The Canada Cup was the first true best-on-best world championship in hockey history as it allowed any player to represent their team regardless of amateur or professional status.

[1] The issue came to a head in 1970 when International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president Bunny Ahearne reneged on a promise to allow each team to use up to nine professional players at the 1970 World Championship.

[3] Around the same time, talks were begun to hold a friendly tournament between Canada's top players and the Soviet national team.

[5] It was during the 1974 Summit Series that National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) executive-director Alan Eagleson began negotiations with Soviet and European authorities to create such a tournament.

[6] The negotiations, which grew to include the IIHF and Hockey Canada and lasted over two years, resulted in numerous agreements: Canada would return to international competition in 1977, the World Championships moved to an open format that allowed professionals to play and club teams of the Soviet League would tour North America and face NHL teams in exhibition games in what became the Super Series.

[7] Having gained international approval, Eagleson then convinced the NHLPA's players to support the tournament with promises of increased pension contributions resulting from their participation.

Canada was favoured to win as they had brought what was argued to be the strongest team in the nation's history to the tournament – 18 of the 25 players on the roster would later be elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

[5] Seeking its best possible roster, the Canadian team put aside the bitter rivalry between the NHL and WHA, selecting players from both leagues, though almost entirely from the NHL (Winnipeg Jets winger Bobby Hull was the only WHA player to skate in the tournament, while Cleveland Crusaders defenseman Paul Shmyr participated in training camp only).

[13] Czechoslovak coach Karel Gut anticipated his team would emerge to show the world that there was "more to international hockey than Canada and the Soviet Union".

[16] The tournament opened in Ottawa on September 2 as Finland faced a Canadian team focused on avoiding a sense of complacency following defeats against the Soviets in 1974 and 1975.

Czechoslovakia justified pre-tournament expectations by winning 5–3 while the Soviets complained about the scheduling, claiming organizers deliberately matched them up against the Czechoslovaks in their opening game to set them at an early disadvantage in the tournament.

While the Swedish press was hailing Salming as the greatest player in their nation's history after his second consecutive dominant effort,[21] the Soviets threatened to quit the tournament as they were upset about the officiating of Canadian referee Andre Legace.

Canada extended their lead in the second period, then relied on defenceman Bobby Orr's stellar play to hold off the Soviets and advance to the final.

[35] Dzurilla was unable to duplicate his success as Gilbert Perreault opened the scoring one minute into the game en route to a four-goal onslaught by the Canadians in the first period.

[39] Dzurilla was strong in net as the Canadians put 39 shots on goal in regulation time, but made a critical mistake with less than three minutes remaining.

His attempt to clear a puck from his zone went instead to Canada's Bill Barber, who scored into an open net to tie the game and send it to overtime.

A few moments later, Guy Lapointe rifled a low shot that again beat Dzurilla, however this goal was also disallowed as the buzzer had sounded to end the first ten-minutes of the overtime period one-tenth of a second before it crossed the line.

International rules of the time dictated that play was to be stopped at the ten-minute mark of each overtime period and the teams would switch the side of the ice they defended.

[40] During the break, Canadian assistant coach Don Cherry noted to his team that Dzurilla often came far out of his net to defend and could be beaten on a shot from a sharp angle.

[41] Less than two minutes into the second half of the overtime period, Darryl Sittler received a pass from Marcel Dionne as he skated into the Czechoslovak zone close to the side boards.

It marked Canada's formal return to the international stage after a six-year boycott,[36] and was the first true best-on-best world championship in the sport's history.