WC: 2019 - Team Russia
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Star Ocean
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- Dec 30, 2018
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jj cale
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Star Ocean
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- Dec 30, 2018
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jj cale
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Sadly I agree, I don't think much will be learned.Nope, and he also accused us swedish fans for thinking our coach was good
Star Ocean
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Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
TheGoldenJet
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I saw a talented Russian team out there relying on individual skills.
Well-coached? Not at all.
JasonRoseEh
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- Oct 23, 2018
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He had one of the only grade A scoring chances in the game, the entire team was garbage.
Ultimately another choke job from Russia.
Star Ocean
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Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Classic Russia. Finland with their 120% defensive system is their cryptonite. Russia doesnt have coaching to overcome this. It they would score first, then yes, Finland would have to open a little.
Although against Finland whole team could not do anything , i stand by my points which i repeat year after year..
1. Coaching and not defense is Russia first weakness, and will become even bigger as Russia is getting some solid defenders in a few years.
2. Team management is still based on NHL names and power of this names. Ovechkin is made for NHL game and ice. In 2008 in Canada he was still young, explosive, willing to play hard hitting game and WC was on small ice. He also had chemistry with Fedorov (one of the best, even out of prime) and Semin (in his prime). After that you can cherry pick some solid games and plays, but otherwise he just kills the whole line. When team management with coaching will have vision of a team and not just have a list of big names numbered from 1 to 100 and then go down this list who will say yes and who will say no...Then team wont have Ovechkin that doesnt want to play hard anymore or IK who is just done ...
Although against Finland whole team could not do anything , i stand by my points which i repeat year after year..
1. Coaching and not defense is Russia first weakness, and will become even bigger as Russia is getting some solid defenders in a few years.
2. Team management is still based on NHL names and power of this names. Ovechkin is made for NHL game and ice. In 2008 in Canada he was still young, explosive, willing to play hard hitting game and WC was on small ice. He also had chemistry with Fedorov (one of the best, even out of prime) and Semin (in his prime). After that you can cherry pick some solid games and plays, but otherwise he just kills the whole line. When team management with coaching will have vision of a team and not just have a list of big names numbered from 1 to 100 and then go down this list who will say yes and who will say no...Then team wont have Ovechkin that doesnt want to play hard anymore or IK who is just done ...
Gold Standard
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- Sep 7, 2018
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It will be interesting to see how the Russian Ice Hockey Federation reacts next year. name a Team in October to play EHT and play it throughout the year in preparation of 2020 Switzerland and limit NHL participation at the WHC to just 3-4 players.
Yep, Tretiak's comment about Ovechkin being a "ballerina" that everyone wants to see is completely off-target. Russian fans want to see Russia win Gold, period. If Ovechkin can't get the job done, as much as I like him and his career in the NHL, then someone else has to step up. Same thing goes for the other Russian superstars. It's clear that no team is just going to let them win because of their names, only a well-functioning team can win. Although Vorobyev did improve some things in defense in my opinion, he showed he wasn't able to adjust to game conditions in the Finland match. Hence, I agree that coaching is one of the biggets problems for Team Russia at the moment.
If they were smart, they would at least try to do that. I mean, there would be no real pressure on the team then and no one would expect them to win automatically. Let some young, hungry players go on the ice and represent the country like Finland this year and maybe this will bring the desired results. The "NHL superstar" formula has not been working for a while and it's time the RIHF understands that just bringing big names to the tournamnet does not immediately increase their chances of winning.
No need for any drastic changes. They won 9 out of 10 games. Just need to evaluate who to invite next time, but I doubt so many stars will be available again
happysquirrel
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- May 9, 2011
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I have been lurking on this forum for years and my favorite posts have always been the long analytical Russian ones. I simply love them! But, as a Finn, I think Russians tend to misread the Finnish team very badly and I think that is the reason for the common upsets.
The first thing to realize is that the upsets are not random or just fluke games. They are systematic, repeatable and logical.
The second thing to realize is that the Russian super stars are not at fault. Your super stars play great!
The third thing to realize is that Finns don't play trap turtle hockey (or defensive hockey im general). Yes, they may turtle up at the last 5-10 minutes, if they have a lead to defend, but that's a different subject and doesn't decide games.
There would be a lot to write here, especially to describe the actual systematic logic behind the upsets, but I think this is enough for now.
Your whole thesis about how Russia lost Gold because of faulty line combinations is so way over the top oversimplification! Yes, you have no doubt seen Vorobyev for the last time behind the bench, he did nothing to justify retaining him in that job, but to say that a team is loaded down with superstars, but couldn't win because the coach couldn't lead them by the hand and take them to the potty is nonsense! As Canada learned the next day, if you don't outfight your opponent, and your opponent is smart and tough, you will lose. Russia has some superstars, but they were not overloaded with talent across the balance of the roster, and as usual, the defense was unable to clear the zone, so they had to work and work just to keep the cycling Finns from scoring. The forwards don't play much defense either. Guys like Ovechkin worked hard but didn't produce. Its a failure of the overall system and not just matching lines. There is no magic system to matching up lines, and even if there was, it only works if you outfight your opponent.
I think the Finns are a highly organised team, they seem to function as a unit and rely less on "improvised" skill plays, which is something Russian players like doing. Maybe the focus on offense in Russian teams doesn't help either - we often have problems getting out of our zone and the defensemen make risky passes that end up getting intercepted. I think Team Russia definitely needs to keep working on the defense part, although I did see some improvement this year. The defense seemed a bit more stable and some players like Zaitsev and Gavrikov made some very good defensive plays, and Orlov was more noticeable in the way he helped the offense.
I also have the impression that the Finns were digging at the weaknesses of the Russian team, i.e. Russia doesn't like to play in its own zone and chase forwards around. The Finns then decided they're going to cycle around the boards, frustrate the defensemen and then find openings in the middle. To me this is a clear strategy and imo that was missing from Vorobyev's game plan - I didn't see how the Russian team was firing at the weaknesses of the Finnish team, which obviously exist.
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