2010 Olympics: Team Russia aftermath

Igor,

My favorite teams are the Washington Capitols and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I like the Leafs also, mainly because they are always an underdog.

Jeff and Igor

In the message below, I meant to say that because Crosby is quiet and unassuming, he doesn't generate as much attention, and doesn't sell as many tickets, t-shirts and hats as Ovechkin does.

Igor,

My personal opinion is that the NHL won't go to Sochi. I hate the idea that they wouldn't, but in a way, I can't blame them. Its a hardship for the teams to take that much time off in mid-season, and they got very little in return for their efforts. There were only a handul of games on NBC network, and most games were on MSNBC or CNBC, which a lot of American homes don't have access to. In the US, almost all of the good TV times were devoted to figure skating, ice dancing, short-track speed skating, and all that x-games half-pipe crap. They got a huge audience for the Gold Medal game, near an all-time record I believe, but overall, I don't think NHL executives were too happy with what they got. All that, and the time zone differences, make it unlikely, in my opinion, for the NHL to be in Sochi.

Jeff

Gretzky and Lemieux were very average, at best, as defensive players, particularly Lemieux, who rarely ever made the trip back into his own zone. That didn't seem to limit their ice time in any way! Ovechkin isn't paid the kind of money that he is making to back check. If he puts 50-60 pucks in the net every year, they are going to be more than willing to forgive him for his shortcomings. He is the biggest media, and biggest ticket draw, that the NHL has had in years. Sidney Crosby is a fantastically gifted player, but he is very quiet and unassuming, and for better or for worse.

I don't think this is true of you, Jeff, but I do definitely believe that there is extra resentment of Ovechkin among some Canadians and Americans solely because he is Russian. On the rare occasions when I attend Minnesota Wild games, I can hear these attitudes in the crowd. Brendan Shanahan wrote about how ashamed he was in the first couple of years of Slava Fetiov's career with the Devils with the way hsi defense partners would clear a path would have an unobstructed alley to slam Fetisov into the boards. His own teammates were actually trying to help him get hurt.

Vladimir Konstantinov also said this about NHL Canadian referrees: "They hate us, and we hate them." So there is always been an element of resentment over job competition, and possibly just the presence of foreigners who were formerly mortal enemies. You notice commentators, not just Don Cherry, who feel free to unload a personal kind of criticism of Russians that they would never the guts to say about a North Americans. Cerainly, Russians are more accepted now than in the past, but they are still held to a different, higher standard in my opinion.

Canadaboy,

1) Thank you for correcting my error about the size of the ice in Salt Lake City. I just assumed that it was standard North American size, and that is incorrect.

2) You have no need to apologize as far as I am concerned. I think your posts have reflected very good points that are well supported. Some of the Canadian guys who have posted at times have done some chest-thumping and taunting, but that is okay, its no crime and its all part of the fun.

3) One thing everyone can agree on is that Canada won all the games that mattered, and that "O Canada" was sung from the victory stand! Again, congratulations for the great accomplishments. All of these guys basically play in the same league, and in any game, any of these teams could upset the other. In arguably the most critical game of the tournament, Canada came out with guns blazing, while the Russian team shot blanks. I hope that the Russians will have better success in Sochi, but until then, Canada deserves to wear the crown.

Canadaboy,

You make some excellent points, most obviously your point that Canada had the decisive edge in the game against Russia in desire, drive and willingness to fight for the puck. I think all the Russian fans on this site have acknowledged that point, and give the Canadians their due. Some of the other points I disagree with:

I think you got a little tangled up when you tried to make the nationalistic point that sounded something like: "Canada can win on any surface, large or small, while the Russians can't win on any surface." Everybody who read that was no doubt thinking about the fact that the two Gold medals Canada won were both on small, North American rinks.

Your point about the Stanley Cup might seem true from your Canadian hometown vantage point, but the fact is, as each kilometer in distance from the Canadian border increases, the Stanley Cup loses prestige. Television audiences in the US for the Stanley Cup playoffs are tiny, except for the Sunday afternoon game on NBC. All the other Stanley Cup games are played on the very small Versus network, which is only received in about 20% of American homes. In Europe, there is absolutely no interest in the Stanley Cup at all. For Europeans, it is the Olympics No. 1, the World Championships #2, and the Stanley Cup maybe #3 or #4.

I think the Canadian posters are taking a single victory with a 4-goal margin a little too far. The Russian game was by far Canada's best performance, but they barely survived a late 3rd period barrage by Slovakia, and lets face it, Canada played poorly in both games against the US. Also, I don't the advantage that comes with having a sellout crowd of frenzied supporters and referees from your own country (unheard of!) can be overemphasized. Not to take anything away from Canada - your team went out and took care of business. but, if the NHL decides to show up in Sochi, let's see what happens there, when it will be Russian crowds who will be screaming.

Igor,

Please ignore the last two sentences of my last message. They are fragments that I forgot to delete.

Igor,

I got an error message last night because my message was too long, so 'll try to keep it more brief. You and I are definitely on the same page. Russian teams need to be much more physical, and even more important, much more passionate and intense. The best Russian players play in the NHL, although there is a chance that some could migrate to the KHL. Except for Datsyuk, all the best Russian players are offensive stars who don't play much defense. That was evident in the Olympic games.

By physical hockey, I don't mean goon hockey. Goon hockey ruins the game, drives away some smaller players that have great skills, and diminishes the quality of play. I hope Russia will never permit goon hockey in any form. On the other hand, what happened at the Olympics, particularly against Canada, cannot be allowed to continue. Canada was on fire, while the Russian flame seemed to burn out. No one wearing the Russian crest on the front of their sweater should be allowed to surrender to pressure that easily. Russian players should be willing to accept whatever physical pain is needed to control play, and they should hand out a few bruises themselves. If you don't think Russians can combine consummate skill with intense physically punishing hockey, look at soem old DVD's of the 1979 Challenge Cup.

The Russian hockey bosses should take advantage of the opportunity to build a national team among KHL players. If the NHL doesn't show at Sochi, then the KHL will have to be relied on. It is a real opporunity!

All of the victims of the subway bombings in Moscow are in our thoughts!!

Sadly, those days are gone, though not necessarily forever.

Times have changed now, and most Russian stars play in the NHL.

Igor,

It is very encouraging to hear your assessment about the resurgence in financial investment and the growth in participation in junior hockey. it is also great to read news accounts about the increasing growth and stability of the Russian economy. That makes for a higher standard of living for the people, and as a byproduct, more resources to devote to recreatiojn and sports development. I think you would agree that making more hockey facilitiies available, training and recruiting qualified coaches, restoring the great hockey schools, all contribute toward building more depth into the system.

Because today's national teams don't have the chance to develop the puck control mastery that allowed Soviet teams to more or less dominate their opposition, you are right in saying that a "defense first" philosophy will be necessary to win gold medals in world class tournaments. I thought that Bykov brought that philosophy to the national team in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World Championships, but I didn't see any evidence of defense at all in the Olympics.

The Canadian strategy was to forecheck fanatically in the Russian zone, and the Russians didn't seem to have a pre-designed strategy to clear the puck out of danger. Once the Canadians set up in front of the net, and the puck is pin-balling around, they can score a lot of goals quickly. Unfortunately, the game seemed more or less over by the middle of the first period. That is bad ooaching, of course combined with bad goaltending.

I am a Russian hockey fan first and foremost, and I am hoping that if there is a World Cup (in reality, its the old Canada Cup renamed- Canadian small rinks, Canadian frenzied fans, Canadian referees who have been known to succumb to the pressure from fans - all the same problems that the team faced in Vancouver), the team is going to have to adopt the strategies that you have described so well - defense first, clear the puck of out of the Russian zone fast, and fight hard for possession of the puck. Stay well!

Igor,

Well said! I enjoyed reading your excellent analysis. Two points that you make that I particularly agree with: (1) it is unrealistic to expect any success if you are unwilling to fight for it (not fight with fists, but by outfighting the other team for the puck), and (2) if your leaders aren't leading, then the followers have no one to follow!

Before the Olympics, many journalists and television media analysts argued that Russia had the advantage in talent, and therefore should be considered the favorite to win. But as we look at the analysis above, it seems clear that the focus was on four forwards (Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk and Datsyuk) and two defensemen (Markov and Gonchar), and that the rest of the Russian team could probably be accurately described as above average, but definitely not of superior ability.

Evgeni Malkin was the last outstanding Russian talent to emerge from youth hockey, and that was nearly five years ago. Clearly, if Russia is to continue to be competitive for the highest medals, then the problem with youth hockey is going to have to be improved. It is unlikely that the NHL will participate in the 2014 Games in Sochi or in the 2018 Games, so maybe the Olympic games won't be as much of a battle of best against best, as it has been since 1998. But the fact that the Russian system is producing so few outstanding players in recent years should be cause for action.

Allesandro,

I agree with your assessment of the Russian performances in the Olympics, although I would be a little more critical of Ilya Nikulin. His loss of mental concentration in the Slovakia game led to his giving up a totally unforced turnover of the puck, which in turn ended up on Marian Hossa's stick, and into the net. Its possible that that was the most critical error by a Russian in the Olympics, because if they had not given up that goal, they may have postponed their match with Canada until a later round. At a minimum, that would have given the Russians a chance to play for a medal.

Pavel

Thanks for your comment. With such a bad outcome it was right to be a bit harsh I think. Probably some players would deserve a mark a little bit higher, but this is what you get when you finish a tournament in this way. Nikulin did play well, but not in the own zone, look again the Slovak goal in the round robin!
Everyone knows why Bykov didn't call Zubov, but it's not Korneev's fault. He played well, but he shouldn't have been used as shooting defenseman. We had better players for that.
Regarding Ovechkin, yeah probably it was a little harsh, but he was the most awaited player and against Canada he didn't touch a puck.