1981 Canada Cup The 1981 Canada Cup was the second professional ice hockey world championship involving the world ' s top six ice hockey nations . The tournament was postponed from 1980 due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as well as the US boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow . The playing format was different from the previous 1976 Canada Cup . The participating teams still played a Round - robin tournament to decide the standings , but a round of semi - finals was added and the best - of - three final series was replaced with single final game . The positive surprise of the tournament was the young Czechoslovak team , which ( following disappointing results in the 1980 Winter Olympics and 1981 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments ) managed to soundly beat Sweden and Finland as well as tie the USSR and Canada . The main flops were the Swedes and the Finns , who failed to win a single game despite fielding their best players from the NHL . On the other hand , the United States ( featuring several promising NHL players ) fared much better than in 1976 , losing only to the pre - tournament favorites Soviet Union and Canada . The Czechs were joined in the semi - finals by Canada , the USSR and the United States . The two winners , USSR and Canada , met in the final where the host country suffered one of the worst defeats in its hockey history . Rosters . Canada . Forwards and Defense : Barry Beck , Raymond Bourque , Mike Bossy , Marcel Dionne , Ron Duguay , Brian Engblom , Clark Gillies , Danny Gare , Bob Gainey , Butch Goring , Wayne Gretzky , Craig Hartsburg , Guy Lafleur , Ken Linseman , Rick Middleton , Gilbert Perreault , Denis Potvin , Paul Reinhart , Larry Robinson , Bryan Trottier . Training camp only - - Bill Barber , Randy Carlyle , Mike Gartner , Steve Payne , Rob Ramage , Jim Schoenfeld , Darryl Sittler , Steve Shutt , Bobby Smith , Dave Taylor Goaltenders : Don Edwards , Mike Liut , Billy Smith . Training camp only - - Mario Lessard Coaches : Scotty Bowman , Al MacNeil , Red Berenson , Pierre Pagé Czechoslovakia . Forwards and Defense : Frantisek Cernik , Milan Chalupa , Jiri Dudacek , Miroslav Dvorak , Stanislav Hajdusek , Miloslav Horava , Arnold Kadlec , Jindrich Kokrment , Jaroslav Korbela , Norbert Kral , Jiri Lala , Jan Neliba , Milan Novy , Dusan Pasek , Lubomir Penicka , Jaroslav Pouzar , Pavel Richter , Darius Rusnak , Radoslav Svoboda , Oldrich Valek Goaltenders : Karel Lang , Jiri Kralik Coaches : Ludek Bukac , Stanislav Nevesely Finland . Forwards and Defense : Pekka Arbelius , Matti Hagman , Raimo Hirvonen , Juha Huikari , Kari Jalonen , Arto Javanainen , Veli - Pekka Ketola , Markku Kiimalainen , Jari Kurri , Mikko Leinonen , Tapio Levo , Kari Makkonen , Timo Nummelin , Jukka Porvari , Pekka Rautakallio , Reijo Ruotsalainen , Jorma Sevon , Risto Siltanen , Ilkka Sinisalo , Juha Tuohimaa Goaltenders : Hannu Lassila , Markus Mattsson Coaches : Kalevi Numminen , Kari Makinen Sweden . Forwards and Defense : Kent - Erik Andersson , Thomas Eriksson , Jan Erixon , Thomas Gradin , Anders Håkansson , Anders Hedberg , Peter Helander , Tomas Jonsson , Anders Kallur , Lars Lindgren , Bengt Lundholm , Lars Molin , Kent Nilsson , Ulf Nilsson , Stefan Persson , Jörgen Pettersson , Börje Salming , Thomas Steen , Patrik Sundström , Mats Waltin Goaltenders : Peter Lindmark , Pelle Lindbergh Coaches : Anders Parmström USA . Forwards and Defense : Bill Baker , Neal Broten , Dave Christian , Steve Christoff , Richie Dunn , Mike Eaves , Robbie Ftorek , Tom Gorence , Mark Howe , Mark Johnson , Dave Langevin , Rod Langway , Reed Larson , Rob McClanahan , Bob Miller , Warren Miller , Ken Morrow , Mike O ' Connell , Dean Talafous , Tom Younghans . Training camp only - - Jack Brownschidle , Alan Hangsleben , Paul Holmgren ( injured / did not play ) , Steve Jensen , Joe Micheletti , Joe Mullen , Bill Nyrop , Mark Pavelich , Mike Ramsey , Gordie Roberts . Goaltenders : Tony Esposito , Steve Baker . Training camp only - - Jim Craig ( injured / did not play ) Coaches : Bob Johnson , John Cunniff , Mike Smith USSR . Forwards and Defense : Sergei Babinov , Zinetula Bilyaletdinov , Nikolai Drozdetsky , Viacheslav Fetisov , Irek Gimayev , Vladimir Golikov , Sergei Kapustin , Alexei Kasatonov , Andrei Khomutov , Vladimir Krutov , Igor Larionov , Sergei Makarov , Alexander Maltsev , Vasili Pervukhin , Viktor Shalimov , Sergei Shepelev , Alexander Skvortsov , Valeri Vasiliev , Viktor Zhluktov , Vladimir Zubkov Goaltenders : Vladislav Tretiak , Vladimir Myshkin Coaches : Viktor Tikhonov , Vladimir Yurzinov