Old Soviet (Russian) Hockey Reflections

Members will gradually get to know my long time Russian friend, Elena Segal, who has inspired a number of my articles.  We can also thank Elena for the current Russian hockey reflections, though.  She’s super-proud of her work in the use of ballet with other athletes, and she suggests to me that ballet was an important part of the great Anatoli Tarasov’s teaching plan.

For sure the above video should be helpful to everyone in the game.   Personally, it gives me a chance to relive my long ago studies in Moscow. Perhaps parts of it will also help younger member coaches, parents and adult players gain insight into what the old Soviet system was about.

Yes, the above movie is old, and I did my best to clean it up and post it here for you.  But there’s plenty to be learned from just sitting back and taking it all in…

We lucked out, for sure, and got the full length movie.  It’s an awesome one, but it is long.  So, you might want to save this for a time when you can relax and truly enjoy it.  

From here onward I’d like to add a number of my own Russian hockey reflections…  

I think it would be appropriate to start where it all began for most future Soviet stars, though — as on the neighborhood outdoor rinks that dot the major cities.  I saw them for myself, on nearly every street corner in Moscow when I studied there in 1979.  

And I think it’s also helpful to give members some understanding of Russia’s WWII battles with Germany, because I recall seeing monuments that were built on the outskirts of Moscow, those acting as reminders to the Russian people of just how close the Germans came to taking that city.  Were those meant as motivators for elite USSR athletes and others?  My guess is yes.     

I also recall one the Soviet Sports Committee members — a guy just a little older than my late dad, telling those in my study group that he was lucky to be one of the few men from that era still alive.  Yes, as it did elsewhere around the world, the war took its toll on an entire generation.  

Now, I’m sure members have heard about bandy, but you may not have known how it helped influence the Soviets’ ultimate move to hockey. Very much like hockey, that game is played on a huge outdoor surface, and with a ball. And due to the size of the playing surface, one should realize how that bandy encouraged wide open skating and passing, with far less physical play than is possible on a smaller hockey rink.

I’d like coaches to also think long and hard about what Anatoli Tarasov said about developing his own style of play, paraphrasing as I recall it:

“To copy  someone else is to only be second best.”

Again, think long and hard on that one, coaches, because it’s influenced me greatly over the past 45-years or so.

As an aside, I understand that Tarasov wanted young kids to smile as they trained.  It surely does make sense, but I had a similar standing joke with all the younger kids who trained with me.  In fact, one of my long ago hockey parents even had a professional artist draw a cartoon of me with the inscription, “Coach Chic says, ‘No havin’ fun!'”  I’d actually announce that as a rule each time a new group of beginners started with me, and it usually took only a few seconds for some little guy (or girl) to giggle out loud, which caused everyone else to start giggling, too.

The more I’ve studied him over the years, the more I noticed Tarasov getting teammates to love one another, and it was always evident among the Soviets’ most famous players, who often talked about their joy of playing together.

Then, yet one other thing that influenced me as a young coach was my discovering Tarasov’s idea of players using the whole ice, and not being too trapped to old fashion  “lanes”.

Interestingly, too…  While Wayne Gretzky is credited with the idea of “going where the puck was going”, it’s said that Tarasov’s entire system was based on that concept — long before anyone had ever heard of The Great One.

(Hardly important here, but I have a picture of Boris Mikhailov and me together on a hockey bench in St Petersburg, Russia (this taken during my return to that country after The Wall had come down).  The pic is still buried in storage right now, but maybe I can get a copy of it posted here someday.)

I think a major Russian hockey reflection in the aftermath of the ’80 Olympics was the comparison of the coaching methods advanced by Tarasov  — the romantic, and Tikhonov — the cynic.  Can we coaches learn something from that comparison?  I definitely think so.

As I intimated near the beginning, we can pick up a lot of ideas from just sitting back and drinking everything in.  If any of my old players watch the above video, I think they’ll recognize a lot of things I did with them.

Lastly, if you have any thoughts — on the movie or my comments, please leave your sentiments below.   And, if you liked this video, I suspect I can find others that show even more of Tarasov’s unique ways.