Kovalev's Olympic gloves.....

[DarkStar50 679]

Not that I support communism, but the soviets did a heck of a better job on running thier program (from youth to the olympic team) than russia does today.

The reason the Soviet sports programs were so strong under communism is that the Soviet state government provided everything to the athletes: equipment, training facilities, living facilities, etc. The athletes were professional sports employees of the Soviet state. When communism fell, all the money to support the athletes and the facilities of all sports vanished. The rinks in Russia are now dumps. They have no professional maintenance of the rinks. The ice is so bad that all the elite figure skating coaches have left Russia to work in America. I know this because a lot of these coaches teach in the rink I work in. Russian hockey is just like North American hockey: If you want to play, you have got to pay! And Russians just don't have the cash to play like we do. They will still produce the AOs and Malkins down the road but the Big Red Machine of hockey is now a memory.

[Miike 1]

Check out Smyth's Missions....

and Berts eagles :P

[#96 0]

Not that I support communism, but the soviets did a heck of a better job on running thier program (from youth to the olympic team) than russia does today.

The reason the Soviet sports programs were so strong under communism is that the Soviet state government provided everything to the athletes: equipment, training facilities, living facilities, etc. The athletes were professional sports employees of the Soviet state. When communism fell, all the money to support the athletes and the facilities of all sports vanished. The rinks in Russia are now dumps. They have no professional maintenance of the rinks. The ice is so bad that all the elite figure skating coaches have left Russia to work in America. I know this because a lot of these coaches teach in the rink I work in. Russian hockey is just like North American hockey: If you want to play, you have got to pay! And Russians just don't have the cash to play like we do. They will still produce the AOs and Malkins down the road but the Big Red Machine of hockey is now a memory.

So Zubi liked the old system because everything was paid for by the state and things were run more efficiently. Now that it's a different system, people have to pay their own way and the hockey infrastructure has gone to $hit.

I must be stupid here, but I think it's funny Zubov doesn't play for Russia cuz people have to pay for themselves. Funny, considering he's a multi-millionaire and can easily afford his own equipment and could thus show some pride and play for the mother country.

Who was it that made the comment on the Russian bench a few Olympics ago..maybe Viktor Tihkanov...something like "The millionaires don't want to play, they don't have to play". He was right. Seems to be that now all these Ruskie players are all millionaires, they're forgetting about the country that got them there.

[CSW1618 5]

correct about zubov.. i too also heard he didnt want to play for russia because he didnt like how the coaches and all of the other main people ran things for russia

[mack 44]

Not that I support communism, but the soviets did a heck of a better job on running thier program (from youth to the olympic team) than russia does today.

The reason the Soviet sports programs were so strong under communism is that the Soviet state government provided everything to the athletes: equipment, training facilities, living facilities, etc. The athletes were professional sports employees of the Soviet state. When communism fell, all the money to support the athletes and the facilities of all sports vanished. The rinks in Russia are now dumps. They have no professional maintenance of the rinks. The ice is so bad that all the elite figure skating coaches have left Russia to work in America. I know this because a lot of these coaches teach in the rink I work in. Russian hockey is just like North American hockey: If you want to play, you have got to pay! And Russians just don't have the cash to play like we do. They will still produce the AOs and Malkins down the road but the Big Red Machine of hockey is now a memory.

So Zubi liked the old system because everything was paid for by the state and things were run more efficiently. Now that it's a different system, people have to pay their own way and the hockey infrastructure has gone to $hit.

I must be stupid here, but I think it's funny Zubov doesn't play for Russia cuz people have to pay for themselves. Funny, considering he's a multi-millionaire and can easily afford his own equipment and could thus show some pride and play for the mother country.

Who was it that made the comment on the Russian bench a few Olympics ago..maybe Viktor Tihkanov...something like "The millionaires don't want to play, they don't have to play". He was right. Seems to be that now all these Ruskie players are all millionaires, they're forgetting about the country that got them there.

Factor in how that country treated so many of the players as they grew up; it was a hockey factory more than anything. That and all the purported mafia ties, I can see why I'd move on.

[nyntwun 2]

I didn't want to add another topic. RBK 5K Olympic gloves on Inlinewarehouse.com

http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage-HG5KO.html

[hockechamp14 0]

Not that I support communism, but the soviets did a heck of a better job on running thier program (from youth to the olympic team) than russia does today.

The reason the Soviet sports programs were so strong under communism is that the Soviet state government provided everything to the athletes: equipment, training facilities, living facilities, etc. The athletes were professional sports employees of the Soviet state. When communism fell, all the money to support the athletes and the facilities of all sports vanished. The rinks in Russia are now dumps. They have no professional maintenance of the rinks. The ice is so bad that all the elite figure skating coaches have left Russia to work in America. I know this because a lot of these coaches teach in the rink I work in. Russian hockey is just like North American hockey: If you want to play, you have got to pay! And Russians just don't have the cash to play like we do. They will still produce the AOs and Malkins down the road but the Big Red Machine of hockey is now a memory.

So Zubi liked the old system because everything was paid for by the state and things were run more efficiently. Now that it's a different system, people have to pay their own way and the hockey infrastructure has gone to $hit.

I must be stupid here, but I think it's funny Zubov doesn't play for Russia cuz people have to pay for themselves. Funny, considering he's a multi-millionaire and can easily afford his own equipment and could thus show some pride and play for the mother country.

Who was it that made the comment on the Russian bench a few Olympics ago..maybe Viktor Tihkanov...something like "The millionaires don't want to play, they don't have to play". He was right. Seems to be that now all these Ruskie players are all millionaires, they're forgetting about the country that got them there.

I doubt it's that he cares about the money part. If it were me, it would be because they're not regulating the youth hockey and such. Back in the day, youth hockey coaches would be fired if they focused more on winning games than developing players.

[Project_2501 0]

I didn't want to add another topic. RBK 5K Olympic gloves on Inlinewarehouse.com

http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage-HG5KO.html

No Germany though...