 To reduce the possibility of the NHL being embarrassed again, Rendez-Vous '87 was a two-game affair.The series was split between the two teams with a game apiece.During the series, Ziegler stated that Soviet players would never be able to join the NHL because of the way the Soviet hockey programme worked, and that NHLers would never be able to play in the Winter Olympics, both of which, as events would turn out, would eventually happen.