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ESPN 30 for 30 - Soviet Hockey Discussion


MafiaMan

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ESPN's 30 for 30 episode this Sunday is "Of Miracles and Men." The preview asks the question "what if...the miracle we remember is the game they want to forget." I bet it'll be interesting.

 

 

Did you happen to watch this?  I DVR'd it and late last night got about halfway through but it was waaay too late and it was time to go to bed.  I'll be watching later this week.  Curious to hear your thoughts if you saw it.

 

 

Fetisov went through a lot of crap to be the first to be granted to leave the Soviet Army and basically become a free man and play in the NHL. Could of defected and didn't earlier. Opened the door for everyone else by waiting.  Have a lot of respect for the guy. And Tarasov made Soviet hockey. What a great coach and a guy with a huge heart. Unorthodox training methods but they worked. Great documentary.

 

 

I thought the doc. was incredible. It was amazing to see the Soviet's redefine a style of hockey. Off the ice their workouts were extreme, very impressive, probably way ahead of its time. It's funny though, with that advantage they didn't play a gritty game and the Russians still have a tendency to not, which has resulted in big losses imo throughout international play.

 

Still crazy to see USA beat the Russians in that game. Hell, the Russians probably could have won 19 of 20 if they played a 20 game series.

 

 

Per Herb Brooks:

 

Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it.

 

So that would make it 18 of 20 in a 20 game series! :whistling:  ;)

 

 

Herb was choosing his words carefully, realistically it was probably more like 98-99 out of 100.  

 

 

DVR'd it...watching it tonight or tomorrow night.

Two things I have heard and am looking to verify:

#1) Fetisov has not much good to say about Tikhonov

#2) Sergei Fedorov was looked upon as a traitor for leaving the UCKA (pronounced sess-ka) hockey team and defecting. The acronym stands for Central Sports Club Army.

 

 

I just watched it today (DVR) and thought it was great. I loved when they asked the one player of he saw the movie Miracle and he said why, we didn't win. Lots of red tape (no pun intended) just to get out of the Soviet Union and play in the NHL.

 

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If you haven't see or DVR'd ESPN 30 for 30: Of Miracles and Men.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmdb3PkGLd0

I remember MafiaMan saying he wish he saw Lokomotiv, not sure if he's seen it yet.

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/lokomotiv/

Wow, that Lokomotiv video is pretty powerful.

Two quick things I found interesting (minor details):

I knew that Valeri Kharlamov died in August of 1981 and that he did not make the Canada Cup team that summer. I did not know that he was literally left at the airport as the plane was leaving the USSR and died in the car crash only a day or two later. Wow. Stunning that the Soviet team could even play in that tournament, let alone win it...not that they had a choice to fly home for Kharlamov's funeral I guess.*

*side note: #17 has been retired by the Soviet Union (and now Russia) in international competition in honor of Kharlamov. Ilya Kovalchuk has worn the reverse of that, #71, in his honor.

Did anyone else notice the changing spelling of Russian player names on their jerseys? What we commonly know today as "TRETIAK" was in fact spelled "TRETJAK" and "TRETYAK" on jerseys in different tournaments. The other player I noticed with different spellings was Boris Mikhailov, whose name was spelled both "MICHAJLOV" and "MICHAILOV."

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Alex Tarasov's short explanation of his grandfather's firing needed to be expanded upon a bit. A Soviet tie with Czechoslovakia in the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo wasn't designed just to improve relations with the CSSR. A tie would have dropped the USA from silver to bronze and moved Czechoslovakia up from bronze to silver. Communist superiority over the USA would be ensured. The Soviet Union defeated the CSSR 5-2 - and Tarasov's decision to rebuke the higher-ups would cost him his job.

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Alex Tarasov's short explanation of his grandfather's firing needed to be expanded upon a bit. A Soviet tie with Czechoslovakia in the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo wasn't designed just to improve relations with the CSSR. A tie would have dropped the USA from silver to bronze and moved Czechoslovakia up from bronze to silver. Communist superiority over the USA would be ensured. The Soviet Union defeated the CSSR 5-2 - and Tarasov's decision to rebuke the higher-ups would cost him his job.

 

All that I'd heard before watching this was about Viktor Tikhonov.  I'd never heard or known about Anatoli Tarasov.  That was very interesting to me, to see the "birth" of Russian hockey.

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All that I'd heard before watching this was about Viktor Tikhonov.  I'd never heard or known about Anatoli Tarasov.  That was very interesting to me, to see the "birth" of Russian hockey.

I never heard of him either. Kind of coach you would do anything for.

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I finished watching this last night.  Amazing what Fetisov had to do to get released from his contract in Russia and to be able to play in the NHL.  The interaction between Lamoriello and Fetisov was good stuff - Lamoriello calling Fetisov daily making sure he was still alive or not shipped to Siberia, meeting in a hotel room and having to write to each other because the room was bugged, all the promises made to Fetisov and then once he delivered on the ice the promises were reneged, Fetisov not defecting because he wanted to do it "the right way", etc.  These are things you think just happen in the movies! 

 

Going into watching this I was assuming that it would be about the Miracle on Ice game and that the show would lead up to that game, and end with that game (or right after).  I'm sure that's because of how I view the game from my American point of view (how could this have been about anything else?!).  I really liked how the 1980 Olympics were at about the halfway point and they went on and talked a lot about what happened afterwards.

 

Very well done documentary!  I want more!

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How bout the 1972 Summit Series games against the Canadians where JP Parise threatened to wack the ref with his stick!! I had heard about it but never saw the actual clip!! Wow!!

I was wondering if I heard that name right. I actually thought we was going to hit the ref, that must have taken a lot of restraint not to do it.
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I was wondering if I heard that name right. I actually thought we was going to hit the ref, that must have taken a lot of restraint not to do it.

Had he I would have to believe that would of been the last time we would of heard JP Parise on an NHL team. I bet that ref had to go wipe after the incident.

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Did anyone here know that just two days after beating the Soviets in game 8, Canada had to play the Czechoslovakian team in Prague? This article gives a good description of how that went...

http://www.1972summitseries.com/czechoslovakia.html

Stan Mikita's real name was Stanislav Gvoth and that he was smuggled out of Czechoslovakia to Canada as a young boy - without his parents. Incredible story.

Lots of amazing hockey bits from that era...

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That was a great documentary. I always assumed Soviet hockey was always about the system and nobody had a real passion for the game. The founding coach Tarasov changed my perception of that...at least in their earlier years. He was an impressive man.

 

When Tarasov's daughter was introduced in the documentary, was there any mention of her credentials?  I didn't see any.  Turns out that she is a very famous ice skating coach:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatiana_Tarasova

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I watched the 30 for 30 on Saturday morning.  Very interesting stuff, as everyone has said. 

 

Rumor is you can track down the Red Army on youtube if you dig deep enough, but I have not had the chance to confirm this.  I suppose it could have been up, then taken down as pirated, as well.

 

I don't know how long it has been out but I noticed on my Redbox app on my iPhone that "Red Army" is indeed at Redbox locations.  I'm trying to justify driving 10 miles out of my way tonight to pick it up and watch it.   :)

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I don't know how long it has been out but I noticed on my Redbox app on my iPhone that "Red Army" is indeed at Redbox locations. I'm trying to justify driving 10 miles out of my way tonight to pick it up and watch it. :)

It's on Netflix online if that helps.

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