This article investigates how the proud and successful Soviet/Russian ice hockey has recovered in the wake of the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991. Since ice hockey was introduced in the Soviet Union, the country became a superpower on the global ice hockey scene, the national team won for example 7 Olympic gold, 22 World Cup and Canada Cup in 1981. The Soviet national ice hockey team – “The Big Red Machine” – was a fierce opponent during the Cold War. After the last Soviet leader and its first and last executive president Mikhail Gorbachev initiated glasnost and perestroika in the wake of a decaying empire would change the Soviet Union and the world. And ice hockey. The proud and successful Soviet ice hockey was ravaged. After Russia failed in several international ice hockey tournaments, president Vladimir Putin decided that it was time to reintroduce Russian ice hockey where it belongs. The result: Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) was established in 2008.