The final best-of-three series of this tournament between Canada and the Soviet Union is considered by many to be the best exhibition of hockey in history.[1] The United States and Soviet Union teams complained about the neutrality of the officiating in the tournament.[2] Russian coach Viktor Tikhonov said he felt the main reason his team lost the final match was because of "bias and errors in refereeing."[3]
The tournament was the only time that arguably two of the most dominant NHL players of all time, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, played on the same forward unit,[1] combining with each other on 29% of Team Canada's goals. The winning Canadian team had 12 future Hockey Hall of Fame members on the roster.[1]
Three closely fought 6–5 games decided the '87 Canada Cup.[1]
In Game 1, Canada erased a 4–1 second period deficit to send the game to overtime, only to lose on Alexander Semak's goal at 5:33 of the extra frame.
In Game 2, which is considered by some to be the greatest hockey game ever played,[1][4] Canada led 3–1 after one period, but this time it was the Soviets who came from behind to tie it 3–3 in the second. Canada scored twice more, each time Mario Lemieux assisted by Wayne Gretzky, but the Soviets replied each time. The tying goal was an end-to-end rush by Valeri Kamensky with 1:04 remaining in regulation time. After a scoreless period of overtime, which featured tremendous goaltending from Grant Fuhr, Gretzky and Lemieux hooked up for the third time of the evening at 10:07 of the second overtime. It was the fifth assist for Gretzky on the night and completed a hat trick for Lemieux.[1]
The Canadians got off to a slow start in the decisive third game. The Soviets scored three times in the first eight minutes to take a 3–0 lead. Canada's grinders took over after that (particularly Rick Tocchet, Brent Sutter, and Dale Hawerchuk), and pulled Canada into a 5–4 lead after two periods. The Soviets tied it back up in the third and the game looked like it would head to overtime again. But late in the third period, Canada coach Mike Keenan, who had been juggling lines all series, sent the trio of Gretzky, Lemieux and Hawerchuk out to play with a faceoff in Canada's end. After Hawerchuk won the faceoff, Gretzky, Lemieux and Larry Murphy rushed up the ice. Soviet defenseman Igor Stelnov was the only man back and he fell down to block a pass across but Gretzky fed the puck back to Lemieux, who fired a shot over the glove of goaltender Sergei Mylnikov with 1:26 remaining. The Gretzky to Lemieux play is one of the most memorable plays in Canadian sports history.