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Olympics: Team Russia 2022

Am I the only one who thought that the Switzerland game was unbelievably boring? Both teams were just skating up and down the ice and trading possession of the puck. No one gave a hint of being capable of an exciting or electrifying play (except maybe one play by Gusev on his breakaway)! This is not so much a commentary on the KHL as it is on the pathetic state of world hockey. One league drops out (NHL), and the entire entertainment value of the tournament is mortally wounded. In the upcoming football World Cup, if the English Premier League players decided not to participate, would the excitement of the World Cup be removed? Not even close! There are top level football leagues and players around the world.
 
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Yakushev72 said:
Am I the only one who thought that the Switzerland game was unbelievably boring? Both teams were just skating up and down the ice and trading possession of the puck. No one gave a hint of being capable of an exciting or electrifying play (except maybe one play by Gusev on his breakaway)! This is not so much a commentary on the KHL as it is on the pathetic state of world hockey. One league drops out (NHL), and the entire entertainment value of the tournament is mortally wounded. In the upcoming football World Cup, if the English Premier League players decided not to participate, would the excitement of the World Cup be removed? Not even close! There are top level football leagues and players around the world.
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>comparing football to ice hockey
bro
 
Just my 2 Cents.

Karnaukhov does play center as I predicted. And they do look good as a 3rd line together as I expected with an asterisk*.

Fedotov looks good. I was not worried about his play. I was worried he might not get the starter role.

That's about it on the positive side.

The silly attempt to put Gusev on Shipachyov's line looked bad for one game. They kept them together for the 2nd. That is not a red flag for this coaching staff. That's where I am done with them. The strange sickness among coaches to keep lines together that do not work we suffered from enough in the past. Both Gusev and Shipachyov should drive dfferent lines. Galiev is utterly useless without Shipachyov implementing him.

Another silly experiment is playing Tkachyov on the 4th for whatever reason.

Andronov and Kayumov should not be in the lineup.

It should have been:

Galiev - Shipa - Grigorenko
Gusev - Semyonov - Gritsyuk
Tkachyov* - Karnaukhov - Voronkov
Slepyshev* - Kadeykin - Chibisov

And we do not have a head coach. It looks like an okay team of assitants of Gonchar, Fedorov and Zhamnov, but there is no leading mind among them nor is there a motivator. With Zhamnov that was to be expected.
 
....and Zhamnov retains his position. Fantastic, more garbage woodman hockey.
 
wacko2 said:
Experience helps, team selection was more questionable than his coaching, plus Finland played very, very well.
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Team selection reflected his coaching philosophy.......defense at all costs.

Finland played very well but I'm disgused with the entire olympic performance. Are we now satified barely beating the Denmarks of the world 2-0? Is this how far we've fallen? Is this the best way to utilize all our available talent?
I mean our 1st line was basically Karnaukhov's for christ sake.:rolleyes:
 
Zine said:
Team selection reflected his coaching philosophy.......defense at all costs.

Finland played very well but I'm disgused with the entire olympic performance. Are we now satified barely beating the Denmarks of the world 2-0? Is this how far we've fallen? Is this the best way to utilize all our available talent?
I mean our 1st line was basically Karnaukhov's for christ sake.:rolleyes:
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In the absence of any offensive talent, not even a hint of a scoring threat, it makes sense to me to try to slow the game down by gumming up the neutral zone and forechecking as hard as possible. I agree that the performance throughout the tournment was so impotent and pathetic as to be an embarrassment. On the heels of the 2021 WJC and WC collapses, Russian hockey appears to be on the move --- downward! It will take at least 4 years for Michkov to come to the rescue.
 
Unless it begins developing two-way centers and elite-level defensemen Russia will not improve.

Maybe they should put that hard-ass figure skating coach in charge of the hockey program.
 
I think Russians need to figure out what's hockey played the right way is to them, fundamentally. Because they live under this pretense of "creative" Soviet-style hockey yet everyone at pro-level plays the most defensively-minded grindfest ever. All the way from the VHL to the NT. At some point, you need to figure that out.
 
Russian Hockey has been trying to find its identity since the fall of USSR.

And lol, Ovechkin, Michkov or developing the odd-generation player isn't gonna fix anything. Everybody knows all problems stem from a lack of cohesion and direction at the top.
 
SoundAndFury said:
Same way it was rescued by Ovechkin :sarcasm:
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In a very similar way. Ovechkin participated in 3 Olympic tournaments, and helped to produce zero (0) Gold Medals. In the last 15 years, he has helped to produce two (2) Gold Medals at the WC. As of now, they are working on a 9-year dry spell, but by the time Michkov comes around, look for that dry spell to be broken:nod:
 
SoundAndFury said:
I think Russians need to figure out what's hockey played the right way is to them, fundamentally. Because they live under this pretense of "creative" Soviet-style hockey yet everyone at pro-level plays the most defensively-minded grindfest ever. All the way from the VHL to the NT. At some point, you need to figure that out.
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I think the reputation Russian hockey has for a "creative" Soviet style worked very well when all Russian hockey players played in Russia, and all the incentives were to get to the national team, where they were reportedly required to train up to 1,300 hours a year perfecting "creativity." Those days are long gone, so if they want to get back up to the top, they are going to have to devise another way to do it. Since 1993, even when all the NHL migrants were available for the WC, championships were rarely achieved.

We could see an assumption that the Gold Medal of 2018 would be repeated once it was announced that the NHL dropped out of 2022. Obviously, that mindset greatly overestimated the amount of talent available to Russia, and greatly underestimated the amount of high-quality talent (and many former NHL'ers) available to other countries. Once the RHF announced the Olympic roster, everyone said, "Holy Shit, who is going to score a goal"? As it turned out, the answer was no one.
 
Don't know is this exactly right place to tell about early personal hockey experiences but because it is directly related to Russian Hockey I just go on.

During early '80s when I was 4-5 year old, we watched TV with my father. Some hockey tournament was going on, and the game was Soviet Union vs some other nation, can't recall anymore. But what I recall very well is how my dad explained about rules of hockey when we watched The Red Machine obliterating that other team on ice. He knew every player by name and he told that those guys are the best line of players in the world. Details of all information are hazy, but I recall the feeling I felt - Awe.

For me as a young Finnish boy the first memorable hockey experience was caused by The Mighty Red Army team, while it was also kind of father-son bonding experience.

...

Those days are long gone in Russian hockey and if there is projects in Russian hockey programs that try to emulate that glorious hockey past, they will fail. IMO. One can step only once in a same flowing water.
 
Yakushev72 said:
I think the reputation Russian hockey has for a "creative" Soviet style worked very well when all Russian hockey players played in Russia, and all the incentives were to get to the national team, where they were reportedly required to train up to 1,300 hours a year perfecting "creativity." Those days are long gone, so if they want to get back up to the top, they are going to have to devise another way to do it. Since 1993, even when all the NHL migrants were available for the WC, championships were rarely achieved.

We could see an assumption that the Gold Medal of 2018 would be repeated once it was announced that the NHL dropped out of 2022. Obviously, that mindset greatly overestimated the amount of talent available to Russia, and greatly underestimated the amount of high-quality talent (and many former NHL'ers) available to other countries. Once the RHF announced the Olympic roster, everyone said, "Holy Shit, who is going to score a goal"? As it turned out, the answer was no one.
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There was plenty of high-quality offensive talent for this level. The problem is the lack of 2-dimensional players. We don't develop many guys with skill and grit. It's either one or the other.

That said that wasn't the problem here; it was Zhamnov's arrogant lack of adaptability. He chose an abrasive team. That's it. Nothing else. And, suprise, suprise, nobody could score.
Players like Shipachyov and Gusev were hardly put in a position to succeed. I mean Shipachyov had 0% puck support with stiffs like Semyonov and Chibisov on his wings.

At least Znarok (who also loved his grinders) had several skilled guys on his rosters and opened up the game when the situation called for it.
Zhamnov was playing tight checking hockey against freakin Denmark.
 
Fantomas said:
Unless it begins developing two-way centers and elite-level defensemen Russia will not improve.

Maybe they should put that hard-ass figure skating coach in charge of the hockey program.
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Russias defenders is better now than in 2016. It has been improved. Its still a good d-corp.


Provorov - Orlov
Sergachev - Gavrikov
Zaitsev - Zub
Kulikov - Zadorov
 
Zine said:
There was plenty of high-quality offensive talent for this level. The problem is the lack of 2-dimensional players. We don't develop many guys with skill and grit. It's either one or the other.

That said that wasn't the problem here; it was Zhamnov's arrogant lack of adaptability. He chose an abrasive team. That's it. Nothing else. And, suprise, suprise, nobody could score.
Players like Shipachyov and Gusev were hardly put in a position to succeed. I mean Shipachyov had 0% puck support with stiffs like Semyonov and Chibisov on his wings.

At least Znarok (who also loved his grinders) had several skilled guys on his rosters and opened up the game when the situation called for it.
Zhamnov was playing tight checking hockey against freakin Denmark.
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It is impossible to evaluate a non-existent contingency! Of course its possible that guys who didn't play would have made a difference, but they didn't play, so they didn't make a difference. Other than Kuzmenko, who are you talking about when you refer to "plenty of high-quality offensive talent?" The guys who are usually touted as the big scorers, such as Shipachyov, Gusev, Grigorenko, and Slepyshev were there. Who was missing? Many of the most talented offensive players are smaller and non-physical, and Russians in the offensive zone are often forced to cycle along the boards, far away from scoring danger. There are too few guys who have speed and can shoot and handle the puck, but are big and strong enough to penetrate the high-scoring territory in front of the goal. In recent years, Russian teams have not been scoring many goals at any level.
 
Yakushev72 said:
Who was missing?
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I'd say Okulov is the most offensively talented guy CSKA and unlike so many of his teammates he was nowhere to be found. The same applies to Kuzmenko. Arguably to Tolchinsky as well. Defensemen selection was scary altogether.
 
SoundAndFury said:
I'd say Okulov is the most offensively talented guy CSKA and unlike so many of his teammates he was nowhere to be found. The same applies to Kuzmenko. Arguably to Tolchinsky as well. Defensemen selection was scary altogether.
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Agreed! The no-name defense group just lacked the talent and skill to manage the defensive zone. And I would like to have seen Okulov and Kuzmenko. Those guys have explosive talent, and you would have to believe that they would alleviate the sheer boredom of watching Chibisov, Kayumov, and Semyonov.
 
Panarin - Malkin - Kucherov
Ovechkin - Kuznetsov - Tarasenko
Kaprizov - Barbashev - Svechnikov
Buchnevich - Namnestikov - Nichushkin

Sergechev - Orlov
Provorov - Gavrikov
Kulikov - Zub

Vasi
Sorokin
Shesterkin

Russian team is better than at was say 2 years ago with Barbashev, Kaprizov, Niskushin, Buchenvich exploding. D better aswell. Radulov is done. Namenestikov is better than he gets credit for.

Would challenge Russia, USA and Finland for the gold. Too bad about the f***tards in kremlin, would be so fun seeing this crazy good team. But the bann is indeed rightfully.
 
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Eye of Ra said:
Panarin - Malkin - Kucherov
Ovechkin - Kuznetsov - Tarasenko
Kaprizov - Barbashev - Svechnikov
Buchnevich - Namnestikov - Nichushkin

Sergechev - Orlov
Provorov - Gavrikov
Kulikov - Zub

Vasi
Sorokin
Shesterkin

Russian team is better than at was say 2 years ago with Barbashev, Kaprizov, Niskushin, Buchenvich exploding. D better aswell. Radulov is done. Namenestikov is better than he gets credit for.

Would challenge Russia, USA and Finland for the gold. Too bad about the f***tards in kremlin, would be so fun seeing this crazy good team. But the bann is indeed rightfully.
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Zaitsev is an indispensable player in PK. Also , the team must have Mikheyev
 
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