Four Soviets, Three Golds

Left : ALEXANDER RAGULIN, the battleship on the blue line

Right : ANATOLI FIRSOV, the highly-skilled scoring machine

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A 5-2 defeat of Eastern-bloc rival CZECHOSLOVAKIA at Sapporo in 1972 clinched a third successive Olympic title for the SOVIET UNION.

The triumph resulted in a fourth set of gold medals for the USSR national ice hockey team in only five trips to the Winter Games.

Whereas the 19-year-old USSR goaltender VLADISLAV TRETIAK pocketed his first-ever Olympic gold medal in Japan, three other veteran Soviet internationals became champions at the Winter Games for no less than a third time.

High-scoring CSKA Moscow left wing ANATOLI FIRSOV (30) in addition to CSKA Moscow defensemen ALEXANDER RAGULIN (30) and VIKTOR KUZKIN (31) as well as Dynamo Moscow rearguard VITALY DAVYDOV (32) accomplished that which no other ice hockey player has been able to surpass since.

The four skaters competed on three Soviet teams which compiled a record of 18 wins against but one loss and a single tie at the Winter Olympic Games from 1964 thru 1972.