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Sport	Ice Hockey
Name	USSR vs. NHL
Subtitle	Challenge Cup Series
Number	73-01
Info	Because hockey had its roots in Canada, the National Hockey League, inhabited almost totally by Canadian players, has treated the game as its personal property. It is a stance that amused Fred Shero, one of the league's beat coaches and deepest thinkers. Shero, who has studied Russian hockey tactics, warned his NHL colleagues before the 1979 Challenge Cup Series, saying, "Hockey belongs to the world now." The Soviet Union and NHL had met for the first time in 1972 in an eight-game series—the first four played in Canada and the remainder in Russia. The NHL prevailed 4-3-1 but needed to win the last three games—each by a single goal—to win the series. For the next seven years, there were intermittent contacts between the two hockey powers—mostly with individual teams playing each other. The Soviets held a 10-5-2 edge in those games. That set the stage for the 1979 Challenge Cup, which replaced the regular NHL All Star game. All games were played in New York's Madison Square Garden with the NHL stars gathering on a Monday to prepare for the games which were played Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. That gave the NHL stars throe days to get ready. The Soviets had been training for several weeks in the Netherlands, living on New York time and practicing on a rink identical in size to Madison Square Garden. The Canadian team won the first game, 4-2, stunning the Soviets on a goal by Guy Lafleur with the game barely 16 seconds old. That quick goal was to be one of the few bright spots of the Challenge Cup for the NHL stars. Game Two went, 5-4, to the Soviets, who wiped out a two-goal NHL lead on a pair of goals 45 seconds apart by Boris Mikhailov and Sergei Kapustin. The game wasn't as close as the score. The Russians outshot the NHL 31-16. The deciding third game was all Soviet Union. After a scoreless first period, the Russians fired six goals past goalie Gerry Cheevers while the NHL was being shut out by pint-sized Vladimir Myshkin. Mikhailov's third goal of the series touched off the 6-0 rout and helped him wrap up the MVP award. The USSR's patterned play, emphasizing skating, passing and shooting, negated the bully tactics of the NHL. "They've learned a lot from us," said Bobby Clarke of the NHL Philadelphia Flyers. "Now, we should be learning from them."
Photo Info	A lesson from the Soviets
Copyright	© 1979, Edito-Service S.A., Geneva Photo Richard Pilling Printed in Italy 03 005 73-01