{{Short description|Former men's national ice hockey team representing the Soviet Union}} {{Redirect|The Red Machine||Red Machine (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox national hockey team | Name = Soviet Union | Nickname = The Red Machine ({{langx|ru|Красная машина}}) | Badge = CCCP text logo.svg | Badge_size = 180px | Most games = Alexander Maltsev (321) | Top scorer = Alexander Maltsev (213) | Most points = Sergei Makarov (248) | Team_Colors = | Jerseys = 173px | First game = {{ih-rt|URS|1936}} 23–2 {{ih|GDR|1949}} <br> {{small|(East Berlin, East Germany; 22 April 1951)}} | Largest win = {{ih-rt|URS|1955}} 28–2 {{ih|ITA}} <br> {{small|(Colorado Springs, United States; 26 December 1967)}} | Largest loss = {{ih-rt|CAN}} 8–2 {{ih|URS|1955}} <br> {{small|(Ottawa, Canada; 9 January 1968)}} <br> {{ih-rt|CSR}} 9–3 {{ih|URS|1955}} <br> {{small|(Prague, Czechoslovakia; 21 March 1975)}} | World champ apps = 32 | World champ first = 1954 | World champ best = 16px ''Gold:'' '''22''' (1954, 1956, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990) | Regional name = Canada Cup | Regional cup apps = 5 | Regional cup first = 1976 | Regional cup best = 16px ''Winner:'' '''1''' (1981) | Olympic apps = 9 | Olympic first = 1956 | Olympic medals = 16px ''Gold:'' '''7''' (1956, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988) <br> 16px ''Silver:'' '''1''' (1980) <br> 16px ''Bronze:'' '''1''' (1960) | Record = 738–110–65 | IIHF code = URS }} {{MedalBox|medals= {{MedalCountry|{{ih|URS}}}} {{Medal|Comp|Olympic Games}} {{Medal|Gold|1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo|}} {{Medal|Gold|1964 Innsbruck|}} {{Medal|Gold|1968 Grenoble|}} {{Medal|Gold|1972 Sapporo|}} {{Medal|Gold|1976 Innsbruck|}} {{Medal|Gold|1984 Sarajevo|}} {{Medal|Gold|1988 Calgary|}} {{Medal|Silver|1980 Lake Placid|}} {{Medal|Bronze|1960 Squaw Valley|}} {{Medal|Comp|Canada Cup}} {{Medal|Gold|1981 Canada|}} {{Medal|Comp|World Championship}} {{Medal|Gold|1954 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1963 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1965 Finland|}} {{Medal|Gold|1966 Yugoslavia|}} {{Medal|Gold|1967 Austria|}} {{Medal|Gold|1968 France|}} {{Medal|Gold|1969 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1970 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1971 Switzerland|}} {{Medal|Gold|1973 Soviet Union|}} {{Medal|Gold|1974 Finland|}} {{Medal|Gold|1975 West Germany|}} {{Medal|Gold|1978 Czechoslovakia|}} {{Medal|Gold|1979 Soviet Union|}} {{Medal|Gold|1981 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1982 Finland|}} {{Medal|Gold|1983 West Germany|}} {{Medal|Gold|1986 Soviet Union|}} {{Medal|Gold|1989 Sweden|}} {{Medal|Gold|1990 Switzerland|}} {{Medal|Silver|1955 West Germany|}} {{Medal|Silver|1957 Soviet Union|}} {{Medal|Silver|1958 Norway|}} {{Medal|Silver|1959 Czechoslovakia|}} {{Medal|Silver|1972 Czechoslovakia|}} {{Medal|Silver|1976 Poland|}} {{Medal|Silver|1987 Austria|}} {{Medal|Bronze|1961 Switzerland|}} {{Medal|Bronze|1977 Austria|}} {{Medal|Bronze|1985 Czechoslovakia|}} {{Medal|Bronze|1991 Finland|}} }} The '''Soviet national ice hockey team'''{{efn|{{langx|ru|Сборная СССР по хоккею с шайбой|Sbornaya SSSR po khokkeyu s shayboy}}}} was the national men's ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. From 1954 to 1991, the team won at least one medal each year at either the Ice Hockey World Championships or the Olympic hockey tournament.

After dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Soviet team competed as the CIS team (part of the Unified Team) at the 1992 Winter Olympics. After the Olympics, the CIS team ceased to exist and was replaced by Russia at the 1992 World Championship. Other former Soviet republics (Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine) established their own national teams later that year. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recognized the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia as the successor to the Soviet Union hockey federation and passed its ranking on to Russia. The other national hockey teams were considered new and sent to compete in Pool&nbsp;C.

The IIHF Centennial All-Star Team included four Soviet-Russian players out of a team of six: goalie Vladislav Tretiak, defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov and forwards Valeri Kharlamov and Sergei Makarov who played for the Soviet team in the 1970s and the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/100-years/100-years-of-ice-hockey/home/centennial-all-star-team/|title=Who are the best six of all time?|author=IIHF|year=2008|publisher=IIHF.com|access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref>

==History== [[File:Vsevolod bobrov.jpg|thumb|right|Vsevolod Bobrov during the 1956 Winter Olympics, the Soviet Union's first appearance at the Olympics.]] Ice hockey was not properly introduced into the Soviet Union until the 1940s, though bandy, a similar game played on a larger ice field, had long been popular in the country. It was during a tour of FC Dynamo Moscow of the United Kingdom in 1945 that Soviet officials first got the idea of establishing an ice hockey program. They watched several exhibition matches in London, and National Hockey League President Clarence Campbell would later say that "This was the time when the Russians got the idea for their hockey team. The Russian soccer players were more interested in watching Canadian players play hockey than in soccer."<ref>{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Lawrence|author-link=Lawrence Martin (journalist)|title=The Red Machine: The Soviet Quest to Dominate Canada's Game|publisher=Doubleday Canada|location=Toronto|year=1990|pages=25–26}}</ref> The Soviet Championship League was established in 1946, and the national team was formed shortly after, playing their first matches in a series of exhibitions against LTC Praha in 1948.<ref>{{cite book|last=Martin|title=The Red Machine|pages=31–32}}</ref>

The Soviets planned to send a team to the 1953 World Championships, but due to an injury to Vsevolod Bobrov, one of their star players, officials decided against going.<ref>{{cite book|last=Martin|title=The Red Machine|page=34}}</ref> They would make their debut at the 1954 World Championships instead. Largely unknown to the larger hockey world, the team surprised many by winning the gold medal, defeating Canada in the final game.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-4/|title=Soviets hammer Canada, win gold at their first Worlds|author=IIHF|year=2008|publisher=IIHF.com|access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref> In 2013, the Soviet national team was awarded the IIHF Milestone Award for winning the gold medal<ref>{{cite news|title=Canada's Paul Henderson, Danielle Goyette enter IIHF Hall of Fame|agency=The Canadian Press|date=19 May 2013|work=CBC Sports|location=Toronto, Ontario|url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/canada-s-paul-henderson-danielle-goyette-enter-iihf-hall-of-fame-1.1405484|access-date=17 November 2024}}</ref> in their first appearance at the World Championships and the beginning of a rivalry against Canada.<ref>{{cite book|last=McKinley|first=Michael|title=It's Our Game: Celebrating 100 Years Of Hockey Canada|publisher=Viking Press|date=2014|location=Toronto, Ontario|isbn=978-0-670-06817-3|pages=100–103, 151–152}}</ref>

The Soviets played their first exhibition tour in Canada in 1957, which perpetuated a rivalry between the countries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Red Pucksters To Tour Canada|date=26 August 1957|newspaper=Medicine Hat News|location= Medicine Hat, Alberta|page=7|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-aug-26-1957-1562362/}}{{free access}}</ref> Throughout the rest of the 1950s the World Championships were largely contested between Canada and the Soviet Union. That changed in the early 1960s. Canada won the gold in 1961, and after missing the 1962 tournament due to political issues, the Soviets would win the gold medal every year until 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-5/|title=1972 – Soviet streak of nine straight World golds ends|author=IIHF|year=2008|publisher=IIHF.com|access-date=2017-05-21}}</ref> They faced perhaps their greatest upset at the 1976 World Championships; in their opening match against host Poland, the Soviets were defeated 6–4.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-39/|title=Poland scores biggest shocker in World Championship history|author=IIHF|year=2008|publisher=IIHF.com|access-date=2017-05-21}}</ref>

In 1972 the Soviets played Canada in an exhibition series that saw the Soviet national team play a team composed of National Hockey League (NHL) players for the first time. Both the Olympics and World Championships did not allow professionals, so the best Canadian players were never able to compete against the Soviets, and in protest at this Canada had left international hockey in 1970. This series, known as the Summit Series, was a chance to see how the NHL players would fare. In eight games (four in Canada, four in the USSR), the teams were close, and it took until the final 34 seconds of the eighth game for Canada to win the series, four games to three, with one tie.<ref>{{cite book|last=MacSkimming|first=Roy|title=Cold War: The Amazing Canada-Soviet Hockey Series of 1972|url=https://archive.org/details/coldwar00roym|url-access=registration|publisher=Greystone Books|year=1996}}</ref>

At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Soviets also had one of their most notable losses. Playing the United States in the medal round, the Soviets lost 4–3. This match, later dubbed the Miracle on Ice, was notable because it had the Soviets, recognized as the top international team in the world, against an American team composed largely of university-level players. The Americans would go on to win the gold medal in the tournament, while the Soviets finished with the silver, only the second time they failed to win gold at the Olympics since their debut in 1956.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coffey|first=Wayne|title=The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team|url=https://archive.org/details/boysofwinter00wayn|url-access=registration|publisher=Crown Publishers|location=New York City|year=2005|isbn=9781400047659}}</ref>

The reforms of the 1980s in the Soviet Union had a detrimental effect on the national team. No longer afraid to speak out against their treatment, players like Viacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov openly critiqued the management style of their coach, Viktor Tikhonov, which included being secluded in a military-style barracks for eleven months of the year. They also sought the chance to move to North America and play in the NHL, though the authorities were reluctant to allow this. Negotiations with the NHL began in the late 1980s over this, and in 1989 several players, including both Fetisov and Larionov, were permitted to leave the Soviet Union and join NHL teams.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Yuri Korolev was head of the research group for the national men's team from 1964 to 1992, and contributed to the team winning seventeen Ice Hockey World Championships and seven Winter Olympic Games gold medals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webarchive.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/homeiihf/hall-of-fame/|title=Yuri Korolev (RUS)|year=2011|website=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=2019-07-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://webarchive.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5822&cHash=ddc4899de9641528bc70b98cbdc6fbcd|title=IIHF Hall of Fame welcomes six: Ceremonies also include Loicq winner Yuri Korolev|last=Podnieks|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Podnieks|date=2011-05-15|website=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=2019-07-30}}</ref>

Journalist Vsevolod Kukushkin traveled with the national team as both a reporter and an English to Russian translator. He had access to the team's locker room and the opportunity to speak directly with the players and be part of their daily life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chitaem-vmeste.ru/zvyozdy/interviews/vsevolod-kukushkin-u-kazhdogo-igroka-est-svoe-mesto-v-istorii-hokkeya|title=Всеволод Кукушкин: "У каждого игрока есть свое место в истории хоккея"|date=1 March 2018|website=chitaem-vmeste.ru|language=ru|access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref> In his 2016 book ''The Red Machine'', Kukushkin reported that the nickname for the Soviet national team came into usage during the 1983 Super Series, when a headline in a Minneapolis newspaper headline read "The Red Machine rolled down on us".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iihfworlds2016.com/en/news/russian-hall-of-fame/|title=Russian Hall of Fame: The house where the Big Red Machine lives|last=Lysenkov|first=Pavel|date=4 May 2016|website=2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship|access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref>

===Amateur status of players=== The Soviet team was populated with amateur players who were primarily full-time athletes hired as regular workers of a company (aircraft industry, food workers, tractor industry) or organization (KGB, Red Army, Soviet Air Force) that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours social sports society hockey team for their workers in order to keep their amateur status. However, these players spent all their working hours practicing or training instead of doing their purported industry jobs. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-17.html |title=PROTESTING AMATEUR RULES, CANADA LEAVES INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY |author=IIHF |year=2008 |publisher=IIHF.com |access-date=2017-08-25 }}</ref><ref>Coffey, p.&nbsp;59</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0415/041531.html |title=How the Russians break the Olympic rules |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=15 April 1980 |access-date=6 December 2018}}</ref>

By the 1970s, several national hockey federations, such as Canada, protested the use of the amateur status for players of Eastern Bloc teams and even withdrew from the 1972 and 1976 Winter Games in protest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dailyhive.com/montreal/olympic-hockey-tournament-no-nhl-history |title=What the Olympic hockey tournament looked like before NHL participation |work=The Daily Hive |date=3 April 2017}}</ref>

Until 1977, professional players were not able to participate in the World Championship, and it was not until 1988 that they could play in the Winter Olympics. Starting in 1989, Soviet players were permitted to join the NHL, but NHL teams would not release their players to participate in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. The 1998 Winter Olympics was the first time that the NHL took a break to allow active players to participate. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://dailyhive.com/montreal/olympic-hockey-tournament-no-nhl-history |title=What the Olympic hockey tournament looked like before NHL participation |work=The Daily Hive |date=3 April 2017}}</ref>

==Statistics== '''Leading scorers''' (Olympics, World Championships, Canada Cups, 1972 Summit Series) #Sergei Makarov – 248 points #Aleksandr Maltsev – 213+ points #Valeri Kharlamov – 199 points #Boris Mikhailov – 180 points #Vladimir Petrov – 176 points

==Tournament record== ===Olympic Games=== {{See also|Ice hockey at the Olympic Games}} {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Games !! GP !! W !! L !! T !! GF !! GA !! Coach !! Captain !! Finish |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|ITA}} 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo || 7 || 7 || 0 || 0 || 40 || 9 || Arkady Chernyshev || Vsevolod Bobrov || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:#c96;"|{{flagicon|USA|1959}} 1960 Squaw Valley || 7 || 4 || 2 || 1 || 40 || 23 || Anatoli Tarasov || Nikolai Sologubov || {{Bronze medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|AUT}} 1964 Innsbruck || 8 || 8 || 0 || 0 || 73 || 11 || Arkady Chernyshev || Boris Mayorov || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|FRA}} 1968 Grenoble || 7 || 6 || 1 || 0 || 48 || 10 || Arkady Chernyshev || Boris Mayorov || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|JPN|1870}} 1972 Sapporo || 5 || 4 || 0 || 1 || 33 || 13 || Arkady Chernyshev || Viktor Kuzkin || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|AUT}} 1976 Innsbruck || 6 || 6 || 0 || 0 || 56 || 14 || Boris Kulagin || Boris Mikhailov || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:silver;"|{{flagicon|USA}} 1980 Lake Placid || 7 || 6 || 1 || 0 || 63 || 17 || Viktor Tikhonov || Boris Mikhailov || {{Silver medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|YUG}} 1984 Sarajevo || 7 || 7 || 0 || 0 || 48 || 5 || Viktor Tikhonov || Viacheslav Fetisov || {{Gold medal}} |- | style="background:gold;"|{{flagicon|CAN}} 1988 Calgary || 8 || 7 || 1 || 0 || 45 || 13 || Viktor Tikhonov || Viacheslav Fetisov || {{Gold medal}} |- | {{flagicon|FRA}} 1992 Albertville || colspan="9" | ''As'' {{ih|EUN}} |- | 1994 – present || colspan="9" | ''Since 1994 Soviet Union and Unified Team have been succeeded by'' {{ih|RUS}} |- |}

===World Championship=== thumb|350px|75th anniversary Russian postage stamp {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! Year !! Location !! Result |- | 1954 || Stockholm, {{ih|SWE}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1955 || Krefeld / Dortmund / Cologne, {{ih-rt|FRG}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1957 || Moscow, {{ih|URS}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1958 || Oslo, {{ih|NOR}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1959 || Prague / Bratislava, {{Ih|TCH}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1961 || Geneva / Lausanne, {{ih|SUI}} || style="background:#c96;"| '''Bronze''' |- | 1963 || Stockholm, {{ih|SWE}}||bgcolor=gold| '''Gold''' |- | 1965 || Tampere, {{ih|FIN}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1966 || Ljubljana, {{ih|YUG}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1967 || Vienna, {{ih|AUT}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1968 || Grenoble, {{ih|FRA}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1969 || Stockholm, {{ih|SWE}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1970 || Stockholm, {{ih|SWE}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1971 || Bern / Geneva, {{ih|SUI}} ||bgcolor=gold| '''Gold''' |- | 1972 || Prague, {{Ih|TCH}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1973 || Moscow, {{ih|URS}} ||bgcolor=gold| '''Gold''' |- | 1974 || Helsinki, {{ih|FIN}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1975 || Munich / Düsseldorf, {{ih|FRG}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1976 || Katowice, {{ih|POL}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1977 || Vienna, {{ih|AUT}} || style="background:#c96;"| '''Bronze''' |- | 1978 || Prague, {{ih|TCH}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1979 || Moscow, {{ih|URS}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1981 || Gothenburg / Stockholm, {{ih|SWE}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1982 || Helsinki / Tampere, {{ih|FIN}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1983 || Düsseldorf / Dortmund / Munich, {{ih-rt|FRG}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1985 || Prague, {{ih|TCH}} || style="background:#c96;"| '''Bronze''' |- | 1986 || Moscow, {{ih|URS}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1987 || Vienna, {{ih|AUT}} || style="background:silver;"| '''Silver''' |- | 1989 || Stockholm / Södertälje, {{ih|SWE}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1990 || Bern / Fribourg, {{ih|SUI}} || style="background:gold;"| '''Gold''' |- | 1991 || Turku / Helsinki / Tampere, {{ih|FIN}} || style="background:#c96;"| '''Bronze''' |}

===Summit Series=== * 1972 – Lost to Canada * 1974 – '''Won series against Canada'''

On the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, the IIHF Milestone Award was given to the Canadian and Russian teams for the event which had a "decisive influence on the development of the game".<ref name="Reuters-2012">{{cite news|title=Nová cena IIHF má připomenout přínos mezinárodnímu hokeji|date=29 February 2012|work=Czech Television|agency=Reuters|language=cs|location=Prague, Czech Republic|url=https://sport.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/hokej/nova-cena-iihf-ma-pripomenout-prinos-mezinarodnimu-hokeji/5be00c050d663b6fe815f45d|access-date=17 November 2024}}</ref> Reuters wrote that Canada was expected to win the series easily, but when they came from behind to win in the eighth and final game, it marked "the beginning of the modern hockey era".<ref name="Reuters-2012" />

===Canada Cup=== {{Div col}} * 1976 – Finished in 3rd place * 1981 – '''Won championship''' * 1984 – Lost semifinal * 1987 – Lost final * 1991 – Finished in 5th place {{Div col end}}

===Challenge Cup and Rendez-vous vs. NHL All-Stars=== * 1979 – '''Won series''' * 1987 – Tied series

===Other tournaments=== *Deutschland Cup: {{gold1}} '''Gold medal''' (1988, 1991) *Nissan Cup: {{gold1}} '''Gold medal''' (1990)

==Team== ===Notable players=== <gallery mode="packed-overlay" widths="300px" heights="300px" caption="Leading forwards (1970s)"> File:Boris Petrovich Mikhailov Panini 1979.jpg|link=Boris_Mikhailov_(ice_hockey) File:Vladimir Vladimirovich Petrov Panini 1979.jpg|link=Vladimir_Vladimirovich_Petrov File:Valeri Kharlamov Panini 1979.jpg|link=Valeri_Kharlamov </gallery> {{Div col}} *Yevgeny Babich *Helmuts Balderis *Vsevolod Bobrov *Vyacheslav Bykov *Vitaly Davydov *Vyacheslav Fetisov *Anatoli Firsov *Valeri Kamensky *Sergei Kapustin *Alexei Kasatonov *Valeri Kharlamov *Vladimir Krutov *Alfred Kuchevsky *Igor Larionov *Sergei Makarov *Alexander Maltsev *Boris Mikhailov *Vladimir Petrov *Alexander Ragulin *Vyacheslav Starshinov *Vladislav Tretiak *Valeri Vasiliev *Alexander Yakushev *Yevgeni Zimin *Viktor Zinger {{Div col end}}

===Coaching history=== {| class="wikitable" width=100% !Years !Coach !Achievements |- align=center |1953||Anatoli Tarasov|| |- align=center |1953–1957||Arkady Chernyshev||1 Olympic gold medal, 2 World Championship gold medals, 2 World Championship silver medals |- align=center |1958–1960 ||Anatoli Tarasov||1 Olympic bronze medal, 2 World Championship silver medals |- align=center |1961–1972||Arkady Chernyshev||3 Olympic gold medals, 9 World Championship gold medals, 1 World Championship silver medal, 1 World Championship bronze medal |- align=center |1972–1974||Vsevolod Bobrov||2 World Championship gold medals |- align=center |1974–1977||Boris Kulagin||1 Olympic gold medal, 1 World Championship gold medal, 1 World Championship silver medal, 1 World Championship bronze medal |- align=center |1977–1991||Viktor Tikhonov||2 Olympic gold medals, 1 Olympic silver medal, 8 World Championship gold medals, 2 World Championship silver medals, 2 World Championship bronze medals |- align=center |}

===Former national jerseys=== There were some exceptions to jersey colors, where the Soviet team played in red away rather than white (such as the 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships in Sweden). thumb|Soviet Union national ice hockey jersey 140px 135px 140px 140px 140px 140px 140px

==Dissolution of the Soviet Union== thumb|right|300px After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia succeeded the Soviet Union while its other former republics started competing as their own national teams:

*Armenia men's national ice hockey team *Azerbaijan men's national ice hockey team *Belarus men's national ice hockey team *Estonia men's national ice hockey team *Georgia men's national ice hockey team *Kazakhstan men's national ice hockey team *Kyrgyzstan men's national ice hockey team *Latvia men's national ice hockey team *Lithuania men's national ice hockey team *Turkmenistan men's national ice hockey team *Ukraine men's national ice hockey team *Uzbekistan men's national ice hockey team

==See also== *Russia national ice hockey team *CIS national ice hockey team

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} * {{Citation|last=Martin|first=Lawrence|author-link=Lawrence Martin (journalist)|title=The Red Machine: The Soviet Quest to Dominate Canada's Game|publisher=Doubleday Canada|location=Toronto|year=1990|isbn=0-385-25272-2}} * {{Citation|last1=Podnieks|first1=Andrew|author-link1=Andrew Podnieks|last2=Szemberg|first2=Szymon|title=World of Hockey: Celebrating a Century of the IIHF|publisher=Key Porter Books|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55168-307-2}} {{refend}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Soviet Union national ice hockey team}} * [http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1954/index.htm Hockey CCCP International] * [http://hockeyarchives.ru/national.html Soviet Union national ice hockey team] {{in lang|ru}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20020525010853/http://1972summitseries.com/ 1972 Summit Series.com] * [https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/rainbowcountry/canadarussia.html Canada Versus the Soviet Union (1972–1987)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100228211835/http://www.dgour.webcentre.ca/hockeyalmanac/49INTERNATIONAL.html The Hockey Almanac]

{{Ice hockey in Russia}} {{Men's national ice hockey teams}} {{National sports teams of the Soviet Union}} {{Footer Olympic Champions Men's ice hockey}}

Category:Soviet Union national ice hockey team Category:Former national ice hockey teams National Category:Men's national ice hockey teams