over 5-7 years span (1997-2002)

 

[LeftCoast]

The 1981 final was judged by a Swede Dag Olsson, but the future Canada Cup finals and semifinals in 1984 and 1987 were judged by Canadian referees even when Canada was playing. The decision was made by Alan Eagleson, a convicted criminal and the organizer of this tournament.

It is widely recognized that the refereeing in the 1984 semifinal and 1987 finals was hugely biased and unfair in favor of Canada, and thus the reputation of this tournament was tarnished. In any other sport it would be unthinkable to have a referee from a country that is participating in the game. Shame.

The rest of your post is fine - the Soviets in 1981 were dominant.

However the reason for the change in officiating was that the European refs, at that point in time, were amateur. For the most part, they were not full time, paid professionals and there were huge disparities in standards of officiating between leagues. Employing full time, paid, professional, NHL refs improved the quality of the officiating - even if it meant that Canadian officials reffed Canadian games.

This wouldn't happen in other sports because because other sports have stronger international governance (as I understand it, even now, the IIHF is run part time by a dentist) and higher standards and consistency in officiating from one league to another.

The only bias in officiating in 1984 and 1987 was that every touch and hit did not result in a penalty. That probably favored the more physical teams.

 

[Macman]

The defeat came as a big shock to Canada which also affected the future Canada Cups. The 1981 final was judged by a Swede Dag Olsson, but the future Canada Cup finals and semifinals in 1984 and 1987 were judged by Canadian referees even when Canada was playing.

Sigh. Paul Stewart reffed many of those games and he was an American.

 

[Peter25]

However the reason for the change in officiating was that the European refs, at that point in time, were amateur.

What was wrong with Dag Olsson in 1981? Was he amateurish and in what way?

It is arrogant to claim that the reason for Canadian refs in CC final was because Euro refs sucked. The real reason was that Canada could not defeat the Soviets with other refs than Canadian or American.

The only bias in officiating in 1984 and 1987 was that every touch and hit did not result in a penalty. That probably favored the more physical teams.

Bull. The rules were not the same for the two teams. Canada could break the rules and not called for penalties, where each Soviet infraction was called. And too many bogus penalties for the Soviets too.

Believe me, the reffing in 1984 and 1987 tournaments was the biggest reason why the Soviets did not officially win them.

 

[Peter25]

Sigh. Paul Stewart reffed many of those games and he was an American.

Yes, and Stewart called off two legal Soviet goals in the second final, and ignored Mark Messier crosschecking the Soviet goalie to his face mask.

 

[Peter25]

How Canada won the 1987 tournament:

3rd final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCh4PtteLuY

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Bull. The rules were not the same for the two teams. Canada could break the rules and not called for penalties, where each Soviet infraction was called. And too many bogus penalties for the Soviets too.

Believe me, the reffing in 1984 and 1987 tournaments was the biggest reason why the Soviets did not officially win them.

I think the statute of limitations for whining about reffing is no more than a decade.

 

[Peter25]

I think the statute of limitations for whining about reffing is no more than a decade.

Not whining, just stating the obvious.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

How Canada won the 1987 tournament:

3rd final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCh4PtteLuY

Obvious proof. An edited Youtube video.

I think we can all rest easy tonight, justice has been done.

 

[Peter25]

Obvious proof. An edited Youtube video.

I think we can all rest easy tonight, justice has been done.

Edited? Nice conspiracy theory there.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Edited? Nice conspiracy theory there.

I'm sure with some time, a few Tim Hortons coffees, and my old collection of WJC/World Cup/World Championship/Canada Cup/Olympic videos I could come up with a pretty sweet three hour video showing all the Russian dives and stick infractions over the past thirty years.

And then...nothing will change. The winners will still have won, and more importantly, the losers will still be losers. Refs miss calls, water is wet, and your Youtube video is a piece of junk that is about as useful in proving your point as me watching the movie JFK and blaming the CIA and Cubans as I sit eating a bag of Doritos and down another fine Canadian beer.