The phenomenon of the USSR, which could not be solved in America and Europe. The game of the legendary three Larionov delighted everyone

Maksim Samartsev The Swedes spent a whole year studying it. To no avail. More than 30 years have passed since the last USSR ice hockey championship, and the talk about the uniqueness of Soviet hockey has not ceased to this day. Some fans still remember the great victories of the USSR national team at the world championships and the Olympics – for hockey fans of that time, the dominance of Krasnaya Mashin in the international arena helped pay less attention to difficult life circumstances and economic difficulties. Despite the fact that formally Soviet players were amateurs, they managed to compete on equal terms with hockey players from the strongest league in the world who came to tournaments as part of the Canadian and US teams. Of course, this fact amazed many people – from ordinary journalists to the presidents of hockey federations. And the invisible wall between the USSR and the West at that time only contributed to the generation of endless rumors and speculation about sports methods and approaches in the USSR. Nevertheless, many managed to find opportunities to study the success of one of the strongest teams of the last century. One of the main phenomena of Soviet hockey is considered to be the great trio of CSKA and the national team Krutov – Larionov – Makarov. This combination dominated both in the domestic championship and at the international level – it was largely thanks to the KLM link that the USSR national team won the Canada Cup in 1981, as well as the Olympics in Sarajevo and Calgary. The founders of hockey were amazed by the game of the leading three of the Soviet team – their crazy mutual understanding and lacy combinations in almost every shift baffled the Canadians, turning them from representatives of the title hockey nation into ordinary hockey players. Not surprisingly, many were interested in how Krutov, Larionov and Makarov managed to achieve such a level of teamwork. This question has been floating around in the North American press for years, but not everyone has been able to answer it. “What did I mean when I said that in order to score a goal against my opponents, I need to beat nine players? That’s right – I meant five opponents and four teammates. The fact is that in CSKA the lines between forwards and defenders were erased, especially in the top five. Imagine, sometimes we ourselves did not even know what the partner would do in the next second. The same Fetisov and Kasatonov sometimes ended up together on the patch of the opposing team and scored goals, and the three forwards insured them on the blue line, ”said forward Sergey Makarov. In an attempt to understand what the phenomenon of the KLM troika consists of, representatives of Swedish hockey were especially successful. Unlike their North American colleagues, who tried to find the answer to this question at the theoretical level, the Swedes decided to go straight to practice. They involved a whole course of the Institute of Physical Education, which during the year filmed all the matches with the participation of Krutov, Larionov and Makarov. Thus, the leaders of Swedish hockey had the opportunity to disassemble the game of the great three into molecules and try to find a rational explanation for this hockey miracle. We answered them something like this: “You were engaged in a useless activity, because sometimes we ourselves do not know what we will do next.” We did not play according to the template, there was interchangeability and mutual assistance, ”said Makarov. Of course, the country of the“ three crowns ”was not alone in its desire to understand what the recipe for the success of Soviet hockey was. The New York Times journalist Herb Weinberg even flew to Moscow to personally observe the training process of the USSR national team. The result of this trip was a lot of articles about the psychology of Soviet athletes and the features of the training process of one of the strongest teams in the world.Getty ImagesHowever, there were plenty of myths and mysteries about the Soviet team. Arkady Chernyshev, Anatoly Tarasov, Vsevolod Bobrov and Viktor Tikhonov were considered real professors and geniuses across the ocean – according to North American experts, the leading specialists of the USSR used a scientific approach in their work and built the training process based on cunning formulas and methods. Probably, for many of them, the stories of Soviet stars about exhausting and often detrimental to health training for 11 months a year came as an unpleasant surprise. Bukach said about 75. Then Tarasov asked: “Lyudek, how many years have the Soviets been playing hockey?” Bukach replied – about 25. “You are mistaken, Ludek,” said Tarasov. – The Soviets train 11 months a year, the Canadians – seven or eight. We work three or four hours a day, Canadians two. We always work with great intensity. You see, Ludek, we have also been playing for 75 years,” wrote legendary Montreal goaltender Ken Dryden in his memoirs.RIA Novosti No matter how Canadians or Swedes studied Soviet hockey, they could not understand it. The same applies to the magnificent KLM trio, which even in the homeland of hockey was called the best in the history of this sport.