It was considered to be the greatest exhibition of hockey in the history of the sport.

Before Russian hockey players were allowed to jump ship to North American to play in the NHL, the USSR Soviet Union was a force to be reckoned with. The team would come over and beat NHL teams after the legendary 1972 Summit Series, making many in the hockey world wonder if the Russians had taken over as the best hockey players in the world.

But in 1987, the Red Army met their match in the Canadian National team, led by some young studs named Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Starting Friday night, TSN will be airing all three of the best-of-three finals series between the two rivals. Before the airing, TSN's Pierre LeBrun caught up with some of the biggest names to play in the tournament, breaking down Mike Keenan's decision to pair Gretzky and Lemieux together, which ultimately paid dividends.
 

We strongly recommend you read the full piece on The Athletic, but we've taken some of the best excerpts from the article to share.

 Mario Lemieux on playing with Gretzky, which he described as the "best time of my life."

“Playing with Wayne, I knew how he played, all I had to do was get open,” Lemieux said. “Especially on odd-man rushes and 2-on-1s, we scored a few 2-on-1 goals throughout the tournament.
 
“Basically, my job was to give him the puck and get open. And he’d find me every time.’’

“I was 21, just to have a chance to play with Gretz and Messier and Coffey and Ray Bourque, and really have a chance to practice with them,” Lemieux said. “I think training camp was like three weeks long, I really learned a lot by watching these guys and seeing how hard they worked in practice, the dedication they had for the sport.
 
“I learned so much and I was able to take that back to Pittsburgh and eventually win two Stanley Cups with the Penguins, because of learning from those guys.’’

Mike Keenan on uniting The Great One and Super Mario:

“I sat on my deck at the cottage in July and I thought of that,” Keenan said of putting both superstar centres on a line, but not until the end of the tournament.
 
“And I kept it to myself. I didn’t discuss it with anyone, not the other coaches, not the managers, not the players. I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to show it early.’ Because I wanted something extra in the end. I didn’t want the Soviets to pre-scout us and have that knowledge.’’

Various other players like Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy and Igor Larionov give their perspectives on the two great Canadians, as well as the detailed differences of Games 1 and 2 leading into the third and final match of the series.

Again we, encourage you to read the full piece, but we couldn't omit the final and most memorable goal of the tournament. It's right up there in greatest goals scored in Canadian Hockey history, perhaps just behind Sidney Crosby's goal in the 2010 Olympics.

“I knew that the puck was coming back to me. Wayne had it,” Lemieux told me. “And actually, I didn’t see Murph until the end because I was focusing on Gretz and the defenceman and the goalie at the same time. Our scouting report was to go top shelf on the glove side. I had made up my mind that if I got the puck, that’s where I was going.
 
“I got a pretty good shot off and it hit the top corner and went in. It was an amazing feeling,’’ Lemieux said.

With 1:26 remaining in the third period, Lemieux potted the go-ahead goal. Despite the immense intensity, Canada was able to hold off the Russians, becoming Canadian Cup Champions!