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Plyuschev Brings Change and Success for the Russian National Team
Written by: Eugene Belashchenko on 09/17/2002 
Plyuschev Brings Change and Success for the Russian National Team
The Russian National Team has had quite a run during the 01-02 season. The Russian U20 squad fought hard for the gold at the U20 World Junior Championships, beating Canada in an overtime thriller. The Russian U18 squad also did not disappoint, winning the silver medal with a lineup that was expected to finish out of medal contention. Finally, the completely unexpected, the Russians earn the silver medal at the 2002 World Championships. The achievements of the Russian junior teams are not huge surprises, since the Russian junior program has been finishing in the top of the rankings at almost every U18 and U20 tournament. Russia’s silver finish in Germany, however, took many by surprise for several reasons. First, the Russian National team performed quite poorly during the EuroTour competition and did not appear to have the drive and talent needed to build a competitive squad. The main reasons they found success at the World Championships were the amazing goaltending from Maxim Sokolov, solid offensive from youthful Ivan Tkachenko and a completely and utterly defensive minded game that tired out and suffocated their opponents, and put the fans to sleep. While Mikhailov brought home the silver medal and did his country proud, he did it in a very North American fashion, using defensive minded hockey with strong physical pressure to neutralize the opponent.
After coming home to a hero’s welcome, Boris Mikhailov was deemed the savior of Russian hockey and it appeared that the mediocre performance of the Russian squad for the previous two years at the EuroTour and at the 2001 World Championships was all but forgotten. Mikhailov was at the top and the helm of the Russian National Team, which he had little chance of retaining before the WC, was now his for the taking. After more then a month of deliberation, Boris Mikhailov stepped down as Russia’s head coach. The official version is that the Russian Hockey Federation and Boris Mikhailov could not come to terms on a financial deal and Boris Mikhailov walked away from the negotiations. The unofficial story, well, we will never know the unofficial story of why Boris Mikhailov no longer steered Team Russia, but there are numerous possibilities. What ever the reason may have been, Ak Bars and U20 Team Russia coach Vladimir Plyuschev was named the next man to helm the Russian squad.
Granted, Vladimir Plyuschev was coming in to take over for a coach that just
brought the Russia the first medal of any kind at the senior level of
competition in over eights years. However, while Boris Mikhailov had a
checkered record with Russia’s senior squad, Vladimir Plyuschev consistently
guided his 82-83 Russian squad to success. In 2001 he won the gold medal at the
U18 World Junior Championships and once again brought Russia the gold at the
2002 U20 World Junior Championships, something many said the Russian squad had
the talent, but not the will or discipline to achieve.
Plyuschev’s first act as Russia’s head coach came in late August when he announced the training camp invitees for the squad that would represent Russia at Czech Ceska Poistovna Tournament, the first leg of the EuroTour. The list made it very clear that Plyuschev intended to clean house and tap younger, more talented, but less established players who were still on the rise in their careers, full of the drive and spark that the Russian team has been missing for the previous couple of seasons. Excluding the goalies, most of the members of the National Team were under 25 years of age and were newcomers to the National Team. Vladimir Plyuschev, however, was very familiar with the quality of the five youngest members, as he had coached them for the previous three years on the Russian 82-83 National Team. Some questioned the competence of Plyuschev’s selections especially of younger and fairly unproven Grebeshkov and Perezhogin. The rumbles became louder when he cut several older, proven veterans at training camp. It appeared that the Russian National Team was once again primed for the same mediocrity that has haunted it for the previous few seasons, only this time due to lack of experience instead of lack of talent.
Many questions regarding the team were answered during the friendly game the Russian National Team played against the Czech Republic a couple of days prior to the tournament. Vladimir Plyuschev continued to break down the Russian National team of old and start from scratch not only in the lineup but also in the team’s style of play. Gone were the suffocating defensive neutral zone trap and the defense first attack later team attitude. The team now displayed great offensive prowess and overwhelmed the opposing team with shots on net. The Russian squad won the preseason game 5:2, but, though a welcome sight, the overwhelming victory was after all, only a friendly exhibition contest.
The real test came three days later when the two squads met again, this time in the opening match of the tournament. Plyuschev showed confidence in his squad, keeping the lines exactly the same as they were in the preseason game. This contest proved a difficult one for the Russian team. However, the Russian team stuck to it’s strategy and suffocated the more experienced Czech team with constant offensive threats. The puck stayed in the Czech zone for most of the game and Russian goalie Maxim Sokolov saw the first shot only during the 11th minute of the game. After that, however, the Czechs appeared to come alive, but Plyuschev’s faith in Sokolov proved correct, as the goalie saved the Russian squad on quite a few occasions in every contest of the tournament. In the second period and the Russian team found itself down a goal, but continuted to fight hard and won the contest 3:1 with two of the three goals being scored by the team’s young stars Grigorenko and Alexander Suglobov.
In the second contest of the tournament against the Swedes, the Russian team faced a team with a doctrine differing significantly from the Czech’s open ice offensively minded strategy. The Swedes countered Russia’s full speed game with a physical play all over the ice. The Swedes came hard and their strategy worked, as the Russian squad started to take unnecessary penalties. However as the contest continued, Plyuschev choice in goalies for the tournament proved a factor once again as Tsarev was unbeatable after giving up an early goal in the second minute of the contest. Russia’s speed lines, especially the youth line consisting of Perezhogin, Nepriayev and Suglobov, played very well. After almost two and a half periods and several thwarted scoring chances, Alexander Perezhogin put Russia on the board with a pretty game tying goal that started with Alexander Suglobov winning a face off, making a quick, in motion, pass to Perezhogin, who then skated through the Swedish defense, shot the puck, got his own rebound and put in the net. Grigorenko scored Russia’s winning penalty shot and once again the youth lead the Russian squad to victory.
Plyuschev’s squad wasn’t fortunate enough to win all three games of the tournament, losing the last contest to the Finns 0:1. The Russian team continued to play open ice offensive style of hockey but failed to find a breach in Finnish goalie Norrenna’s armor. As in the first game Maxim Sokolov’s excellent goaltending kept the team afloat and the Finns’ lead to just a goal. Even with the loss the Russian team still finished atop the Tournament’s standings and was recognized by many to be the biggest surprise of the tournament.
Vladimir Plyuschev’s game strategy and lineup choices appear to provide the spark that the Russian National Team has been in a dire need of for several years. Just as importantly, Plyuschev’s changes also offered the Russian fans entertaining hockey worth watching and filled up the local bars in Russian hockey cities like Yaroslavl. Plyuschev’s success should not be short lived, as he has placed a large part of the team’s success in the hands of Russian’s talented youth, who are not accustomed to failure, have dominated international hockey for many years and have the talent and desire to win.
Eugene Belashchenko is the Editor-In-Chief of http://www.russianprospects.com and Russia Correspondent for Hockey's Future
Copyright 2002 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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