cska78
Registered User
Good fight last night, guys battled hard. Defense was atrocious, and the fact that Sweden played a back to back and we didn't is even more concerning. The game vs USA should be fun though.
Can you believe Russia will go a whole tournament with Berdin on their roster and not having used him once?
Yes, they played with heart, but also dumb.
Penalties and defensive breakdowns killed them.
Sukhachyov made 1 mistake, but I don't think you can pin this one on him.
The game is tomorrow, no?This will be a big test for Bragin tonight. It seems as though, based on their play so far, the US can be beat if you play a great game against them. Bragin must prevent the team from breaking down early and giving up a 2+ goal lead. Also, will some USA fans finally show up at a game? The odds are certainly in favor of the US, but an upset is certainly possible.
It is tonight for NA and tomorrow morning for Russia.The game is tomorrow, no?
Not a fan of the officiating but what I expected. It was suprising how it was close.
This team had too many guys who should have been leading the team CHL'd. Abramov, Sokolov, Svechnikov, Rubstov etc.
Russia shouldn't even select most of those guys and send a message that if you take that route its unlikely you will be picked. Yet this happens time after time where these NA guys are selected and they do jack all. Anyone they cut to make a spot for Abramov and Sokolov would have been better.
Maybe Bragin was just lucky for a while and what we thought was gold turned into fool's gold.
I get that this wasn't the most talented team, but Bragin's complete disrespect for skill and talent has grown old. There were signs of his strategic limitations going back as far as the 2012 final versus Sweden where they were bailed out by Makarov and lost in OT. Similarly to this they played not to lose, rather than playing to win.
This is not the Russian way. Svechnikov should have been getting the big minutes. Shvyrov should have been our playmaking center and I don't care if he kicks puppies. Should have been there.
And this power play was the product of pure indifference to skill and creativity. Bragin's ode to mediocrity, a template to his conservatism, his fear of taking chances, his banality. I still have some respect for him, but I am simply amazed by his unwillingness to learn.
Even if they somehow won this game, I simply hate this brand of hockey. This is not hockey, but rather something teams like Denmark play.
I "blame" the CHL for being inferior competition. Abramov who was one of the top guys of that birth year scores a lot in the CHL, but it seems it doesn't mean a thing against some real competition. Same applies to Rubtsov.Enough with this yeah Sokolov was bad and Abramov could have been better but I didn't see the magic from Maltsev, or Manukyan etc either. If you're blaming the CHL for this loss your head is in the wrong place, there was not enough depth period.
There are a lot of strange things about this team's showing. The list is awkwardly long. And we won't get the answers in interviews. But there are certainly questions I would want aswered by the coaching staff and Bragin in particular.Kostin played 3:37 in the third period. Obyasnite mne - kak eto mozhet byt?
Well, somebody deliberately killed the U18 team in the MHL idea. That someone has to be removed. There must be very strict and proper regulation of agents activity. There must be severe changes not only in personel but also structure of the FHR. There has to be a general understanding we need to reincarnate the russian game somehow. That is not only the creative fancy plays. Skating and passing(not fancy passing, but proper passing) have to be strenghs of a young russian player by design and not by accident. The Red Machine thing has to go and Rotenberg can show up with it when it is a Red Machine evidenced by results and not his advertising.Bragin has lots of deficiencies, that is certain. His defenses have always been a mess and ineffective. Maybe his biggest strength is his ability to motivate players, but that has its limitations, especially when the team lacks talent. The 3rd goal, where an American flips the puck in from center ice and no Russian defensemen bother to chase the puck or to at least get a body in front of the streaking American forward who tees it up and blasts it in over Sukhachyov, who is on his knees and unable to even attempt to save the high shot.
I think the decline we see over the last 2 years will get worse next year. The only talent on the horizon is Svechnikov, but Svechnikov will be owned by an NHL team next June, and it will be out of Russia's control if his owners decide to take him into the NHL. In order to become competitive with the Americans, Canadians, Swedes and even Finns, Russia is going to have to consider creating a similar system that would enable them to compete on an equal footing. Otherwise, they will continue to fall behind.