WJC: Russia vs North American teams

[Dynamo81]

You don't get it....

I do, but I think he is being genuine

 

[Siberian]

Russia is 8-1 against Canada and USA in the last 4 years. That is impressive!

 

[Ilyeu]

cycles, like cycling a puck or a motorcycle or cycling your bicycle.

 

[ViD]

Russia is 8-1 against Canada and USA in the last 4 years. That is impressive!

the only problem is we keep losing to Sweden and even Switzerland

 

[Atas2000]

Making the russian players angry is just something you do to get them off their game. It has always been like that lol. Has little to do with rivalry. That the russian players gets cranky then when they lose doesn't mean theres a rivalry. Not from a swedish perspective anyways..

Wow, sorry, you have literally no idea about Russians. The fantasy world of myths about Russians is not the reality, you know.

 

[Peter25]

Sorry but all you have to do is look at how they play. It's old swedish hockey 101. And that they have asked our federation to teach them our hockey program kinda confirms it. Although it's a different program now they definitely have been snooping around.

Russians of today have a different mentality than the Soviets. The Soviets were the inventors of hockey. Russians today are the followers of hockey. Others tried to copy and emulate Soviets, but today Russia is desperately trying to get coaches all over from the world to "teach them how to play hockey".

Russian hockey is not what it used to be. Watching Russia play against USA in the third period was pathetic and they did not really deserve to win that. The fans of the old Soviet hockey can hardly enjoy watching current Russian teams play hockey anymore (last WHC was an exception, but the competition level was not that great in the tournament).

Russia can probably never be as good as the Soviet Union was because the current system is inferior. And losing the most talented kids from every age group to Canadian juniors hurts Russian hockey very deeply. This ´95 age group was supposed to be the "best ever" from Russia, but watching them play they are very average and I consider their semifinal spot a half fluke.

 

[Dosing]

Wow, sorry, you have literally no idea about Russians. The fantasy world of myths about Russians is not the reality, you know.

Well ever since I was little when a reporter asks a swedish player how they will play against russia to win he says "we're gonna get under their skin to get them angry, and they will disappear". Today the players often even say it like it's been said to death and is a waste of questions. Then they start playing and do exactly that and basically always win. I don't know how much myth or fantasy you could call something like that? But it's great to see russia play more smart hockey like in this tournament. It's true it isn't as easy to get them angry as it was before.

 

[Peter25]

Not being able to edit my post I will add something more. A Soviet hockey team was hardly ever outplayed, and when it was rarely outplayed it was never so one-sided that the third period against USA. Russians could barely get the puck out of their own end. It was a 20 minutes of non-stop pressure in the Russian end and the Russian goalie and poor finishing from USA saved Russia in that period. Russia stopped playing and was content to build a five man defense in front of the goalie. This is not Russia is supposed to play. This is how Germany is supposed to play.

 

[Dosing]

Russians of today have a different mentality than the Soviets. The Soviets were the inventors of hockey. Russians today are the followers of hockey. Others tried to copy and emulate Soviets, but today Russia is desperately trying to get coaches all over from the world to "teach them how to play hockey".

Russian hockey is not what it used to be. Watching Russia play against USA in the third period was pathetic and they did not really deserve to win that. The fans of the old Soviet hockey can hardly enjoy watching current Russian teams play hockey anymore (last WHC was an exception, but the competition level was not that great in the tournament).

Russia can probably never be as good as the Soviet Union was because the current system is inferior. And losing the most talented kids from every age group to Canadian juniors hurts Russian hockey very deeply. This ´95 age group was supposed to be the "best ever" from Russia, but watching them play they are very average and I consider their semifinal spot a half fluke.

I wouldn't consider them average. They are just playing smarter hockey. I'm much more worried about them now then I was when they played offensive systems that highlighted the stars. Ofcourse it will look shaky at first when it's a new style.

 

[Peter25]

I wouldn't consider them average. They are just playing smarter hockey. I'm much more worried about them now then I was when they played offensive systems that highlighted the stars. Ofcourse it will look shaky at first when it's a new style.

I know it is wrong to compare the current Russian players to old Soviets, but compared to them they are average. Being a great fan of Soviet hockey the current Russian style of play is hardly something to enjoy.

Russia almost never outshoots a good team. Russia almost never has the possession of the puck for the majority of the game against a good team. Russia is still capable of winning championships, but the wins will be due to patient defense and good goaltending, not because Russia outskills, outskates and outhustles the other team.

It would be great if Russia could go back to their old style of play, but Russia just does not have the players for it. They need to do something drastic in their development system first.

 

[Statsy]

I know it is wrong to compare the current Russian players to old Soviets, but compared to them they are average. Being a great fan of Soviet hockey the current Russian style of play is hardly something to enjoy.

Russia almost never outshoots a good team. Russia almost never has the possession of the puck for the majority of the game against a good team. Russia is still capable of winning championships, but the wins will be due to patient defense and good goaltending, not because Russia outskills, outskates and outhustles the other team.

It would be great if Russia could go back to their old style of play, but Russia just does not have the players for it. They need to do something drastic in their development system first.

I definitely agree with your view on this. Though the Russians still have loads of talent, they play a much different game stylistically than the old guard. I feel like the current players all want to be Pavel Bure. Great individual skill on the rush, and they're all great shooters. It's like they don't work on the rest of their game though. There's no reason that a team with that much raw skill can't possess the puck more and do the little things like win faceoffs. Goaltending seems to be a strength though, at the moment. As long as they're winning more than they're losing, I don't think we'll see any changes in the near future.

 

[Adanac]

Russians of today have a different mentality than the Soviets. The Soviets were the inventors of hockey. Russians today are the followers of hockey. Others tried to copy and emulate Soviets, but today Russia is desperately trying to get coaches all over from the world to "teach them how to play hockey".

Russian hockey is not what it used to be. Watching Russia play against USA in the third period was pathetic and they did not really deserve to win that. The fans of the old Soviet hockey can hardly enjoy watching current Russian teams play hockey anymore (last WHC was an exception, but the competition level was not that great in the tournament).

Russia can probably never be as good as the Soviet Union was because the current system is inferior. And losing the most talented kids from every age group to Canadian juniors hurts Russian hockey very deeply. This ´95 age group was supposed to be the "best ever" from Russia, but watching them play they are very average and I consider their semifinal spot a half fluke.

A team is down a goal and they start pressing. Happens all the time....You can watch pretty much any game and see that even Edmonton is playing good hockey once they are down by 2 and it's 5 minutes left in the game. 3rd period is 3rd period...if the game was tied that would a completely different hockey altogether.

 

[Adanac]

I know it is wrong to compare the current Russian players to old Soviets, but compared to them they are average. Being a great fan of Soviet hockey the current Russian style of play is hardly something to enjoy.

Russia almost never outshoots a good team. Russia almost never has the possession of the puck for the majority of the game against a good team. Russia is still capable of winning championships, but the wins will be due to patient defense and good goaltending, not because Russia outskills, outskates and outhustles the other team.

It would be great if Russia could go back to their old style of play, but Russia just does not have the players for it. They need to do something drastic in their development system first.

I don't think it's possible to get to the old style. The system has been figured out and defense has been put in place to prevent that style from happening. In fact, Russia does play the same style, it's just that it's impossible to execute. I saw flashes from it in the Sweden game, nice passing, good skating...but teams like Canada, don't **** around with this style. Constant hitting and pressure almost impossible to escape, if anything I am happy Russia still consistently focuses on skill and nice passing, rather than trying to get "good old hard hitting Canadian boys" on the team.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I don't think it's possible to get to the old style. The system has been figured out and defense has been put in place to prevent that style from happening. In fact, Russia does play the same style, it's just that it's impossible to execute. I saw flashes from it in the Sweden game, nice passing, good skating...but teams like Canada, don't **** around with this style. Constant hitting and pressure almost impossible to escape, if anything I am happy Russia still consistently focuses on skill and nice passing, rather than trying to get "good old hard hitting Canadian boys" on the team.

This is such a stereotype.

Canada always has elite scorers and elite skill. We also play a physical game. McDavid, Domi, Petan, Reinhart...these are not overly physical players but are outscoring most European players at the moment.

Either way, though, all of you should look at copying Canada's style more. We still win the majority of best-on-bests and have the top professional players in the world.

 

[Peter25]

I definitely agree with your view on this. Though the Russians still have loads of talent, they play a much different game stylistically than the old guard. I feel like the current players all want to be Pavel Bure. Great individual skill on the rush, and they're all great shooters. It's like they don't work on the rest of their game though. There's no reason that a team with that much raw skill can't possess the puck more and do the little things like win faceoffs. Goaltending seems to be a strength though, at the moment. As long as they're winning more than they're losing, I don't think we'll see any changes in the near future.

I don't think it is a work ethic issue. I was impressed by the work ethic of this team against USA. It is more of an issue of players lacking the ability that the previous generation players had.

 

[Statsy]

I don't think it is a work ethic issue. I was impressed by the work ethic of this team against USA. It is more of an issue of players lacking the ability that the previous generation players had.

Didn't say they weren't working hard, I know how hard Russian players train. I've seen Rocky IV. I just wonder if they need to work less on the showtime aspects of the game and more on the fundamentals.