MAGGI PICAYUNE

* – A quick warning since this rating is automatic for hockey fans. However, I think non-fans will be impressed about the story of the team that changed the game. It’s also a good “other-side” perspective to Miracle.

Red Army is a compelling look at the Soviet Union’s hockey dynasty mostly told through defenseman Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov. You initially get a quick rundown of hockey’s history in the USSR, it became important because Stalin decided it would as a part of his superiority through sports. I know Canadians are nuts for the game they developed yet they don’t sing songs saying “only cowards don’t play hockey.” The credit to the Soviet-style of play belongs to an unconventional coach named Anatoli Tarasov. He incorporated ballet/dance, juggling, acrobatics, chess and other “weird” things (to the West) into the players’ training with an emphasis on passing; ergo, he developed a strategy counter to the West’s star-based play (just get the puck to Espisito!). Tarasov’s career ended when he fan afoul of Secretary General Brezhnev over a domestic game. The national team was then handed over to the very hated Tikhonov. What happens next we mostly know, the US victory at Lake Placid in 1980 and ongoing friction leading to Tretiak retiring, Moginly defecting and Fetisov going on strike until he could play in the NHL.

There’s numerous interviews with Western experts, namely Scotty Bowman; the team’s former KGB minder was amusing and they kept his granddaughter’s frank statements intact. The clips showing the Red Army team clobbering the NHL’s best were amazing. Herb Brooks wasn’t kidding about how the Soviets kept moving, looking for an open patch of ice. Despite the players’ advanced age (by professional athletic standards), Bowman took a chance on forming an all ex-Soviet, five-man squad while coaching the Red Wings in the late Nineties (not exactly the players in the picture above). They contributed heavily to ending the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup drought in 1997, humiliating my Flyers too.

It wraps up with an epilog on where all the participants are now.

When I became an adult, I realized that sports as politics was pretty asinine. Sure I celebrate the US 1980 team but those guys were underdogs/amateurs up against the best team on the planet. At the same time, I admire and respect those Soviet teams immensely. They changed the game for the better. I am glad someone finally got around to telling their side of the story. People like Fetisov loves his country yet he loved playing hockey too, ergo, you see how the players weren’t fanatical in their politics. They had pride in being on the national team which is a different thing.

The eerie part for me is how I can’t get a comfortable vibe from Russians. Fetisov, Krutov, Tretiak, etc., all come off annoyed, hostile and disinterested. It’s likely something an American can’t make out because their language has few cognates for us to follow like the Romantic/Germanic ones. I still wish them the best and thank them for their contributions.