Kelsdad's Sports Memories Hockey Edition, 1976-1978 WHA vs USSR Challenge Series

by Kelsdad

Helmut Balderis. Viacheslav Fetisov. Vladislav Tretiak.  Valeri Kharlamov. 

Even if you're not a hockey fan, most have heard of these names, as they all currently reside in the International Hockey Hall of Fame and, with the exception of Balderis, in the NHL Hall of Fame.

They are among the greatest players in hockey history, and some consider Valeri Kharlamov the greatest player in history, better than even Wayne Gretzky. And they all played for arguably the greatest team in hockey history, the Soviet National Team.

In the fall of 1976, the Czechloslovakian National Team, the defending World Champions, along with the Soviets, began the first ever US tour, competing against the eight teams in the World Hockey Association, WHA. On December 27, 1976, the Soviets came into the final game of their eight game schedule with a record of 5-1-1 record, and were closing out their part of the tour vs. the New England Whalers at the Hartford Civic Center. Surprisingly, the Whalers beat the Soviets 5-2, behind two goals from right wing George Lyle and a strong performance in goal from Cap Raeder.

The following season, the WHA added a second Soviet team, as well as Sweden and Finland, with the games on this tour actually counting in the standings. The second game of this tour was played in Hartford on January 11, 1978, with the Soviets coming away with a 7-4 win, including a goal from Gordie Howe. 

What happened then could never happen today. With the end of the Cold War, with the knocking down of walls, the world is wide open. Some of these great players actually played in the NHL for a time, some of them chose to remain at home, most notably Tretiak. I consider attending these two games to be close to the top of my sporting experiences because they really are once in a lifetime experiences.

To see Gordie Howe playing for the Whalers, to see the great Soviet players. Valeri Kharlamov was killed in a car accident on August 17, 1981 at the age of 33, and yet, today, is still the all-time leading International scorer with 199 points. What might have been if he had played in the NHL?

What this also puts into perspective is this. In these two challenge series, both against the WHA and NHL teams, the Soviets lost four of twenty-six games. Yet in Lake Placid, New York in 1980, they were beaten by a bunch of college kids who had been together about four months.

So the next time ESPN Classic is showing the " Miracle on Ice " game, sit down and watch for a few minutes. But don't watch the US, watch the Soviets. For two reasons. First, again, there will never again be a team that dominant, and two, there may never again be players that good. At least not all on the same team at the same time.