Hockey Russia Mistreatment of NHL Stars, and the Depleted Nagano Team

Wings4Life

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Apr 11, 2007
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The Soviet players were treated like soldiers and they were basically soldiers. I am not going to argue that the conditions were boutique, but the system was cohesive, tough and effective. Tikhonov was of course a monster and I can see why so many of them rejected him. In the hands of a great coach like Tarasov there was a lot of mutual respect between players and coach.

But let's face it, once the NHL Russians transitioned to the new lifestyle, with their expensive cars and big contracts, there was no turning back. Tikhonov or not, they wanted special treatment, to be treated like rock stars. Old guard coaches resisted this, but eventually the Russian system softened its stance and started pampering and flattering the star players.

The 90s teams were still effective because of the remnants of the Soviet system, because there was still that structure in place and guys were expected to forget their status, play as equals and sacrifice everything. Today all of that is gone and you are seeing the less-than-stellar results (please note my sarcasm about this, which you may have missed from my original post).

The false dilemma of "treated like trash" vs. "treated well" is not only an inaccurate representation of the changes in Russian hockey, it ignores the fact that the transition has been an apparent disaster for the system (although a massive boon to some folks' bank accounts). The Soviet teams were good because they emphasized collective success - not individual enrichment - as the one and only goal.

I should add that the Soviet hockey players were all well compensated. They had salaries way above the average pay scale, had spacious apartments given to them, and all had jobs waiting for them when they retired. Things maybe weren't all that sweet by the late eighties, but everyone was suffering in those times. Not only them, and I would know because I was there. These guys went abroad, made a bunch of millions, and then couldn't sacrifice their time for their country at a tournament because Tikhonov wouldn't wipe their ass for them. Their sob story does not impress me.

Hats off for a well-written post, one that inspires some deeper reflection on the issue. I don't agree with some of your points, but I respect your opinion here. On a personal note, I am sorry to hear that you lived through the tough times in that nation's history.

That said, I disagree with your description of the false dilemma in this particular case. Yes, pre-1990 the Soviet players were all trained like soldiers, and their training regimen was rigorous and often brutal. That said, the members of the Soviet NT still felt respected at some basic level by the coaching staff. Their training was tough and merciless, but they were not "treated like trash" per se.

At the World Cup 1996, it wasn't just a return to old Soviet training that caused the permanent divide in Russia's NT. It was that WCoH group actually being "treated like trash". This is an important distinction that some overlook. All of the players on that 1996 World Cup team lived through the old Soviet school training regimen, yet they all answered the call for the Russian NT in 1996 anyway. The old guard coaches saw that these guys were millionaires and were living the American dream in all it's opulence, and saw this WCoH training camp as a three week window where they could exact their revenge and shit all over the 'deserters'. Even that basic level of respect afforded to Soviet NT players circa 1980 was missing, this was the coaches intentionally inflicting pain and humiliation on the players, for no better reason other than that they could.

Too bad those old bitter fools running the NT were not yet aware that they would be asking these same players to play in Nagano in 1998. They only have themselves to blame for playing with half a team there and wasting Russia's best chance for gold in 20 years. You're right, it's not much of a sob story when looking at what happened to many other people in Russia after the fall of the USSR, but in the end the ones most hurt by this are Hockey Russia, for the lack of success in the uber-talented 1990s-early 2000s. Again, kudos for the solid post, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
 
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Caser

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Hats off for a well-written post, one that inspires some deeper reflection on the issue. I don't agree with some of your points, but I respect your opinion here. On a personal note, I am sorry to hear that you lived through the tough times in that nation's history.

That said, I disagree with your description of the false dilemma in this particular case. Yes, pre-1990 the Soviet players were all trained like soldiers, and their training regimen was rigorous and often brutal. That said, the members of the Soviet NT still felt respected at some basic level by the coaching staff. Their training was tough and merciless, but they were not "treated like trash" per se.

At the World Cup 1996, it wasn't just a return to old Soviet training that caused the permanent divide in Russia's NT. It was that WCoH group actually being "treated like trash". This is an important distinction that some overlook. All of the players on that 1996 World Cup team lived through the old Soviet school training regimen, yet they all answered the call for the Russian NT in 1996 anyway. The old guard coaches saw that these guys were millionaires and were living the American dream in all it's opulence, and saw this WCoH training camp as a three week window where they could exact their revenge and **** all over the 'deserters'. Even that basic level of respect afforded to Soviet NT players circa 1980 was missing, this was the coaches intentionally inflicting pain and humiliation on the players, for no better reason other than that they could.

Too bad those old bitter fools running the NT were not yet aware that they would be asking these same players to play in Nagano in 1998. They only have themselves to blame for playing with half a team there and wasting Russia's best chance for gold in 20 years. You're right, it's not much of a sob story when looking at what happened to many other people in Russia after the fall of the USSR, but in the end the ones most hurt by this are Hockey Russia, for the lack of success in the uber-talented 1990s-early 2000s. Again, kudos for the solid post, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

About the coaches and players relationship, it's worth noting that WC-1996 was the only tournament in Team Russia history, where players got to pick the coaches, not vice versa as it is usual.
 

Albatros

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Aug 19, 2017
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At the World Cup 1996, it wasn't just a return to old Soviet training that caused the permanent divide in Russia's NT. It was that WCoH group actually being "treated like trash". This is an important distinction that some overlook. All of the players on that 1996 World Cup team lived through the old Soviet school training regimen, yet they all answered the call for the Russian NT in 1996 anyway. The old guard coaches saw that these guys were millionaires and were living the American dream in all it's opulence, and saw this WCoH training camp as a three week window where they could exact their revenge and **** all over the 'deserters'.

The 1996 WCoH coaches were Boris Mikhailov, Yevgeni Zimin, and Sergei Makarov.

Zimin and Makarov were both active in the NHL themselves at the time, Zimin as a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, and Makarov still continuing his playing career. Mikhailov was a former player as well, and coaching SKA St. Petersburg at the time. It is true that he did not get along well with the attitude of some players, but to call it the revenge of the old guard is misplaced. What he had a problem with was that some of the star players were not willing to work for a collective effort, players for whom it was only about the name in the back. Not everyone could just surf around in the offensive zone for 20 minutes. It can be that Mikhailov didn't sufficiently understand the world of the NHL, but still the end result on ice was more on the players. With the federation there obviously were major problems and it affected everything else, but that was not on the coaching staff.
 

blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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One thing I recall (forget if it was 1998 or 2002) but Tikhonov was sitting near the entrance way to the locker room and after Russia loss (to either the US or Czechs) he stood up and glared at the players as they walked off the ice.
 

VMBM

And it didn't even bring me down
Sep 24, 2008
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One thing I recall (forget if it was 1998 or 2002) but Tikhonov was sitting near the entrance way to the locker room and after Russia loss (to either the US or Czechs) he stood up and glared at the players as they walked off the ice.

If you're talking about Olympics, the last time Tikhonov coached Russia at the Olympics was in 1994. After that, he only had a short and unsuccessful stint as the head coach at the 2004 World Championship (the 2003-04 season).

Or was he just there as a 'viewer' or member of some organisation?
 
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