Watched the Russian Five Last Night

"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
04/26/2019 at 11:07 • Filed to: Detroit, Hockey

What a great documentary, it’s about how the Red Wings in the 80's hadn’t won a Stanley Cup since ‘55, so they decided to start drafting Russian players. They became the RED Wings, haha. I highly recommend it.

DISCUSSION (17)

jimz > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 11:11

There were 6, actually. Doug Brown played on lines with them so often he got the nickname “Brownov.”

fintail > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 11:16

Now that was fun hockey. It was so interesting to watch, almost seemed cerebral compared to some other styles of the time.

I still remember when Fedorov defected at the 1990 Goodwill Games.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > jimz
04/26/2019 at 11:20

Haha Gotcha.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > fintail
04/26/2019 at 11:25

I do not remember, I was 3, haha.

Watching the footage though, WOW, that was some amazing hockey when they got 5 Russians on the ice at the same time. Their style of play was awesome to watch, it looked like the opposing team was completely outclassed. The documentary described the style of play as “keep-away”, “if they don’t have the puck, they can’t score”. Whereas at the time the American style of play was to always drive forward toward the net. It gave the Red Wings a huge time of possession advantage.

fintail > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 11:33

They just cycled it among themselves, and confused the opponent. Sometimes the SOG stats were very amusing. It took more skill and thought than traditional strategy, and nobody was expecting it. I find this funny in a way, as I have a book from the 70s called “Russian Hockey Secrets” (younger but still cynical me wondered how secret it was if it was in a book) by Tarasov which deals with some of this strategy. But the old guard didn’t take Europeans seriously. Now look at the game.

Detroit was s o much better to watch than the soul-sucking trap played by the Devils and others of the same era, too.

vondon302 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 11:34

These guys made me a hockey fan.

MattHurting > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 11:38

Ovechkin passed Federov this year to have the most points in the NHL by a Russian. 1211 points in 1084 games for Ovi, and 1179 points in 1248 games for Federov. Interesting to note that most of Ovi’s points are goals (658 G 553 A) and Federov is the opposite (483 G 696 A).

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > fintail
04/26/2019 at 12:13

“They just cycled it among themselves, and confused the opponent.”

The documentary showed plenty of footage of exactly this, it was hilarious to watch the opposing team looking rather clueless.

Funny you had that book! I bet the proof was in the pudding though, when they finally got all 5 on the ice.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > vondon302
04/26/2019 at 12:13

I can imagine! Inspiring stuff.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > MattHurting
04/26/2019 at 12:16

That is interesting, funny you mention this, I just looked up Federov’s record. That seems to have always been is MO. Just getting to know him in the documentary, he seemed like the kind of guy to do just that (lots of assists).

MattHurting > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 12:29

And even stranger is this clip, from the first round of the 2009 playoffs. Game 7, Caps vs Rangers with about 5 minutes left, Federov and Ovi have a 2 on 2 , and everyone expects Federov to pass, but he shoots and scores!

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > MattHurting
04/26/2019 at 12:30

Doing the unexpected once in a while probably got him great results.

fintail > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 13:02

It was pretty revolutionary in the NHL at the time. A lot of people loved it, but some still whined about the lack of physicality for the sake of physicality, at the same time.

I think the recent evolution of the game is great with its youth and skill , even if it has made the type of player I imagined myself as obsolete. Still, I really like 90s NHL.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > fintail
04/26/2019 at 13:18

What would you say is the key difference between play today versus what was considered revolutionary in the style of play that the Russian 5 brought to the league?

fintail > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 13:28

I think the Russian 5 era play had more physicality - Vladdy could really get into it, and none of them were untouchable. The Russian style wasn’t based on hitting for the sake of hitting like the North American style, but they still could check. There’s a lot less of that today. The size of the players might be related to it as well , seems general height and weight isn’t such a big deal anymore. A lot more <5'11" <200 lb guys out there now than 25 years ago.

Another factor might be even more raw stickhandling skill now than then, as development has evolved, and these fine skills are possessed by more players, as youth hockey development has become a very profitable business.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > fintail
04/26/2019 at 13:41

Thanks for shedding some light on it, I’m a very casual observer to hockey. Most of my exposure is going to Griffins games from time to time.

fintail > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
04/26/2019 at 14:06

It’s the only sport I really follow, and have for most of my life.