The Cold War-s strangest diplomatic tool is back on the ice

Foreign stars in the KHL show how hockey keeps crossing borders that politics has made harder to navigate
Did you know that the Irish gifted ice hockey to the world? Well, it’s between ourselves and the Scots, but everywhere I went in Canada, hockey experts and fans would regale me with how Irish soldiers, serving with the British Army, kept their hurling, Ireland’s ancient sport, going in the winter by converting ice-covered ponds and fields for play. Unable to use a hide bound small ball, they eventually settled on using lumps of coal that would be visible against the white playing surface. Vladislav Tretiak, the greatest goalkeeper of all time, reminded me of the Irish contribution to his beloved game every time we’ve met.
Irish gave a lot of players to hockey, he told me in Ulyanovsk, and they’re proud of their roots.
I would like that in giving the sport to the world, we Irish have therefore contributed to one of the most important processes in this increasingly divided world of ours – sports diplomacy. And, as always, ice hockey is leading the way.
The Summit SeriesIn 1972, Canada and the Soviet Union played an eight-game series, which Tretiak starred in, with the Canucks winning 4-3, with one game tied. Soviet mastery and surprising grit stood up to Canadian violence and rock ‘em, sock ‘em hockey. It was a watershed moment at a time when sport built a bridge, with Ottawa even establishing an International Sports Relations Desk.
The Canadians were tough, my God, they were also very good players. We thought they were born in skates, Tretiak noted in an interview with Capital Sports in 2018.
Phil Esposito, who scored on Tretiak for the triumphant Canadians, told me in 2024 that it opened up a direct dialogue that continues to today. He added that sport has a unique way of bringing people together.
Brendan Shanahan, born to Irish parents and who would win an Olympic Gold in 2002 for Canada, as well as three Stanley Cups with Detroit Red Wings, told Capital Sports in 2019 that it [Summit Series] was a wake up call to Canada, one we listened to. Shanahan played alongside Russia’s Viacheslav Fetisov for two of his Stanley Cup wins, a player who led the way for Soviet players to cross to the NHL.
He was nearly forty when he was with us [at Detroit] but he was just special. And we had [Igor] Larionov, another of those early pioneers. And then the younger guys like [Vladimir] Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov, and Sergei Federov. They all grew up inspired by it [Summit Series].
Sports diplomacy led to the influx of Russian players to the NHL and today, it’s still working, but in reverse.
USSR national team goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak during the 1972 ice hockey super series between the USSR and Canada. Luzhniky Sports Palace, Moscow, September 26, 1972. ©  Sputnik/Alexander Makarov
Breaking the ice with the KHLWhen I first went to top level ice hockey in Russia, in November 2007, it was the final season of the Russian Super League. I ventured out to the Sokolniki Arena in Moscow to watch Spartak, a club just back after a year out of hockey due to financial issues. It was a far cry from the NHL games I watched in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and New York. In fact, it wasn’t even close to the 2nd tier American Hockey League games I attended in 1996-7 in such Canadian hotspots as…St. John or Fredericton, New Brunswick. In fact, the attendance, presentation, atmosphere, and overall vibe wasn’t a patch on the now-defunct Junior League Charlottetown Abbies with whom I worked.
It didn’t get much better once the Kontintental Hockey League (KHL) came into being in 2008. In 2011, working a CSKA Moscow game at their old home in the now demolished CSKA Ice Palace, I felt like I was in a time warp. I wandered from the ‘press area’ to find something to eat and drink, and there were a couple of tables with women behind them selling plastic cups