From time to time, TheIHLC.com will feature detailed recaps and boxscores of some of the most legendary games in international hockey history, considered to be “IHLC Classics.” Today, in honour of Russia Day (and of the upcoming World Cup of Hockey), we look back at the Soviet Union’s convincing victory at the 1981 Canada Cup, their first (and so far only) title in the tournament.

🇷🇺 Soviet Union 8-1 Canada 🇨🇦
Canada Cup Final
Forum de Montréal, Montréal 🇨🇦
Sunday, 13 September 1981

The 1981 Canada Cup was all about momentum. It was the second edition of the event started five years earlier, and Canada was the prohibitive favourite. There was one significant difference, though. In 1976, the Soviet Union had sent an “experimental” team, not fully knowing the level of competition it would face and worried some of its top players might try to defect. The result was a performance not befitting the country that had claimed World Championship and Olympic gold many times over.

In 1981, it would make no such mistake.
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