The 1979 Challenge Cup was a series of international ice hockey games between the Soviet Union national ice hockey team and a team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League.^[1] The games were played on February 8, 10, and 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It replaced the NHL's all-star festivities for the 1978–79 NHL season. The Soviets defeated the NHL All-Stars two games to one.

The team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League included 23 Canadians and three Swedish players. Bobby Orr commenting in the post-game interviews after game two, accidentally called the NHL All-Stars "Team Canada" (because of the number of Canadians on the roster). The Challenge Cup, unlike its predecessor, the Summit Series, included non-Canadian born players in the NHL rosters.

The NHL All-Stars team was coached by Scotty Bowman, and the Soviet Union national team was coached by Viktor Tikhonov.

NHL All-Stars roster

Nat.	No.	Player	Pos.	Team
	10	Guy Lafleur	RW	Montreal Canadiens
	19	Larry Robinson	D	Montreal Canadiens
	23	Bob Gainey	LW	Montreal Canadiens
	22	Steve Shutt	LW	Montreal Canadiens
	11	Gilbert Perreault	C	Buffalo Sabres
	17	Marcel Dionne	C	Los Angeles Kings
	27	Darryl Sittler	C	Toronto Maple Leafs
	8	Lanny McDonald	RW	Toronto Maple Leafs
	16	Bobby Clarke – C	C	Philadelphia Flyers
	20	Bryan Trottier	C	New York Islanders
	25	Mike Bossy	RW	New York Islanders
	9	Clark Gillies	LW	New York Islanders
	4	Barry Beck	D	Colorado Rockies
	18	Serge Savard	D	Montreal Canadiens
	3	Guy Lapointe	D	Montreal Canadiens
		Robert Picard	D	Washington Capitals
	5	Denis Potvin	D	New York Islanders
	7	Bill Barber	LW	Philadelphia Flyers
	21	Don Marcotte	LW	Boston Bruins
	35	Tony Esposito	G	Chicago Blackhawks
	29	Ken Dryden	G	Montreal Canadiens
	30	Gerry Cheevers	G	Boston Bruins
		Ron Greschner	D	New York Rangers
	26	Börje Salming	D	Toronto Maple Leafs
	12	Ulf Nilsson	C	New York Rangers
	15	Anders Hedberg	RW	New York Rangers

Soviet Union roster

Nat.	No.	Player	Pos.	Team
	12	Sergei Starikov	D	Traktor Chelyabinsk
	22	Viktor Zhluktov	F	CSKA Moscow
	5	Vasili Pervukhin	D	Dynamo Moscow
	9	Vladimir Kovin	C	Torpedo Gorky
	24	Sergei Makarov	RW	CSKA Moscow
	10	Mikhail Varnakov	LW	Torpedo Gorky
	11	Aleksandr Skvortsov	RW	Torpedo Gorky
	25	Vladimir Golikov	F	Dynamo Moscow
	23	Aleksandr Golikov	F	Dynamo Moscow
	13	Boris Mikhailov – C	F	CSKA Moscow
	16	Vladimir Petrov	F	CSKA Moscow
	17	Valeri Kharlamov	F	CSKA Moscow
	7	Gennadiy Tsygankov	D	CSKA Moscow
	6	Valeri Vasiliev	D	Dynamo Moscow
	8	Sergei Kapustin	F	CSKA Moscow
	2	Yuri Fedorov[2]	D	Torpedo Gorky
	14	Zinetula Bilyaletdinov	D	Dynamo Moscow
	19	Helmuts Balderis	RW	CSKA Moscow
	18	Irek Gimayev	F	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
	21	Viktor Tyumenev	F	Krylya Sovetov Moscow
	4	Sergei Babinov	D	CSKA Moscow
	20	Vladislav Tretiak	G	CSKA Moscow
	1	Vladimir Myshkin	G	Krylya Sovetov Moscow

Uniforms

The NHL vastly simplified their white All-Star uniforms, removing most of the striping and stars. The NHL shield on the front was enlarged, while the logos on the shoulders remained the same. The striping was reduced to two thin stripes, orange over black, separated by a thin white stripe. The names on the back remained in black with orange trim, and the numerals remained orange with black trim.

The Soviet team used their standard red national uniforms, which they also used when touring against the teams of the World Hockey Association (while billed as the "Soviet All-Stars"). The jerseys featured two white stripes at the waistline - one thin stripe over a wider stripe studded with red diamonds. The sleeve stripes followed a similar pattern, but without the diamonds on the wide stripes, and an additional white stripe below the wide band. While the Soviet team normally used Cyrillic script on its uniforms, the names on the back of the jerseys for the Challenge Cup were romanized for the event. The front of the jerseys retained the Cyrillic СССР initials.

Game log

Game 1

• Date: Thursday February 8, 1979
• Location: New York City: Madison Square Garden
• Attendance: 17,438

Score

NHL All-Stars 4 - Soviet Union 2

Officials

• Referee- Bob Myers
• Linesman- Ray Scapinello
• Linesman- John D'Amico

Game 2

• Date: Saturday February 10, 1979
• Location: New York City: Madison Square Garden
• Attendance: 17,438

Score

NHL All-Stars 4 - Soviet Union 5

Officials

• Referee- Viktor Dombrovski
• Linesman- Matt Pavelich
• Linesman- Ron Finn

Game 3

• Date: Sunday February 11, 1979
• Location: New York City: Madison Square Garden
• Attendance: 17,545

Score

NHL All-Stars 0 - Soviet Union 6^[3]

Officials

• Referee- Andy Van Hellemond
• Linesman- Leon Stickle
• Linesman- Claude Bechard

Broadcasters

In the United States, Game 2,^[4] which was held on a Saturday afternoon, was shown on CBS^[5] as part of CBS Sports Spectacular.^[6][7][8] The network refused to expand CBS Sports Spectacular to carry the game in full^[9] so instead, the show came on during the second intermission,^[10] showed taped highlights of the first two periods, and then showed the final period live. The lead-in to Sports Spectacular was The World's Strongest Man. The then-CBS affiliate in Boston, the old WNAC-TV, broadcast a local college hockey game that led into Sports Spectacular.

The network, the show and their sponsors had a problem with the rink board advertising^[11] that the NHL sold at Madison Square Garden, and refused to allow them to be shown on television. As a result, CBS viewers were unable to see the far boards above the yellow kickplate, and could only see players' skates when the play moved to that side of the ice. Games 1 and 3 were shown on the NHL Network,^[4][12] where the advertising was no problem.

Dan Kelly and Lou Nanne called the game for CBS while Dick Stockton served as the host.