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Sixty Moments That Changed The Game
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!
FROM THE FIRST TIME CANADA AND THE Soviet Union met at the 1954 World Championship, NHL GMs were interested in getting their hands on the USSR’s best players. But in the days of Communist government, Soviet officials were not interested in releasing stars to seek their fortunes across the ocean. Winning World Championship and Olympic gold medals for their country was the players’ sole duty. Outstanding talents like Vsevelod Bobrov, Anatoly Firsov and Valery Kharlamov, who could have starred on any of the Original Six NHL teams, didn’t get a chance to play for the big bucks. The world changed, however, and as Glasnost approached in the 1980s the Soviets changed their position. The hockey world was shocked when Sergei Priakhin was announced as the first Soviet national team player to be…
LINDSAY MAKES A STAND
A FAMOUS SERIES OF Looney Tunes cartoons feature Sam and Ralph, one a sheepdog and the other a wolf. They carpool to work together daily, exchange pleasantries and, once they’ve both punched in, go at each other until the end of their shift. At that time they drive home together, the best of friends once again. While today’s NHLers don’t carpool, most have good friends and many have business partners playing on opposing teams. They share agents and information, plan and bargain collectively with their employers, sit down socially when their paths cross during the season and make appearances at each other’s golf tournaments. Things weren’t always so pleasant. If today’s players are able to cross party lines and gather publicly without worrying about being seen, reported and disciplined, it is largely…
SPACE-AGE GEAR
IT DOESN’T TAKE A ROCKET SCIENTIST to figure out they’re not playing the same game today they were playing with straight, wooden blades, felt elbow pads and brown leather goalie pads. And the rocket scientists are to blame. Technological advancements have changed the way players shoot, the way they save, the way they throw bodychecks and the damage those bodychecks cause. Today, with space-age shaft materials generating frightening amounts of torque, everyone can shoot like Bobby Hull. And the guys who could already shoot like Bobby Hull are now shooting like they’ve got bazookas on their shoulders. That is, when the sticks aren’t snapping like they’re made of spun sugar. The new sticks are nowhere near as accurate as wooden ones, and, like titanium drivers, you don’t always know where the shot is…
SHUTTING DOWN THE OFFENSE
HOCKEY USED TO BE A SIMPLE game – throw a puck on the ice and let 10 skaters and two goalies duke it out to see who is better. You had one coach behind the bench barking out complicated instructions such as, “Skate! Skate!” or “Backcheck!” The outcome, though, was basically in the hands of the players. Then came the assistant coach. It has been suggested the advent of the assistant coach in hockey was the beginning of the end for scoring. The general thinking is, you couldn’t teach a run-of-the-mill hockey player how to score, but you could teach him how to check. “I think you’re probably right,” said Stanley Cup-winning coach Randy Carlyle of the Anaheim Ducks. “They spend a lot of time working on the small details of the game and…
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