Soviet Union National Team
World Ice Hockey Champions 1979
European Ice Hockey Champions 1979

Team Roster
Gennadiy Tsygankov, Valeri Kharlamov, Sergei Makarov, Sergei Babinov, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, Aleksandr Golikov, Vasili Pervukhin, Alexander Skvortsov, Sergei Starikov, Irek Gimayev, Yuri Lebedev, Sergei Kapustin, Vladimir Lutchenko, Alexander Yakushev, Viktor Zhluktov, Vladimir Golikov, Vladimir Petrov, Vladimir Myshkin, Valeri Vasiliev, Boris Mikhailov, Helmuts Balderis, Vladislav Tretiak

Head Coach - Viktor Tikhonov
Coach - Vladimir Yurzinov
Head of Hockey - Vyacheslav Koloskov
Administrator - Anatoli Seglin
Masseur - Grigory Avseenko
Doctor - Boris Sapronenkov

Геннадий Цыганков, Валерий Харламов, Сергей Макаров, Сергей Бабинов, Зинэтула Билялетдинов, Александр Голиков, Василий Первухин, Александр Скворцов, Сергей Стариков,, Ирек Гимаев, Юрий Лебедев, Сергей Капустин, Владимир Лутченко, Александр Якушев, Виктор Жлуктов, Владимир Голиков, Владимир Петров, Владимир Мышкин, Валерий Васильев, Борис Михайлов, Хельмут Балдерис, Владислав Третьяк

старший тренер - Виктор Васильевич Тихонов
тренер - Владимир Владимирович Юрзинов
администратор - Анатолий Владимирович Сеглин
начальник управления хоккея - Вячеслав Иванович Колосков
массажист - Григорий Авсеенко
врач - Борис Сапроненков

The 1979 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union from 14 to 27 April. Eight teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of four, and the best two from each group advancing to the final group. The four best teams then played each other twice in the final round. This was the 46th World Championship and at the same time, the 57th European Championship. In the May 1978 congress many rules were aligned with NHL practices and archaic rules (like changing ends half way the third period) were finally officially abandoned. The games were very well attended, setting a record by averaging over eleven thousand spectators per game.

The Soviets wished the tournament to be finished before the May Day celebrations began, so the schedule was moved up one week allowing for less NHL players being eligible. The hosts won all seven games they played capturing their 16th title, the only game that was even close was their early match with West Germany, which they won three to two. The competition for the bronze (at least) was tight with Sweden edging out the Canadians. After the tournament NHL star Marcel Dionne praised the level of play and offered the following criticism of North American play, "only the media can change things here. Tell them how the European teams play with so much talent. Tell them that they play without a fight. Let them realize that if a kid does not know how to skate and shoot, but just to fight, he should not be allowed to be a hockey player. There are so many idiots who run hockey, so stupid, so stupid. Tell them.