The Finns Swedes Czechs and Canadians felt the pain too. :-)
I used to love the precision passing and solid clacks as the Russkies and Finns faced off.. the NHL got nothing on those teams, except the grand kids and kids spawned from those teams.
True that... but then again, the Finns, Swedes, et al are BORN on the ice, so to speak... those kids are skating by 5 years old.
I remember laughing my ass off when the Russkies went crying off the ice... they were told “Get back out or you don’t get paid...”
Gee... thought “Communist Discipline and doctrine” was all they needed... hehehe..