Author ‘Path to the Summit’: Anatoli Tarasov & the History of Soviet Hockey Part I & II - Available now on Amazon. See also @pathtothesummit
British Columbia, Canada
Joined November 2009
- Tweets3K
- Following365
- Followers218
- Likes4.9K
Jim Genac retweeted
Publicly available for the first time: my article on the state of Soviet hockey in the mid-1950s (originally published in the 2023 Research Journal of the Society for International Hockey Research).
mlanghockey.substack.com/p/a…
Jim Genac retweeted
A future hockey coach working under the future head of a 🚀 program. A brother executed by the firing squad. And a career in sport in closest touch with greats like Boris Arkadyev (⚽️), Lev Yashin (⚽️), Stepan Spandaryan (🏀) and Anatoli Tarasov (🏒). Meet Arkadi Chernyshov.
Jim Genac retweeted
Another piece of the remarkable legacy of Arkadi Chernyshov:
mlanghockey.substack.com/p/l…
Jim Genac retweeted
Wrapping up Summit September with the assessments of Team Canada by four Soviet coaches/retired players:
mlanghockey.substack.com/p/y…
Jim Genac retweeted
A rare document has emerged: While Soviet representatives were in Montreal to negotiate the 1975-76 Super Series, Detroit Red Wings offered to pay $300,000 for two Soviet players. Here's the handwritten note by Detroit executive John Ziegler:
Jim Genac retweeted
Soviet hockey tactic package
The Spartak Carousel: 1960s Soviet Proto-Cycling (mlanghockey.substack.com/p/t…)
Three Times Faster: How Soviet Defenders Used Long Passes (mlanghockey.substack.com/p/a…)
Soviet Defensemen in Enemy Territory (mlanghockey.substack.com/p/d…)
54 years ago today, @TeamCanada1972 played the first of two extremely rough games vs Sweden before heading to Moscow for the final four games of the #1972SummitSeries. Before the games got underway, Montréal Star journalist John Robertson had predicted what those games would be like…
“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖-𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠… 𝐷𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 1969 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑘ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑚, 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑎 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ, 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑡-𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝐻𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑙-𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝑊𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑎𝑦𝑛𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑑𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛.”
“𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑛, 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 — 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛."
"𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛 𝐹𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠. 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟 "𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠" 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝐻𝐿, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑠.”
“𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙. 𝐼𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝐻𝐿 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡.𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑛 4-1. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 - 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠.”
“𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑉𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑣'𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 - ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝐶𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑥. 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝐶𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒.”
"𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝐻𝐿, 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒 — 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚. 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙.”
As the games in Sweden played out, Robertson was bang on with his prediction.
Ken Dryden would later reflect on what a disaster those games in Sweden were. “𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮… 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴.”
===========
You can read all about the Soviet journey to the 1972 Summit Series in ‘Path to the Summit Part I & Il’ available on Amazon in paperback or hard cover editions.
#pathtothesummit #anatolitarasov #soviethockey #russianhockey #usahockey
