1979 Challenge Cup (ice hockey)
The 1979 Challenge Cup was a series of international ice hockey games between the Soviet Union national ice hockey team and a team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League. The games were played on February 8, 10, and 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It replaced the NHL's all-star festivities for the 1978–79 NHL season. The Soviets defeated the NHL All-Stars two games to one.
| 1979 Challenge Cup | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | New York City: Madison Square Garden | |||||||||||||||
| Dates | February 8–11, 1979 | |||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | NHL All-Stars: Bill Barber (1990) Mike Bossy (1991) Gerry Cheevers (1985) Bobby Clarke (1987) Marcel Dionne (1992) Ken Dryden (1983) Tony Esposito (1988) Bob Gainey (1992) Clark Gillies (2002) Guy Lafleur (1988) Guy Lapointe (1993) Lanny McDonald (1992) Gilbert Perreault (1989) Denis Potvin (1991) Larry Robinson (1995) Borje Salming (1996) Serge Savard (1986) Steve Shutt (1993) Darryl Sittler (1989) Bryan Trottier (1997) Soviet Union: Valeri Kharlamov (2005) Sergei Makarov (2016) Vladislav Tretiak (1989) Coaches: Scotty Bowman (1991) | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
The team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League included 23 Canadians and three Swedish players. Bobby Orr commenting in the post-game interviews after game two, accidentally called the NHL All-Stars "Team Canada" (because of the number of Canadians on the roster). The Challenge Cup, unlike its predecessor, the Summit Series, included non-Canadian born players in the NHL rosters.
The NHL All-Stars team was coached by Scotty Bowman, and the Soviet Union national team was coached by Viktor Tikhonov.