Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
By 87 there had been a few exhibition series with the Red Army coming through in 1983 and 1986 plus the Rendezvous 87 series. So between those and Canada cups in 76, 80, and 84. So the players were all pretty familiar with the other side by that time. Very different than in 72 where the players didn't know the Soviets. I remember the NHL teams having to furnish the Soviet teams with new gear when they did their exhibition tour, and the Red Army collected a fee for appearing at Rendezvous 87. So the mystery of 72 wasn't there.
By 87 the Soviet Union was showing cracks especially after the Chernobyl disaster, the stalemate in Afghanistan, and having had three leaders die in short order. But it was still the Iron curtain. Really it was their last stand and the end of that era. Shortly after that a few of those guys made their way to the NHL where some of that Russian style started influencing how NHL teams played
|
And the very first that was allowed to go was the Flames 12th round pick from 1988
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/...y.php?pid=4381