Another smaller historical aspect of the plot was modified for the film — the 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash in which 11 players on the VVS Moscow ice hockey team died . In the movie Vasily Stalin and Anatoly Tarasov deal with a depleted Soviet Union national ice hockey team , complete with a reference to their star player Vsevolod Bobrov , who missed the flight . In actuality the crash happened on January 5 , 1950 , over three years before Stalin ’s death
1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash
1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash
The Death of Stalin