earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. PULLMAN, Wash. -- Budda Baker was walking to th

There have been a number of great hockey teams from outside of North America. The 2006 Turin Olympic champions from Sweden had a Vezina winner, seven Stanley Cup winners, a Norris winner, three Art Ross winners and a Calder winner. The gold medal-winning Czech Republic team at the 1998 Nagano Olympics had two of the greatest players of the era in Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek.With the World Cup of Hockey upon us, its a good time to examine the question of which international team was the best in history. Theres really only one answer: the 1980 Soviet Union team.To be fair, it could be any of the Big Red Machines teams between 1972 and 1984 because there was so little roster turnover, but the 1980 team melded the dominant teams of the 1970s with what would become the dominant teams of the 80s.The 1980 Soviet squad still had the Valeri Kharlamov-Vladimir Petrov-Boris Mikhailov line and other 70s stalwarts such as Helmuts Balderis and Alexander Maltsev. The team also featured Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov, Slava Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov when they were in their early 20s. And the legendary Vladislav Tretiak was in goal.They were close to unbeatable. In fact, it took a miracle to beat them.Al Michaels could not have summed it up better with Do you believe in miracles? New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2014, referring to the United States stunning Miracle on Ice upset of the Soviets in the Lake Placid Olympics. That was absolutely, positively a miracle. Thats what made it so special. Because the Russians were that good.How good? In February 1979, they faced an NHL All-Star team that featured an astounding 20 future Hall of Famers in a three-game series. The Soviets won two of the matchups, including Game 3 at Madison Square Garden in a 6-0 rout.In Eric Zweigs book, Twenty Greatest Hockey Goals, Fetisov said the 1980 team was probably the best team ever put together in the Soviet Union. We never thought of losing, never thought it could happen. Thats why they call it a miracle.The NHLers were the only ones really able to put up a fight. For example, the Finns played 66 games against their eastern neighbor between Jan. 1, 1970, and Dec. 31, 1980. They won two times and tied once.They dominated the game, said Juhani Tamminen, a former Team Finland captain who played in the WHA. Its almost not even up to discussion. In their time, they were superior to everybody else.The Finns had access to Russia, and several coaches made study trips to Moscow. They came back with the same shocking realization.They practiced and trained around 1,200 hours a year, said Alpo Suhonen, former Team Finland head coach and the first NHL head coach from Europe. In Finland, we practiced about a third of that, and the Swedes were about 100 hours ahead of us.They skated three times a day, perfecting both their individual skills and their teamwork. They had their set five-man units so everybody knew what the others were doing.While the Soviet players were thought of as robots because of their advanced tic-tac-toe plays and lack of wild goal celebrations, Suhonen said the foundation laid by Russian hockey coaching pioneer Anatoli Tarasov was based on creativity and getting the puck into an empty space.The thing that Viktor Tikhonov added when he became the head coach was military discipline, Suhonen said of the coach who took over the Soviet national team in 1977.Tarasov, known as the father of Russian hockey, had to be creative when launching the Soviet system after World War II. He looked to the arts -- theater and ballet, for example -- and to other sports, such as a game played on ice called bandy, to create a unique style.They arrived in the international stage with a completely new way of playing hockey, which changed the sport, said Leif Boork, head coach of the Swedish team that reached the Canada Cup final in 1984. And, as Tarasov liked to say, a copy is never as good as the original.In the Soviet Union, it was also easy to draft the right players to the Red Army team -- draft being the operative word -- that was the core of the national team.They were together for 11 months of the year, Boork said, and I remember seeing the players rush out of the Luzhniki Palace of Sports, the famous hockey arena in Moscow, and into the park just outside to meet with their family and friends quickly because it was time to leave again.Hakan Sodergren, a former Team Sweden forward, estimated that the Soviets were a generation more developed than the competition.They were so far ahead of us both physically and medically, he said. They were skilled, strong. They were individually excellent and played together as a team. And they had a great goalie in Vladislav Tretiak.In short, the Soviet way consisted of pooling the best talent into one team, practicing three times as much as the nearest competitor and working year-round.They were the best team, even at the 1980 Olympics, Tamminen said. They just happened to lose at the wrong time.It happens. Cheap Nike Zoom NZ Store . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Discount Nike Zoom NZ For Sale .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. http://www.discountnikezoomnz.com/ . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Cheap Nike Basketball Shoes NZ . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Wholesale Nike Zoom NZ Free Shipping .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. PULLMAN, Wash. -- Budda Baker was walking to the sideline in the fourth quarter when he was jostled from behind by someone in crimson, who then proceeded to chirp at Washingtons standout safety.Baker heard what was said, turned, and pointed at the closed end of Martin Stadium.All I had to do was look at the scoreboard, Baker said.It told the story of a day of dominance by No. 5 Washington in a 45-17 rout of No. 23 Washington State that put the Huskies into the Pac-12 championship game and on the cusp of a spot in the College Football Playoff.Washington (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12) rolled from the outset, using a 28-point first quarter behind three touchdown passes from quarterback Jake Browning to claim the Pac-12 North title and keep the Apple Cup in Seattle for a fourth straight yearA win in the Pac-12 title game next Friday against Colorado or Southern California would likely land the Huskies in the college football version of the final four.It doesnt matter. Im just glad the (Huskies) are there and hopefully well show up and play our best game of the year, Washington coach Chris Petersen said.Browning threw for 292 yards but it was the first quarter that set the stage. Browning tossed all three touchdown passes in the first 15 minutes, hitting Dante Pettis on plays of 18 and 61 yards and John Ross on a 6-yarder. Browning had 243 yards passing by halftime, the Huskies had 386 total yards at the break and even Washington States third-quarter rally didnt make Washington sweat.Washington tied a school record with the 28-point first quarter and the four straight over the Cougars (8-4, 7-2) is the longest streak since the Huskies won six straight between 1998-2003.Its what we expected. We expected to be off to a fast start, Washington defensive lineman Elijah Qualls said. Thats what we worked on all week. We knew we could do it.Browning completed 21 of 29 passes, becoming the third quarterback in Pac-12 history with at least 40 TD passes in a season. Ross had eight catches for 80 yards and his 16th TD catch of the season.Washington State quarterback Luke Falk was 33 of 50 passing for 269 yards and a 9-yard TD pass to Gabe Marks in the third quarter, but was intercepted three times. More damaging, the Cougars were unable to score on three drives inside the Washington 10.I thought we were too quick to press. I thought we made more out of it than it was, Washington State coach Mike Leach said.Eight years after this matchup was mocked because of how bad the two teams were, the Apple Cup was back on a stage of national relevance as the North title game and regarded by many fans as the most important matchup of the 109 meetings.ddddddddddddIt became a purple party for the Huskies that made the trip over the Cascade Mountains to the Palouse.Lavon Coleman added 82 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. His 15-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter capped a 98-yard drive and sent many clad in crimson back to the tailgating lots.Washington rolled up 386 yards in the first half, 252 coming in the first quarter and capitalized on three mistakes by Washington State.Jamal Morrow fumbled on Washington States opening possession and eight plays later, Pettis caught an 18-yard touchdown and Washington had a 14-0 lead. Later in the half, Gerard Wicks was stopped at the 1 on fourth-and-goal on a great play by Benning Potoae. And on the final drive of the first half, Falk was intercepted by Beavers in the end zone.Down 35-17, Washington State had a chance to pull within 11 late in the third quarter, but Wicks was again stuffed on fourth-and-goal.On offense, we werent trying to do enough, Marks said. We were soft.POLL IMPLICATIONSWashington picked up another win over a ranked opponent that should impress voters and give the 1-loss Huskies a chance to leap Wisconsin and possibly the Ohio State-Michigan loser in both the AP Top 25 and the CFP rankings. Washington State is likely to fall out of the Top 25 after being ranked the past four weeks.BROKEN APPLEThe apple on top of the trophy given to the winner of the Apple Cup was missing after it broke off on Thursday night. Petersen wouldnt implicate the culprit but said it was barely touched and snapped. This doesnt appear to be the first time the apple has broken off.THE TAKEAWAYWashington: The big play was a key in Washingtons big first half. The Huskies had eight plays of 15 yards or more. That included the 61-yard touchdown to Pettis, the 22-yard touchdown run by Coleman and a mixture of other long plays like Darrell Daniels 50-yard catch on a double pass from Pettis and Ross 31-yard run.Washington State: The Cougars defense was exposed for the second straight week. After holding California and Arizona to a combined 28 points, the Cougars gave up more than 500 total yards for the second straight week.UP NEXTWashington: The Huskies will face Colorado in the Pac-12 championship game next Friday.Washington State: The Cougars will await a second straight bowl bid.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '