 Along with their regular training , Bobrov had the Soviet players take boxing lessons in preparation for the series . The Soviets arrived in Montreal not long before the series , on August 30 . Staying at Montreal 's Queen Elizabeth Hotel , the team began two @-@ a @-@ day workouts at the St. Laurent Arena the next day . They were already acclimatized to the time zone as the team had been training on Montreal time for two weeks before travelling there . They brought 15 forwards , nine defencemen and three goaltenders . Veteran defenceman Vitaly Davydov did not accompany the team to Canada . The reason given was injury , but the media questioned if Davydov had fallen out of favour with Bobrov . Firsov was reported as having a knee injury to explain his omission from the team . 
