Aleksandr Novokreshchonov:
Novokreshchonov describes the "Canadian school of hockey" as an aggressive and fast offensive game.
"The Canadians play an attacking style of hockey at an extremely high pace. All their actions are subject to the same aim: To shoot as soon as possible and conquer the opponent's goal. (…) The Canadians attack vigorously and purposefully. The main thing for them is to make a shot on goal. Therefore, the goal is under constant fire. (…) In almost every game, the Canadians scored goals from close range – from the area in front of the goal. As soon as the team enters the offensive zone, one and sometimes two players head to the goal and, receiving the puck, they attack the net or pick up a rebound from someone else's shot."
The high level of technical skills the Canadian players possess allows them to attack in different ways.
"The Canadians have a variety of ways to enter the offensive zone: They use a shot or go individually through the zone or pass the puck to a partner. (...) The Canadian players had an advantage over our players in technical skill, in high individual quality. Their technique made it possible to carry out attacks according to a variety of tactical plans."
In particular, Novokreshchonov highlights the
skating and stickhandling abilities of the Canadians.
"The players of Penticton are quick, smart and skillful skaters with sharp acceleration. This enables them to play and attack at fast pace. Their attacks are efficient and varied. They skate with upright body, the head slightly raised.
Almost always do they hold the sticks firmly with both hands, which makes it difficult to knock it off or turn it aside. Skillfully handling their sticks and the puck, the players make use of a variety of techniques in a complex environment with ease. Pushing it forward with frequent strikes on the left and the right, the Canadians carry the puck ahead. To get past an opponent, they use many distracting movements and actions.
For example, a player seems to send the puck directly to an opponent, but with a reciprocal move he picks up the puck again and instantly goes in the other direction. Another example: A player moves directly towards an opponent at high speed and after making a distracting movement with his body, he sharply changes direction at the last moment."
Novokreshchonov also gives the Canadians good grades for their
passing game: He says they use a lot of diverse passes and execute them with quickness and accuracy.
"The Canadians prefer to pass the puck to a player who has already gained speed. They often use long longitudinal and diagonal passes. The player who receives the puck approaches the next zone as fast as he can. For example, if a defenceman wins the puck in his own zone, he moves to the neutral zone and makes a strong pass to his winger who is located roughly at the blue line. The puck goes precisely to the blade of the winger's stick. The forward, having already picked up speed before receiving the puck, breaks into the offensive zone and often finds himself one-on-one with the goaltender. With one such pass, the Canadians manage to beat several opponents at once."
However, if no good passing option is available, the Canadian defencemen are also able to hold on to the puck.
"If he doesn't see a partner who isn't unguided, the defenceman is usually in no hurry to pass the puck. Possessing high technical skill, the defenceman just keeps the pucks and only passes it after creating advantageous positions for his partner."
The Canadian defencemen also show up in in the offensive zone themselves:
"Sometimes the defenceman who has won the puck and finds himself in a favourable position goes ahead himself and makes a shot at the goal. (...) For the final shots on the goal, the Canadians often use their defencemen."
In the
shooting technique, Novokreshchonov doesn't see a difference between Canadian and Soviet players. True, the Canadians have also demonstrated a new technique, the slap shot, but the Soviets have already managed to adapt it. (Note that the term Novokreshchonov uses is Удар-бросок which nowadays isn't used for the slap shot. But when Novokreshchonov wrote the article, this shot was a novelty to the Soviets and the terminology was still in flux. The date of the article – 1955 – and the description of the shot – a "big swing" and a very strong shot that however "rarely succeeds in acute game situations since it takes a long time" – fit the slap shot.)
Another technical feature of the Canadians lies in their frequent
bodychecking.
"In contrast to the European rules, the domestic Canadian rules allow bodychecking throughout the entire rink. Therefore the game with the body has been familiar to the Canadians for a long time and they have brought it to perfection. The experience of almost a century, the early specialization of the young men, the existence of professional teams and the high physical burden of the competition – all that shapes the dynamic and rough character of the Canadian game and it gives the players the drive to compete hard even under the most difficult circumstances. (…)
In the ability to play the body, the Canadians are far superior to the teams of other countries. This effective and powerful technique is constantly employed throughout the entire game by both defencemen and forwards. The Canadians particularly often use the bodycheck to take the puck from an opponent at the boards. Physical play, whether used by them or against them, does not affect their ability to execute the combinations they want to do.
The physical play of the Canadians often turns into rudeness. During the World Championship, the Canadian team took the largest number of penalties [out of all teams]."
When the opponent wins the puck, the Canadians switch to
defending.
"Going to the defence, the Canadians do not line up before their own blue line, but continue to fight for the puck while retreating and prevent the opponent in every way from organizing an attack. The Canadians seems to skate back [even] faster than they attack. Once they're in their own half of the rink, all of them play the body with confidence and toughness. The defencemen show great dedication. Sometimes they sit down or lie down directly under the shot, trying in any way to intercept the puck on its way to the Canadian goal."
Finally, Novokreshchonov also highlights the tactical and mental
discipline displayed by the Canadians.
"The Canadians showed themselves as strong-willed sportsmen. In their matches with the main opponents, the players of Penticton never fell into the offside position. No bickering among the players on the ice was noticeable. Bodychecks by the opponent didn't irrirate them. The Canadians, whether they were checked cleanly or not cleanly, quickly got up again and immediately continued to play."
Having described the strength of the Canadian play (minus the penalty minutes they took), Novokreshchonov proceeds to outline some of the
weaknesses:
"Carried away by the attacks, the forwards and defencemen often allowed 3-against-2 and even 3-against-1 situations in their own end. Opponents who played a fast collective game with one-touch passes were able to upset the game of the Canadians and reduce the effectiveness of their physical play. (...) The advantage of the Soviet team was maintained as long as our players used tactical combinations with fast and accurate passes, often one-touch passes. But in the middle of the second period, the pace of the game decreased and the Canadians took over. That's when we lost the match."
Novokreshchonov concludes:
"What do the Soviet players need to improve their skills and to be able to fight for the primacy of the world with confidence?
It is necessary to continue to pay great attention to the general physical training. We need to make sure our players are superior to foreign players in speed, agility and strength. This will allow them to win individual combats.
It is critical to put a lot of work into polishing technique and to improve the individual skill level of each player dramatically.
It is extremely important to improve the tactics of the game and strive for a greater variety of tactical combinations. The sooner the players master the techniques, the easier, fuller and better this will become possible. (...)
Finally, we need a lot of educational work to rise strong-willed players. Determination, perseverance, insistence and the will to win must always be inherent in our hockey players.
A high level of physical fitness, excellent technique, flexible and diverse tactics and the will to win are the key to high sportsmanship and to the success of the Soviet hockey players in the upcoming international matches."
Novokreshchonov's article is supplemented with three graphics visualizing Canadian plays:
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http://hockey99.ru/uploads/posts/2015-04/1429568727_novyy-33.jpg)
Schema 1 and 2: The Canadians use every opportunity for fast counterattacks. Here we have two examples of Canadian defencemen using long passes to start attacks from their own end and leave several opponents trailing behind the attacking winger.
Schema 3: This time the Canadians are in the offensive zone. Both wingers (7 and 9) rush towards the goal so that the Canadian center (8) has two passing options.
