Skip to content

Cold War on Ice

Documents on the political and diplomatic aspects of international hockey during the Cold War. (Image, Soviet stamp commemorating ice hockey at the 1976 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria)

Popular Documents

February 28, 1968

Note from P. Shelest to CPSU Central Committee

A note from P. Shelest to the CC CSPU regarding a suspicious incident relating to Czechoslovak unrest.

April 1, 1969

Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on the events of March 28 and 29, 1969

The Czechoslovakia Executive Committee discusses the anti-Soviet protests of March 28-29 following the defeat of the Soviets by the Czechoslovak national team at the hockey world championships in Stockholm. Segments dealing with procedural or organizational matters and parts where the discussion repeats itself or digresses to other, unrelated issues have been omitted.

March 30, 1969

Letter, Soviet Deputy Head of the Department of the Central Committee P. Ivanshutin, on Czechoslovak Protests following Czechoslovak-Soviet Hockey Game

Letter describing anti-Soviet protests in Czechoslovakia following the defeat of the Soviets in the Ice Hockey World Championships.

April 1, 1969

Record of Conversation, Czechoslovak Defense Minister Martin Dzúr and Soviet Defense Minister Andrei Grechko, Prague

Top Czechoslovak and Soviet military officials discuss the recent anti-Soviet protests in Czechoslovakia following the following the defeat of the Soviets by the Czechoslovak national team at the hockey world championships in Stockholm. Defense Minister and Marshal of the Soviet Union andrei Grechko warned that Warsaw Pact troops would invade again if the Czechoslovak leadership could not contain the anti-Soviet protests.

March 14, 1963

Memorandum from David L. Hackett to John F. Kennedy, 'Why Sweden Beat the United States, 17-2'

The previous day, President Kennedy had complained to Hackett about the poor quality of the United States hockey team during the 1963 World Championships. The US lost repeatedly, including an embarrassing 17-2 loss to Sweden.