Get on the loose! – Sport – Kommersant

In March 1972, two months before US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Moscow, which became one of the most important stages of the policy of détente, Soviet and Canadian officials agreed to hold a series of eight hockey matches between the national teams. For the first time, professionals from the Canadian side took part in competitions of this level – the stars of the NHL who were considered invincible. For both countries, where hockey is more than a game, the confrontation was not only sporting, but also of great political importance.

The Super Series format assumed that four matches would be held in Canada, four more in Moscow. The first throw-in was held personally by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who was looking for rapprochement with the social bloc. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and a passionate fan Leonid Brezhnev attended the Moscow stands.

In the first match on September 2, the USSR national team defeated overseas rivals with a score of 7:3. The victory of the Soviet team on the ice in Montreal was interpreted only as the superiority of the communist system over the capitalist one.

“We lived in a democratic society, our colleagues in a communist one, but I knew that these games were a great event in the history of hockey in Canada and, possibly, in the USSR. Such an exchange was the first for the Soviet people since the creation of communism, ”recalled the head of the NHL Players Association, Alan Eagleson.

As a result of the entire series, the Canadians still prevailed. The 1972 Super Series launched a whole series of similar confrontations that continued until the collapse of the USSR.