Tours of Beauty: Russian Juniors Star on Canadian Ice

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2003

By Lucas Aykroyd

Most Canadian hockey fans have fond memories of Maple Leaf magic on Moscow ice. Paul Henderson’s winning goal in Game Eight of the 1972 Summit Series remains a defining moment in our nation’s history. Jimmy Waite’s 38-save performance in a 3-2 victory over the Soviets highlighted the 1988 World Junior Championships in Moscow.

But it cuts both ways. Many young Russian players began building international reputations for themselves due to their inspired play in Canadian arenas. And that doesn’t just include the World Juniors. Tours and other competitions have spawned some remarkable performances.

Think back to 1969. It was the year of the first moon landing, and for your average Canadian, Russians and their style of hockey might as well have come from the moon. Cold War tensions had alienated the two countries, and few fans over here could name any Russian stars. Still, this didn’t stop the USSR senior national team from touring Canada that winter. Their goalie was the 18-year-old prodigy Vladislav Tretiak.

Ordinarily, Tretiak would have been left at home to practice with his club team, Central Army, instead of providing the last line of defense for veterans like Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Shadrin. But Tretiak wasn’t ordinary. On his best nights, this youngster trained by legendary coach Anatoli Tarasov was as impregnable as the Kremlin walls.

Tretiak’s quick reflexes and great athleticism may not have caught the attention of most Canadians until 1972. But future NHLers Ken Dryden and Wayne Stephenson then served as the goaltending duo for the Canadian national team, and they got a good look at Tretiak’s skills during the ’69 tour.

After ex-Nats teammate Brian Conacher predicted goaltending would be the difference for Team Canada in 1972, Dryden reacted in his diary-style book Face-Off at the Summit: “Thank you, Brian, but what has happened to your memory?” This was a wry allusion to a 9-3 loss Dryden had suffered versus the Russians in Vancouver on December 20, 1969.

As the best-ever Russian goalie, Tretiak would go on to win three Olympic golds, 10 World Championships, and the 1981 Canada Cup.

Not long after Tretiak’s 1984 retirement, an ultra-flashy forward made a big impression during a Russian national midget team tour of Canada. Pavel Bure suited up for exhibitions in Ottawa, Peterborough, Kitchener, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver and Trail in December 1986.

As the tour’s youngest player at age 15, Bure was small and slight, far from the muscular figure he would later display in the NHL. But his speed and stickhandling moves already made him a dominant threat every night.

The visit to Edmonton fueled Bure’s desire to play in the NHL. When Bure met Wayne Gretzky and got an autograph from the Oilers superstar, he saw it as the highlight of his hockey career. The “Russian Rocket” couldn’t know that 13 years later Gretzky would say his retirement could have been postponed if he had gotten the chance to play on the same line as Bure in New York.

Sergei Samsonov looked like the second coming of Bure during Central Army’s 1994-95 Ontario tour. Getting one breakaway after another, the 15-year-old Samsonov racked up an astounding 46 goals and 83 points in 24 games against OHA clubs.

He also had big NHL dreams. For relaxation one off-night, “Sammy” watched four of Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em videos. Perhaps it was appropriate he ended up as a first-round pick and scoring star for Cherry’s old team, the Boston Bruins. Two standout junior teammates of his would make the bigs as well, Oleg Kvasha and Andrei Zyuzin.

Another venue where young Russians have excelled has been the World U-17 Challenge. Inaugurated in 1986, this tournament was originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, but it has since been held in Ontario, New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It’s an unofficial World Championship for players under 17, with teams from Canadian provinces in addition to international squads.

Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny keyed the USSR to a silver medal in 1986, and Pavel Bure lit it up again in 1988 en route to U-17 gold. Viktor Kozlov showed his prowess in 1992, although his team went home emptyhanded.

It would be tough to surpass the exploits and antics of Ilya Kovalchuk in the 2000 U-17 Challenge. During a pre-tournament exhibition, the 6-2, 220-pound sniper sparked a brawl when he elbowed several Newmarket Hurricanes players sitting on the bench and cross-checked their goalie.

Yet Kovalchuk had evidently regained his composure by the time the tournament started in Timmins. Russia beat Ontario 2-0 in the gold medal game and Kovalchuk finished with a tournament-record 10 goals, along with four assists. He was named Best Forward, and the Hockey Hall of Fame asked for his stick to display in their collection.

It wasn’t surprising when Kovalchuk was drafted first overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001 and finished second in NHL Rookie of the Year voting in 2002.

Records, of course, are made to be broken. And Kovalchuk’s U-17 goal-scoring record wouldn’t last long. In 2002, along came a clone of Kovalchuk minus the me-first attitude. His name was Alexander Ovechkin, and he found the ice in Selkirk, Manitoba to his liking. He notched 12 goals in the tournament, twice as many as his nearest competitors.

Ovechkin is the consensus #1 pick for the 2004 NHL Draft, and many see him as the best prospect since Mario Lemieux.

Most young Russian players don’t springboard to fame and fortune after their star turns in Canada, though. Andrei Petrunin was a force as Sergei Samsonov’s linemate, but has bounced around the North American minor pro circuit and the Russian Superleague in recent years. Ruslan Bernikov scored around two goals a game during his team’s 1997-98 tour of Ontario, but was only taken 139th overall by Dallas in 2000.

As OHA marketing director and operator of Moore Sports Tours, Mike Moore has brought over many Russian teams. He’s seen how youthful flash and dash doesn’t necessarily translate into long-term success: “They’re 16 or 17 years and scouts are drooling over them, but things change. A lot of them fade away. The Russian analysis of a player is usually bang-on, I find, based on training, background and work ethic.”

When it comes to the success stories, Moore believes coaching is a big strength for Russia: “They have fabulous coaches. Sometimes, the coaches have been together with the kids for 10 years, right through school and all their training. They can be lifelong buddies. The coach typically knows every characteristic of every player.”

So if prospects like Alexei Smirnov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) or Alexei Ponikarovsky (Toronto Maple Leafs) do emerge as NHLers, years after dominating on Canadian junior tours, it may be thanks to the influence of the men behind the benches back home.

There’s another key ingredient, according to Moore: “The Russians are so competitive, I would say second only to Canada in competitiveness. A Canada-Russia game just gets the blood boiling.”

That’s why it’s always worth heading to the arena when the young Russians come to town. With luck, you’ll catch the next great talent who skates like Valeri Kharlamov, stickhandles like Alexei Kovalev, and shoots like Sergei Fedorov.