Translated material
Bad Spiral
Mikhail Margolis
The crisis in Russian hockey takes place not on the ice, but in the same place as other crises - in the heads
The crisis in Russian hockey takes place not on the ice, but in the same place as other crises - in the heads
(Photo: Alexander Chernykh )
Recently, the final reports of domestic commentators from major international hockey tournaments increasingly end with the phrase “The Russian team has stepped on the same rake again.” Sometimes this verdict is interpreted broadly - in relation to our entire hockey.
After last year’s May crash of the Russian super team at the “adult” world championship in St. Petersburg, there was hope that the “rakes” would finally be removed from the road or at least remembered. Too frantically, our entire hockey community repented of the miscalculations made, the wrong course taken and called for radical changes. But on the eve of the youth world championship in Moscow, hopes evaporated: the host team of the tournament was quick to declare the main favorite of the championship, and its potential leaders - the most talented young players on the planet. “The Canadian Spezza, of course, is not bad, but our Kovalchuk will be more interesting.”
When the Russian team played far from its best, it once again immediately became clear to everyone that they had not invited exactly those who were needed, and that our hockey was still in a deep crisis.
This deja vu will last for a very long time. For example, right up to the 2001 World Cup in Germany. Now there are no serious arguments in favor of the fact that adult athletes will perform more successfully in Hannover and Cologne than in the previous seven years, but after the team’s success at the modest Baltic Cup, some started talking about the “rebirth” and “good prospects of the Mikhailovsky squad.” Closer to the start of the world championship, we believe that the squad of Russian optimistic forecasters will significantly increase. It has always been this way.
There is, however, no serious reason to say that the Russian team will face another failure. The balance of power in world hockey is now such that 6-7 teams can always equally claim gold. The results of a particular tournament are influenced by many momentary details and the psychological climate in the team.
Our hockey teams have had problems with these two components lately. It is the national teams, and not the clubs that have repeatedly proven their international competitiveness, and not the domestic hockey as a whole, which, having experienced a kind of crisis 6-7 years ago, managed to adapt to the new reality.
In the five years that Pyotr Vorobyov spent at the helm of the Russian youth team, his team never looked as disunited as at the last World Championships in Moscow. (Photo: Vladimir Bezzubov )
The youth team, by the way, did not cause any particular concern to Russian fans until the last days of the twentieth century (when they lost to the Finns without a fight). On the contrary, her recent results - “silver”, “gold” and again “silver” at the world championships from 1998 to 2000, plus several victories at international tournaments before the Moscow championship - inspired optimism. But the scandalous defeat that happened on “home” ice led to a dramatic analysis of the reasons for what happened. This failure could seriously affect the fate of Pyotr Vorobyov, who will probably have to lose his second post as “head coach” in one season. First, he was released from his position at Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and now they may be left without the youth team, which he led for five years. The irony of Pyotr Ilyich’s coaching fate is not only that he suffered the most painful defeat where he could have achieved the most significant triumph, but also that the team he led for a long time to its main success - victory in the final of the 1999 World Cup over the Canadians in Canada - came under the leadership of Gennady Tsygurov, who replaced Vorobyov during his illness.
The unfortunate failure of the Russian youth team in Moscow is quite understandable. The point is not that the young players could not withstand the psychological pressure of their native stands or the fact that they were listed as favorites in advance. The reason is most likely different: the coach did not have enough “administrative resources,” authority and personal qualities to subordinate the ambitions of the young people to the interests of the national team. Promises and reviews from NHL scouts and agents turned out to be more important to them than coaching guidelines. All this brought us to 7th place.
However, there is nothing scary. Firstly, the stars of this team have at least one more chance to test themselves at the Youth World Cup, and, quite possibly, in a year they will show themselves differently. Secondly, the Moscow failure does not at all mean the degradation of domestic hockey, much less the “loss of its face,” which our veterans love to refer to out of inertia. But “one’s own face” is an abstract category. In the world of professionals, they operate with other concepts: tactics, game plan, selection of performers, balance of the lineup, etc. The three-year dominance of the Czechs on the hockey Olympus is explained not by the notorious “preservation of originality”, but by the thoughtful actions of the leaders of the Czech Hockey Union and the coaches of the country’s national teams. For example, in the Czech Republic they successfully avoided a protracted behind-the-scenes struggle for hockey power; they did not engage in opportunistic personnel rotation. The hockey union and its main team were led by the same people for a long time. Accordingly, there was a real opportunity to formulate and implement their concept of training teams of all levels and the development of Czech hockey as a whole. The former coach of the national team, Ivan Glinka, carefully selected the roster, focused on hockey players playing in the domestic championship, did not flirt with NHL's compatriot legionnaires, but invited them very selectively. By the way, Joseph Augusta, who replaced Glinka, who had gone overseas, worked for a long time as his assistant in the national team, which ensured continuity of approach. And, of course, it would never have occurred to anyone from the leadership to discuss, say, the following idea: should we appoint one national team coach for the World Cup, and for the Olympics, where there will probably be more foreign players, another one, one who is better versed in the intricacies of the complex psychology of millionaire players.
Well, and of course, a distinctive feature of any professional modern team that exists in conditions of healthy competition is adequate self-esteem. Our “rake” in hockey, as in many other areas, is, first of all, excessive conceit and ignorance of objective statistics.
It is high time to understand that it is not Russian hockey that is in crisis, but European hockey that has reached a qualitatively different level, and one should look not for a coach who unfoundedly promises to revive something, but for a person who really understands the situation, who knows how to analyze and use modern experience and technology. A specialist whose principles would depend not on his likes or dislikes, not on relations with the leaders of the federation. And most importantly, having a clear vision of the goal, a program of work with the team. If we learn to determine which components brought us benefit and which did not fundamentally change anything (remember, for example, that the endless change of coaches and the mechanical recruitment of either 2-3 or 15 NHL players to the national team led to the same result), the rake will be easy to step over. And calling up another “fireman” to the national team for one season, who with a wave of his hand should return all its power to domestic hockey and ensure a victorious result, is a vicious path. Even if such a result is achieved due to a happy coincidence, it will only strengthen the misconception about the true state of affairs.
With the participation of Ilya Kukin
The successes of Czech hockey are impressive: both the national and youth (pictured) teams have become the best in the world twice in a row. (Photo: AP )