🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia 5-4 Soviet Union 🇷🇺
Olympic Final Round
Palais des Sports, Grenoble 🇫🇷
Thursday, 15 February 1968

The Soviet Union started to monopolize international hockey in 1963 with their third World Championship Gold medal.

At that tournament in Stockholm, Sweden, they lost one game to the hosts, 2-1, but still claimed Gold on superior goal difference. After that, CCCP played three World Championships and the 1964 Olympics without losing a single game.

Entering the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble they had played 32 consecutive championship games without a loss dating back to 08 March 1963. In the French Alps they extended their record to 37 games as they were preparing to take on their biggest rivals, Czechoslovakia, on 15 February.

The game became a classic that no one who saw it will ever forget. Boris Maiorov gave the Soviets the lead after just 28 seconds, but the Czechoslovaks bounced back, scoring three unanswered goals in less then four minutes. For the rest of the evening the teams played arguably the best international game to date. The pace and emotion was spectacular as the Soviets found themselves in the unique position of having to play come-from-behind hockey.

The CSSR squad had a 4-2-lead going into the final period and when Jaroslav Jiřík (who would one year later become the first player from inside the Iron Curtain to play in the NHL) scored the fifth goal with four minutes left, everyone in the Olympic arena thought the game was as much as over. But the Soviets had one more comeback in them. Viktor Polupanov and Maiorov scored within one minute to make it a 5-4 game as the defending champions staged a furious assault on goaltender Vladimír Dzurilla.

And, indeed, goaltending proved to be the difference. While Dzurilla was superb, the Soviets’ Viktor Konovalenko had a poor game, having surrendered two weak goals. The Soviets could not manage to score the tying goal, and the Czechoslovaks celebrated as if they had ensured their first ever Olympic Gold medal. They hadn’t. An earlier 3-2 loss to Canada and a 2-2 tie against Sweden two days after the Soviet game sealed their fate. Anatoli Firsov and his comrades won their third Olympic Gold after pounding Canada 5-0 on the final day.

Despite handing the Soviets their first loss in five years, the Czechoslovaks had to settle for the Silver. However, the game on 15 February 1968, will never be forgotten.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
00:28 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Maiorov (Zimin)
01:01 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Holík, cross checking
06:43 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Golonka, tripping
07:42 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Starshinov, slashing
14:08 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Zaitsev, hooking
14:33 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Ševčík (Horešovský, Jiřík)
15:27 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Zimin, elbowing
15:27 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Hejma, elbowing
15:43 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Blinov, interference
17:40 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Hejma (Jiřík, Ševčík)
18:06 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Havel (Černý)

2nd Period
22:04 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Masopust, tripping
25:47 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Suchý, hooking
27:03 – 🇷🇺 PP GOAL – Blinov (Firsov)
31:30 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Hejma, holding
36:32 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Blinov, tripping
38:38 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Golonka (Suchý)

3rd Period
50:18 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Masopust, tripping
51:16 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Zimin, slashing
56:01 – 🇨🇿 EN GOAL – Golonka (Jiřík)
56:30 – 🇷🇺 EA GOAL – Polupanov (Firsov, Vikulov)
57:34 – 🇷🇺 EA GOAL – Maiorov (Kuzkin, Starshinov)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇿 Dzurilla (27-31)
L: 🇷🇺 Konovalenko (21-25)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇿 12+9+5 = 26
🇷🇺 10+11+10 = 31

ROSTERS
🇨🇿 Goaltenders: Vladimír Dzurilla, Vladimír Nadrchal. Defence: Josef Horešovský, Oldřich Machač, Karel Masopust, Jan Suchý. Forwards: Josef Černý, Jozef Golonka, Jan Havel, Petr Hejma, Jiří Holík, Jan Hrbatý, Jaroslav Jiřík, Václav Nedomanský, František Ševčík.
🇷🇺 Goaltenders: Viktor Konovalenko, Viktor Zinger. Defence: Viktor Blinov, Vitali Davydov, Viktor Kuzkin, Alexander Ragulin, Igor Romishevsky, Oleg Zaitsev. Forwards: Anatoli Firsov, Anatoli Ionov, Boris Maiorov, Yevgeni Mishakov, Yuri Moiseyev, Viktor Polupanov, Vyacheslav Starshinov, Vladimir Vikulov, Yevgeni Zimin.

Article Credit: IIHF 100 Top Stories Of The Century