Super Series '76
Super Series '76 was the first of the "Super Series" ice hockey exhibitions, which saw club teams from Soviet Championship League touring North America to play against teams from the National Hockey League (NHL). The games were played in late December 1975 through the early part of January 1976, in the middle of the regular schedules of the NHL and Soviet league.
History
The series was groundbreaking in that Soviet club teams had never played against NHL teams. The games, like the subsequent Canada Cup tournaments which also began in 1976, were not treated like exhibitions. The 1976 Super Series were a veritable "clash of hockey titans", as they involved the best teams of each league including the reigning Soviet champions, HC CSKA Moscow (Central Sports Club of the Army Moscow), also called "The Red Army Club", and Krylya Sovetov Moscow (translated as Soviet Wings Moscow). Both Soviet teams were supplemented by other All-Stars from their league. NHL teams involved included the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Philadelphia Flyers and soon-to-be 1976 champions Montreal Canadiens.[1][2]
In the early games Red Army trounced the
The series continued with the Buffalo Sabres dominating the Soviet Wings, winning 12-6, their only defeat in the series and the Wings coming back to beat the Chicago Black Hawks. The Red Army defeated Boston Bruins and the Soviet Wings beat the Islanders.
In their final game, Red Army suffered a
-At the end of the tour, the Red Army's final tally was 2-1-1 and the Soviet Wings finished 3-1. Red Fisher had this comment in the Montreal Star following the close of the series:
They were grand and talented visitors, but the Soviets do not represent a hockey season in this area - and should not. The Soviets won the series 5-2-1, but all of the dialogue in the wake of Philadelphia's awesome wipeout of the Red Army team focused on the Soviets' failure to beat the National Hockey League's best 3 teams. Their best was unable to beat our best, which makes the over-all results considerably less than important.
Results
Red Army
- December 28, 1975: Red Army 7 New York Rangers 3
- December 31, 1975: Red Army 3 Montreal Canadiens 3
- January 8, 1976: Red Army 5 Boston Bruins 2
- January 11, 1976: Red Army 1 Philadelphia Flyers 4
Soviet Wings
- December 29, 1975: Soviet Wings 7 Pittsburgh Penguins 4
- January 4, 1976: Soviet Wings 6 Buffalo Sabres 12
- January 7, 1976: Soviet Wings 4 Chicago Black Hawks 2
- January 10, 1976: Soviet Wings 2 New York Islanders 1
Officials
- Soviet referee Yury Karandin officiated the December 28, and January 11 (as a linesman) Red Army matches.[5]
See also
- Aggie Kukulowicz, Canadian-born Russian language interpreter for the series
- HC CSKA Moscow
- 1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game
- Super Series '76-77
- Super Series
References
- ^ "1976 rout of Soviets a top moment in Sabres history". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Superseries 1975-75: CSKA and Krylya Sovetov vs NHL clubs".
- ^ Lucas Aykroyd (2007-08-11). "The Greatest Tie Ever: Montreal Versus Red Army in 1975". hockeyadventure.com. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
- ^ "Legends of Hockey - Spotlight - Steve Shutt - the Pinnacle". Archived from the original on 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
- ^ Bektemirov, Farid (2012-08-09). "Юрий Карандин – человек, отсудивший величайший матч в истории". Чемпионат (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-02-21.
External links
- Legends of Hockey writeup on the series
- Write up on series from Flyers web site
- Super Series site
- 1976 rout of Soviets a top moment in Sabres history Archived 2010-11-18 at the Wayback Machine
- The game I'll never forget: Rick Martin: the French connection winger recalls beating the vaunted Soviet Wings in a 1976 exhibition match, Hockey Digest, March 2003