Reconstruction of the failure

The defeat of the national team in Sweden reminded of the Vancouver nightmare - the team just as inexplicably fell into a tailspin

The head coach of the Russian national team Vyacheslav Bykov used the expression “clicked on the nose” in relation to the 18-year-old forward Evgeny Kuznetsov (apparently out of fear of overpraising the young talent), but first of all, a click in Stockholm ...

The head coach of the Russian national team Vyacheslav Bykov used the expression “clicked on the nose” in relation to the 18-year-old forward Yevgeny Kuznetsov (apparently out of fear of overpraising the young talent), but first of all, the whole team received a click in Stockholm, not excluding the coaching staff. With a score of 0:4 in the first period, Bykov as a head coach did not lose to anyone, and the young Swedish team rolled out the Russian team like that, further playing by the score and keeping the difference “plus four”. That gave rise to the Swedish press to call on competitors to learn from the early winners of the third stage of the Eurotour.

As I expected, this failure did not affect the overall leadership of the Russians in the Eurotour (on the last day of the Swedish Games, the Czech team was beaten with some difficulty), but the impression of the performance remained blurred - even taking into account the objective and force majeure circumstances before the tournament and his move.

We can consider four goals conceded by the eighth minute as a curiosity or an accident (looking at the game of goalkeeper Mikhail Biryukov, it really could have seemed like that), but not only the team, but also the coaching staff were in a stupor. All this was very reminiscent of the disastrous quarterfinals in the Olympic Vancouver, where there was a different composition and a different degree of responsibility, but a similar reaction. The team began to return to the game by the middle of the second period, soaked the score only in the third, both goals were the first for Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Galimov, who at least got something. And the five of Fedor Fedorov, assembled from hockey players from five clubs, earned a “minus three” utility indicator, which does not climb into any gates.

I'm not going to hang all the dogs on Vyacheslav Bykov and the entire coaching staff. There, the current world champions, the Czechs, with a completely combat-ready squad, lost all three matches in Stockholm, they are in the Eurotour in the usual last place and do not blow their mustache. And we should not panic because of one defeat in the tournament, which only the lazy does not scold. Just think, they didn’t guess with the goalkeepers (unfortunately, Aleksey Volkov, who replaced Biryukov at a score of 0:4, was injured at the end of the match) and the “left” link - there were more positive emotions, as Bykov emphasized, in general! With such an inexpressive composition, to win two strong-willed victories is worth a lot.

However, there are things to think about. Firstly, at all three stages (even at the outright won Channel One Cup), the new tactical ideas announced by the coaches, if they worked, then only partially. At the Swedish Games, the emphasis on practicing defense with an optimal line-up of defenders led to a goal difference of 11-11, which does not require comment.

Secondly, from the entire experimental composition of forwards in the future, you can count on three or four, no more - the strategic line was clearly visible except with the invitation of the same Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was, if not the best, then the brightest (and the best in the tournament, by the way , recognized the attacker from our very ill-fated third trio - the indefatigable St. Petersburg army man Maxim Rybin).

Thirdly, Vyacheslav Bykov himself is an ardent supporter of the attitude to the national team as the face of domestic hockey, and considers the concept of “the psychology of winners” almost the key one (in which the vast majority of our hockey community certainly supports it). That is, in principle, we cannot take defeats as lightly as our main competitors - this is a peculiarity, and not only among the fans. Even worse, Bykov and Zakharkin were forced to admit that if anyone demonstrated modern total hockey, it was the hosts of the tournament. And the Finnish judges, who got into trouble in the key match, at whom Vyacheslav Arkadievich got so angry (and expressed it publicly), have nothing to do with it.

Indirectly, the fact of deep problems was confirmed by the failure of the second Russian team in the Eurochallenge Cup. Valery Bragin put together a quite decent and strong squad, but in the meeting with the aggressive team of Denmark (this is not even the second European echelon), the Russians lost to the hosts. Problems, like those of senior comrades, were in the organization of the game - which, in the absence of truly star players in the roster, deprives our teams of a certain advantage and makes the outcome of the meeting with any opponent unpredictable.

With the start of the Gagarin Cup, the mentors of the national team will not have time to resolve global issues - and the higher the Salavat Yulaev climbs the tournament ladder, the less time will be left for the main team. It is quite possible that Bykov and Zakharkin will have a chance to remember the national team only by the end of April - that is, on the eve of the World Cup. And in April, by the way, in addition to the fourth stage of the Eurotour, there will be six test matches with the national teams of Belarus, Switzerland and Norway.

In what composition and with whom the Russian team will lead them, no one knows at the moment.

But this is exactly the given that we (albeit forcedly) have long been accustomed to.