The Red Machine: The Soviet Quest to Dominate Canada's Game

Andrew Thomson is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of
Guelph.

Martin was The Globe and Mail correspondent in Moscow from 1985 to 1988.
During that tenure, he not only recognized and reported the early stages
of the Gorbachev reforms but also became the first Western reporter
accredited to cover hockey in the Soviet Union.

In The Red Machine, Martin outlines the history of hockey in the Soviet
Union, and the methods and motivations behind the Soviet drive to
dominate world hockey. The Russian game’s origins are found in games
like bandy, played on frozen soccer fields by soccer players. Martin
argues that these roots have influenced the Russian game to rely on
speed and passing, as opposed to the power game that developed on the
smaller, Canadian rinks.

Martin is effective in outlining the rigorous training and cloistered
existence of the Soviet hockey program, and in introducing several
generations of Soviet stars who toiled in the era before matches with
nhl stars raised the game’s profile. The book’s central argument is
that the Soviet system has created the best hockey players in the world.
This thesis, and Martin’s descriptions of the great series between the
Soviets and the National Hockey League, provides a controversial balance
to traditional Western views of the game and the players.

The book is illustrated with 12 pages of photographs, all unfortunately
in black and white. One enormous strength, however, is a detailed
bibliography of sources, in both Russian and English, on the history of
Soviet hockey.

Martin’s views on the past and future of the Soviet in “Canada’s
game” will certainly spark arguments among nhl devotees.