Rendez-vous '87
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| Date | February 11, 1987 | |||||||||||||||
| Arena | Le Colisee | |||||||||||||||
| City | Quebec City, Quebec | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 15,398 | |||||||||||||||
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| Date | February 13, 1987 | |||||||||||||||
| Arena | Le Colisee | |||||||||||||||
| City | Quebec City, Quebec | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 15,395 | |||||||||||||||
Rendez-vous '87 was an ice hockey exhibition series between the Soviet national ice hockey team and a team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League, held in Quebec City. It replaced the NHL's All-Star festivities for the 1986–87 NHL season. The Soviet team was paid $80,000 for their appearance in Rendez-vous '87, while the NHLers raised $350,000 for the players' pension fund.
Rendez-vous '87 was designed as a follow-up to the Challenge Cup series in 1979, hoping that the team of NHL All-Stars could beat the Soviet team, unlike before. To this end, the series was a two-game affair instead of a three-game affair in 1979. The two-game series took place during five days of festivities starting on February 9, 1987 and finishing on February 13. The series was very successful, with some, including Wayne Gretzky, calling for more international hockey, especially between Canada and Russia, the two top powers of hockey at the time.
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[edit] Television coverage
While the telecast in Canada was on CBC as usual, it was not a Hockey Night in Canada production. The game was done as a CBC Sports production as Molson, who owned Hockey Night in Canada's rights at the time, was not allowed access to Le Colisee in Quebec City. Carling O'Keefe Breweries assumed advertising rights for the telecast and the normal host(s) for Hockey Night in Canada in 1987, rookie Ron MacLean and Dave Hodge (before his late season firing) were replaced by Brian Williams. Even the ice blue blazers normally worn by Hockey Night in Canada commentators were replaced by the orange CBC sportcoats. Don Wittman and John Davidson called the action for CBC. The games were shown in the United States on ESPN, with Mike Emrick and Bill Clement in the booth.
[edit] Game One - February 11, 1987
Among one of the few things that did not change over the years was the biased officiating that showed its ugly head in the first game. The Soviet referee, Sergei Morozov, had called one penalty on the Soviet team the entire game, despite numerous violations on the Soviet part.[citation needed] Despite this, the NHL All-Stars managed to squeak out a 4–3 victory, thanks to the line of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen.
- Referee: Sergei Morozov
- Linesmen: Ron Finn, Ray Scapinello
[edit] Game Two - February 13, 1987
Perhaps complacent about the game one victory, the Soviet team managed to match the NHL shot for shot and hit for hit, and, like the NHLers did in game one1, won the contest 5–3 despite the referee being from "the other team". This game featured the emergence of the young Soviet forward line consisting of Valeri Kamensky, Viacheslav Bykov, and Andrei Khomutov. After the game, the players on each team exchanged hockey sweaters as part of the hockey tradition.
- Referee : Dave Newell
- Linesmen : Ron Finn, Ray Scapinello
[edit] External links
- Canada Versus the Soviet Union The heyday of the battle for world hockey supremacy (1972–1987)
- http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/search/label/Rendez%20Vous%20'87 Rendez Vous '87
