Thousands of books have been written about Soviet hockey and the same number will be written. However, the book that the reader holds in his hands can safely be called unique - nothing like it has ever been done before. It shows Soviet hockey not only from the facade, but also looks behind the scenes, revealing the secrets of “secret diplomacy” - the intrigues of the intelligence services and party nomenklatura, which in the second half of the 70s actively helped Soviet hockey get out of the crisis. The events of this exciting hockey detective cover a turning point - from February 1977 to May 1978, when, thanks to the patronage of KGB chief Yu. Andropov and Secretary General L. Brezhnev, CSKA and the USSR national team were headed by Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov. At the cost of incredible efforts, he had to update only the main club of the country, but also to return the Soviet national team to its former authority in the international arena. And it was extremely difficult to do this, since the next world championship was supposed to be held in Czechoslovakia, and even during the unofficial celebration there of the 10th anniversary of the “Prague Spring” of 1968. The Czechs were determined to die on the Prague ice, just to prevent the Soviets from winning the championship at home. For this purpose, all forces were mobilized - both overt and secret: from the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to the Czechoslovak state security STB. And then Tikhonov had a conflict brewing not only with intriguers from high offices, but also with a number of leading players of CSKA and the USSR national team.