Soviet Union

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a socialist country that existed in Eurasia from 1922 until 1991. In 1991, it was dissolved into 15 different countries.

History of hockey in the Soviet Union
The first ice hockey games in the Soviet Union weren't played until the 1930s.

The Soviet Ice Hockey Federation was the governing body of ice hockey in the country, which joined the IIHF on April 1, 1952. It left the IIHF on May 6, 1992, when its membership was transferred to Russia.

The Soviet Championship League was contested for the first time in 1946-47. It originally had teams from the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, and Ukrainian SSR's. CSKA Moscow dominated the Soviet League, winning the league title 32 times, including 13 straight between 1977 and 1989. The team also dominated the European Cup, winning it 20 times between 1969 and 1990. The Pervaya Liga operated as the second level Soviet league, and the Vysshaya Liga was the third level league. In some years, the Klass B was contested as the fourth level league. The Soviet Cup was contested 21 times between 1951 and 1989, with CSKA Moscow capturing it 12 times.

The men's national team made its international debut in 1951, routing East Germany by a score of 23-2. Three years later, they made their debut in the World Championships. The team won the gold medal by defeating Canada 7-2 in the final. They would dominate the World Championships, winning 19 gold, seven silver, and four bronze medals between 1954 and 1991. At the Olympic Games, they won seven gold, one silver, and one bronze medal between 1956 and 1988. At the combined European Championship events, they won a total of 34 medals, 27 gold, five silver, and two bronze. In 1972 the team participated in the legendary Summit Series against Canada, which was allowed to use NHL players. The Canadians won the series 4-3-1. In 1974, a rematch of the series was held, but this time Canada used WHA players, and the Soviets won the series. At the Canada Cup, which was held between 1976 and 1991, they won the gold medal once, in 1981, by defeating Canada 8-1 in the final. In 1979, the national team played in a Challenge Cup against the NHL All-Stars. The All-Stars won the first game 4-2, but the Soviets won the next two games by scores of 5-4 and 6-0. In 1987, they played in a two game series called the Rendez-vous again versus the NHL All-Stars. They won the series on aggregate 8-7 after splitting the games. After 1991, the Soviet team competed as the Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Olympics and as the Commonwealth of Independent States at the 1992 World Championship. In 1993, it was replaced by national teams for Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The IIHF recognized the Russian Ice Hockey Federation as the successor to the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation and passed its ranking on to Russia. The other national hockey teams were considered new and sent to compete in Pool C.

The junior national national made its international debut in 1974 at the unofficial World Junior Championships. They won the unofficial world juniors in 1974, 1975, and 1976. At the official tournaments, which started in 1977, the team won the gold medal nine times, the silver medal three times, and the bronze medal twice. In 1992 it was replaced by the Unified Team for one year as the Soviet Union began to break up. Starting in 1993 the team was replaced by teams representing the now-separate republics.