It's Us vs. Them. West vs. East. Capitalism vs. Socialism. Western Imperialists vs. the Evil Empire. Well, maybe none of those political tags apply anymore, but to me there's still something special about Canada versus Russia in hockey.
It's true that Russian hockey isn't the same anymore since the heyday of the Soviet Big Red Machine; Russian hockey has declined quite a bit since the breakup of the USSR 20 years ago. To the younger generation of Canadian hockey fans, people under age 30 or so, rivalries with the USA and Sweden have probably replaced Russia as Canada's enemy #1. And they have, honestly, I can't argue. But to me and I'm sure many other members of older generations who grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, in the Brezhnev/Khruschev/Reagan Cold War days, there's still something special about playing the Russians for a gold medal.
Now let's beat those Godless Communists one more time...
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