Historically, the main rival of the Russian hockey team (and the USSR at one time) is Canada. The founders of the game from North America have a long history of meetings with the Red Machine, and the matches of these teams always cause a stir around the world.

However, our team suffered the biggest and most painful defeat in its history from another, no less principled opponent. Moreover, the USSR team “burned out” twice with a devastating score with a difference of only a year.

They say that Leonid Brezhnev watched the humiliation of our hockey players. And he was furious.

Leonid Brezhnev / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Okunev

The defeat of the USSR national team at the 1974 World Cup

The rivalry with distant Canada has always stood apart, and among the close, European countries, Czechoslovakia and Sweden stood out. There were bright “cuts” with the Swedes, but it was with the Czechs that the confrontation was of a mega-principled nature. And it’s not about sports. After the “Prague Spring” of 1968, when the USSR authorities did not support the change in the political course of Czechoslovakia, the hockey battle between the two giants became politically tinged. Therefore, losing to the Czechs on ice was many times more offensive than to the same Swedes.

And to lose devastatingly is the same as falling into the ground. This happened in 1974 at the World Championships in Finland. That defeat appears in the top statistics of the performances of the USSR team, because it became the largest in the history of official matches. The Soviet team lost to Czechoslovakia with a score of 2:7. They say that the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev personally observed the failure of our hockey players.

The Soviet leader liked to come hunting in the village of Zavidovo, in the Tver region, where his residence was located. Brezhnev, as you know, was an ardent fan of hockey, so he could not miss the World Cup match, and even more so with the Czechs. It turned out that he saw the biggest defeat of the national team with his own eyes, and they say that Leonid Ilyich almost broke the TV with rage.

By the way, this defeat stirred up the national team so much that the USSR eventually won the tournament, taking revenge on the Czechs with a score of 3: 1 along the way. But the head coach Vsevolod Bobrov was fired after the World Cup. According to many testimonies, it could not have done without intervention from above.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Somov

The USSR national team lost even more a year later

True, already in an unofficial match, but to the same principled opponent. In March 1975, the USSR national team “flew” the Czechs with a score of 3: 9, it was at the Izvestia prize tournament. Our team was coached by Boris Kulagin, but, unlike Bobrov, they did not remove him after the defeat. Later, Kulagin justified the trust and won the World Championship, winning enchantingly in all ten matches, and then he took the gold of the Olympics.

By the way, we also hit Canada with a huge score. In 1968, the USSR lost 2:8, that match was friendly. However, nine missed goals from the Czechs look much more painful. And in general, neither the Soviet nor the Russian team has ever lost a bigger one.

In fairness, the Czechs suffered much more from the USSR. At the 1979 World Championship, the Red Machine beat Czechoslovakia 11:1!

Neither the USSR nor Czechoslovakia have been on the map for a long time, but the confrontation between Russians and Czechs is still the sharpest and most intense thing in world hockey. And how can one not regret once again that the officials of the International Ice Hockey Federation left the audience without such a spectacle at the World Championships in Finland.