Renowned Russian coach Vladimir Krikunov continued the conversation with veteran Boris Mayorov regarding the final series of the MHL between MHK Spartak and SKA-1946 (3-2), discussing the playing styles of both teams.
“I have great respect for Boris Alexandrovich and have always been keen to consider his perspective. I would like to clarify what I meant.
Training is always influenced by the game system. What you practice shapes what you want to see during actual games. The training process now is vastly different from what it was in the USSR. Back then, there were few games and many practices. Currently, in the MHL regular season alone, there are over 50 games. Most of a player’s development occurs during matches. We even had a saying in our time about someone being a “training king,” where a player excels in practice but is barely visible in games. The more a player participates in games and the more ice time they receive, the more they evolve and make sound decisions.
When a team plays a defensive style, players often spend more time without the puck. This is acceptable for adult players; while it may not be as engaging for the audience, both spectators and players can tolerate it for the sake of results, especially when players are earning substantial salaries.
In the MHL, however, we are dealing with younger players who are far from making big money. If a player spends the entire game without the puck, they aren’t learning the craft of hockey—how to create and innovate. If we do not teach young players to express themselves on the ice, the quality of hockey in our region will reflect that, remaining at a low standard. The Finnish players, for instance, do not play a defensive style at the junior and youth levels, which is why their players are well-trained. It’s also worth noting that Finland has a population of only five million…
Boris Alexandrovich rightly pointed out that we have lost to the Finns in many key tournaments; each time we played their style of closed, defensive hockey with minimal creativity, and we lost every time. This was true at the 2014 and 2022 Olympics. We can also recall the 2019 World Championship, where we had a wealth of stars, and yet it was just one goal from Finnish player Anttila, who was never a star, that made the difference,” Krikunov told “Championat.”
