The greatest goals scored by the Green Unit

[Batis]

Interestingly or stunningly, Makarov's behaviour on breakaways was singled out in a negative way by Terry Crisp when he coached Makarov in Calgary:

Both interesting and stunning indeed. I don't know if I have ever seen Makarov make one back-pass (let alone three) on a clear breakaway. The breakaway goal against Canada at the 1982 WHC also comes to mind where Makarov and Krutov comes in against Greg Millen and Makarov instead of passing scores the goal himself. I mean this is a situation where many players would pass the puck being two skaters against only the goalie but Makarov was so confident in his own ability on the breakaway that he instead decided to take all the responsability himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXeyMBBKiHc&t=48m0s

Edit: Forgot about one example of when Makarov made a back-pass on a partial breakaway/2 against 1 situation at least. Pretty incredible assist to Krutov here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTZk_IJHqvQ&t=9m48s Perhaps it was this kind of passing that Crisp was talking about.

 

[Batis]

So I found some more footage of the Green Unit from the Izvestia tournament and the 1986 Calgary Cup as well as games against Team Europe and the Japanese national team.

Brilliant solo goal from Fetisov against Czechoslovakia in 1984. The Kenta Nilsson move 5 years before Kenta did it at the 1989 WHC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJRtBGf3Ac&t=0m49s

Great passing play from the Green Unit finished off by Makarov against Japan in 1988. Sure the opponents were sub-par but still look at the passing and Makarovs patience in front of the net. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMa-KUfoYQs&t=39m10s

Another great passing play finished off by Makarov. This time against USA in 1986. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nKjJ_1lzb0&t=44m58s

Another nice powerplay goal against USA in 1986. Scored by Fetisov after a great assist from Larionov. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nKjJ_1lzb0&t=63m52s

This goal by Krutov has already been posted but here it is with the entire build up to the goal and the commentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nKjJ_1lzb0&t=20m7s

Another example of Makarovs ability to force turnovers and make the opponents pay for it. Great goal against Team Europe in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMf9azAXL1A&t=1m0s

Fetisovs scores on a nice assist from Makarov against West Germany in 1984. In the next clip Fetisov scores another goal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kEqXsRNgyM&t=0m30s

Nice goal from Makarov against West Germany in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kEqXsRNgyM&t=0m59s

Makarov scores against Czechoslovakia in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJRtBGf3Ac

Nice powerplay goal scored by Kasatonov against Czechoslovakia in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJRtBGf3Ac&t=0m30s

Larionov scores on a great slapshot against Team Europe in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMf9azAXL1A&t=1m24s

Makarov scores against West Germany in 1987 on a nice deflection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u88mywyKH7w&t=0m30s

Here we have 3 goals scored by the Green Unit against Czechoslovakia at the 1983 WHC. The first one is scored by Krutov and the next two by Larionov. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-a8aR_vkcc&t=3m12s

Fetisov scores on a slapshot against Czechoslovakia in 1986. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkT33Uzadqo&t=5m3s

Larionov scores against Finland in 1986. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoQYiIC4d1s&t=29m48s

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Great stuff Batis! Enjoyed every moment of these videos. Truly a skilled group of players

 

[Batis]

..... wow. nice work & thanks!.

Great job, Batis. I have not seen a lot of these plays.

This is incredible. Thanks so much for doing all of this legwork.

Great work! Love this thread! It´s my lunchdate today

Great stuff Batis! Enjoyed every moment of these videos. Truly a skilled group of players

Thanks guys. Glad that you enjoyed it.

Interestingly or stunningly, Makarov's behaviour on breakaways was singled out in a negative way by Terry Crisp when he coached Makarov in Calgary:

Regarding the difference in hockey philosophy between the Soviet players and the NHL players at the time I just found this quote from Makarov.

"I was more than 30 years old when I came to Calgary and it would have been hard for me to change my way of playing. The players in the NHL shot hard and very often but they rarely hit the net. I was not used to this from the Soviet Union so I had a hard time adjusting to that way of playing." http://www.hockeysverige.se/2015/07/05/sovjets-roda-stjarna-old-school-hockey-sergej-makarov/

Compare this to the quote from Crisp and it is no wonder that the two had their conflicts over the way the game should be played. The famous chalkboard incident also comes to mind.

 

[MaxV]

I don't think Crisp met it literally regarding back-pass on break-away. He just wanted to make a point that he is way too pass-first.

 

[Theokritos]

I don't think Crisp met it literally regarding back-pass on break-away. He just wanted to make a point that he is way too pass-first.

That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Batis]

Since there are some new available games on youtube I decided to update this thread with some Green Unit goals from them. The games in question are the game versus Canada at the 1986 Calgary Cup and an exhibition game against Switzerland in 1986.



Great solo goal from Makarov against Canada at the 1986 Calgary Cup.



Beautiful combination from Makarov, Larionov and Kasastonov which ends up in a goal against Switzerland.



Another great passing play finished off by Larionov.

 

[Batis]

Fetisov with the build-up and Larionov with the assist on this goal by Pervukhin.



Krutovs intercepts a puck mid-air and assists on a goal from Larionov.



The KLM-line scores another one.

 

[Batis]

Krutov and Larionov assists on this goal from Khomutov.

 

[Killion]

^^^ Very nice indeed Batis!.

 

[Batis]

Since the last couple of posts from this thread seems to have got lost in the migration I thought that I should repost it just for completeness regarding the Makarov breakaway discussion. Which was that I finally had found an example of Makarov not scoring on a clear breakaway with time and space against Hasek and Czechoslovakia at the 1990 WHC.

 

[Staniowski]

Thanks for these videos. The Green Unit are one of hockey's greatest treasures.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Yeah, their passing looks great even by modern standarts, when the game has become much more precise and collective. Goals, every of which could easily become Goal of the Year in the modern NHL, they scored them like a dozen every season.

 

[Batis]

I have fixed some broken links from the 1988 Olympics now as well. I could not fix the broken links from the Canada game though since I could not find another upload of that game.

 

[Batis]

I just found some Soviet League highlights from the 87/88 season as well.



Krutov breaks up an attack and scores a goal on the counterattack against Dinamo Riga.



Makarov with a nice assist against Dinamo Riga.



Great goal from the unit against Dynamo Moscow.

 

[Batis]

Another great passing goal from the unit against Dinamo Riga.



Makarov intercepts a pass and tries to stickhandle his way past the goalie before Fetisov? picks up the puck and scores against Dinamo Riga.