Russia will celebrate the 75th anniversary of national hockey with a “marathon” and a retro match – Sport
TASS, December 22. The “Hockey Marathon” and the retro match between “Spartak” and “Salavat Yulaev” will become the main events of the anniversary day for the national hockey. On Wednesday, it will be 75 years since the first USSR championship was held.
Anniversary events are already taking place during the current season. In particular, the jubilee chevrons were sewn on the uniforms of the players of all the clubs of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) and the Russian national team. One of the main events dedicated to the anniversary was the Channel One Cup in Moscow, which took place from 15 to 19 December. The players of the Russian national team in three matches of the tournament went on the ice in a stylized form of the uniform in which the USSR national team played at the 1956 Olympics. In the final duel, Alexey Zhamnov’s charges performed in the form in which the Soviet team won the Games of 1964 and 1968.
On December 10, a postage stamp was issued with the image of the legendary Soviet hockey Valery Kharlamov, Anatoly Firsov and Valery Vasiliev, for which the first cancellation stamp was also made. The decoration of the CSKA-Arena under-stands, where the tournament was held, was carried out in the style of the jubilee brand.
A limited edition of Troika transport cards also began to be issued in November. In November, the first card featuring Vladislav Tretyak, Alexander Yakushev and Alexander Maltsev was released. Before the Channel One Cup, it became known that this series had expanded to 15 cards featuring many legends, including the players of the Russian national team and Russian hockey players, who became bronze medalists of the World Championship three times.
Luzhniki will see the era of the Queen and Gagarin
On the very birthday of national hockey, the “hockey marathon” will take place. It represents the matches that will be played in all 11 time zones of the country – from the Kaliningrad region to Kamchatka. Games are held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, Chita, Angarsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Ufa, Saratov, St. Petersburg and Ingrad. It will be possible to follow the “hockey marathon” on the official website of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.
The KHL retro-match between Spartak and Salavat Yulaev will also be timed to coincide with the anniversary. The game will take place in the small sports arena “Luzhniki” and will be dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight and the atmosphere of the early 60s of the last century in the USSR. The red and white will come to the game in a vintage bus and will play in the uniform in which they became the champions of the country in 1965.
As usual, many activities are planned near and inside the arena. Players and coaches in the photographs released for the match are presented in the form of Soviet cosmonauts, pilots, designers. In particular, the image of the legendary designer Sergei Korolev was tried on by the head coach of the red-and-white Boris Mironov, and the captain of “Spartak” Sergei Shirokov can be seen in the image of the first cosmonaut of the Earth, Yuri Gagarin.
Retro matches organized by “Spartak”, carried out since 2015. Since then, these games have covered all important epochs in the history of the USSR and Russia: from the late 40s to the early 90s. A year ago, “Spartak” even played two such retro matches – with “Ak Bars” and “Vityaz”. They were dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Moscow and the theme of friendship between the peoples of the USSR.