Which country's national ice hockey team was dubbed "The Red Machine"?

The Soviet national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. The team won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament between 1954 and 1991 and never failed to medal in any International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament they competed in.

The victory on March 7, 1954, marked the beginning of the legendary hockey rivalry between Canada and USSR. The unknown team of ice hockey novices beat the uncontested champions by the shocking score of 7-2.

Before 1946, Russians didn’t know a thing about ice hockey. But in 1954, only eight years after the first match between two amateur student teams took place, Soviet athletes debuted at the 1954 World Championships in Stockholm and won gold, beating Canada to everyone’s surprise.

The American press dubbed the Soviet national team the “Red Machine.” Mike Eruzione, a captain who led the U.S. national team to victory over the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics, said the Soviets never smiled, not even when they scored. “They were like robots,” said Eruzione. The questionable nickname initially offended some of the players, but later it became a world-famous brand.