over the shoulder of the sprawled netminder.
A man in red with a no-look pass to No. 13, circles behind the net through opposition traffic, takes the pass back from No. 13, draws all defenders to his own side, once more passing back to No. 13, who shoots into an open net.
A man wearing the No. 8 breaks away toward the defending netminder, tapping the puck past the legs of defenseman who appear to be standing still, waits just a nanosecond until the goalie flinches, then shoots past the glove hand.
Datsyuk? Zetterberg? Ovechkin? Three of the sickest shots in the league?
Well, yes, yes. True they are three of the sickest shots in the league. However, I’m not talking about any of these kids …
I’m talking about the patience, creativity and genius in possession, passing and scoring attributable to one legendary player:
Igor Larionov. No. 8.
Otherwise known as the “Professor”, the “Russian Gretzky”, the “Russian Rocket” “Iggy” from a little hockey obsessed town called Voskresensk (or Воскресе́нск, if you prefer) just 88 km outside the skirts of Moscow.
(You can’t make this stuff up…border to border, on google earth, its 88 km.)
08/08/08 Oh, Eight!
Hopefully its no surprise that I am taking the opportunity on this super symbolic day to write about my all time favorite player.
There are volumes of material to write about Larionov’s legacy to hockey, a legacy that continues to grow to this day. His impact on the NHL and hockey around the world is so great that it is incredibly hard to decide where to focus. And no way to properly cover it all without writing a book.
How to narrow it down? How to properly write a tribute to one of the greatest players ever? Seems like there is only one thing to do: reflect on just one of the many epic moments in Larionov’s hockey career. The following strikes me as a symbolic pinnacle.
The Captain, his Comrades and the Cup
On June 7, 1997, the most gifted, unassuming, hardworking, bighearted player to ever Captain an NHL team brought a 42 year drought to an end as Steve Yzerman lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup overhead and skated slowly around Joe Louis Arena presenting the Cup to each raucous tearstained face behind the glass, simultaneously filling and breaking our hearts with pure joy. No more perfect memory can reflect the gravitas of that moment in history for all Detroit Red Wings fans.
But No. 19 then did something that should be considered as important as leading that amazing team to the win, as perfect a memory as that legendary skate around the Joe. The first players Yzerman handed Lord Stanley’s Cup to were Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov.
As if winning wasn’t enough. As if watching Steve Yzerman skate around wasn’t enough. As if I wasn’t already sobbing my silly little head off. As if I weren’t already so overwhelmed with worship and adoration for No. 19. Then he goes and hands the Cup to Igor and Slava.
The unfettered delight and reverence expressed on the face of Igor Larionov at the moment he hoisted the Cup is one of the best memories I have of my all time favorite player. He and Slava skated around together each with a hand on the cup. Igor took the cup, lifted it partially over head. A sheepish grin plastered to his face, he took a deep breath and lifted it as high as he could and shook it, skating and letting out a couple thick “ya-hews” wearing that boyish grin so often found on a Stanley cup winning player. He kept looking up as if he couldn’t quite believe it, letting another “ya-hew”.
The hand off of the Stanley Cup from Captain to the first player is traditionally most symbolic. A good captain will have thought of it well in advance of that fourth win. Later interviewed on the matter, in typical Stevie Y fashion, he explained:
’’Who should I hand the cup off to?’’ he said his quiet, respectful and simple way, ’’[No question] Slava and Igor jumped into my mind.’’
If you think you know Stevie Y as Detroiters like to think we do, then you just expect this sort of thing. The classiest, most thoughtful, generous Captain in all of hockey handed the cup to Larionov and Fetisov first.
There are any number of reasons Yzerman likely chose to do so. Maybe in recognition of the long, full careers as two of the world’s best players. Maybe as a show of solidarity with his teammates regardless of nationality. Perhaps even making a subtle statement about the evolution of the game. Maybe in recognition of the struggles endured and pathways Larionov and Slava forged to bring freedom to Russian players to play in the NHL. Maybe just to show the world how much these players have contributed to the success of the team in finally winning the Cup. Maybe it was all of these things.
One thing is clear, Steve Yzerman recognized the talent, brilliance and contribution of one of the greatest centers to ever play the game.
Still, it was more than that. Bigger than the amazing men involved.
The gesture was one of the most incredibly underestimated moments in the history of NHL. It left an indelible print on the future, because the gesture of Canada’s own, Stevie Y first handing the cup to Igor and Slava symbolized and heralded acceptance of an era of Russian influence in the NHL.
Fear and Loathing of Moscow
No secret that in the early 90’s European players were barely tolerated and certainly not lovingly welcome in the NHL. Russians undeservedly held a special brand of loathing.
Fans and players, officials and statesmen all publically expressed distain and even anger toward a group of hockey players who must have been completely dumbfounded and disheartened by such a “cold” reception.
All the Russian players wanted was the chance to be a part of the greatest league on earth and to be free of an oppression no American or Canadian will ever suffer. Larionov himself tells stories of time spent as a boy with his family listening to Voice of America on the radio, dreaming of freedom, democracy and the NHL.
Hating players who were great, maybe even better than our best, on the basis of nationality is bizarre and illogical to me. As the cold war ended and the Russian players emerged in the NHL I thought we should be welcoming with open arms anyone who wanted to embrace our democratic way of life. HEDHS, if the actuality of living in the USSR was 1/3 as terrible as we had been told by our history teachers, then these people had been through hell, deserving only respect and acceptance.
Turns out it was probably 150% worse than we can even imagine. Larionov has described his experience playing for the Red Army: “Nobody knew how Tikhonov treated the players until I spoke out. Year after year, living in a training camp behind fences, even paradise becomes hell.”
Something tells me that training camp in Russia wasn’t “behind fences” merely to keep the puck bunnies away. Others have described the barracks and lifestyle of a Red Army hockey player and those descriptions sound remarkably similar to living in prison or detainment camps. Imagine if the only way you would get to play hockey was if you opted for living quarters offering the luxury of an Army barracks and the freedom of a San Quentin furlough program. Then imagine that you called that “paradise”.
How sick is it that initially Russian players were almost universally shunned, and often targeted –
and by “targeted” I mean pummeled –
targeted strictly on the basis of nationality. “Ya hew” and Hurray for the American dream.
Given 50-60 years of cold war mentalities that we were slowly “un- learning” and the rivalries that were fueled by the fact that the Red Army had been so dominant in world and international play, it’s a sad fact that a good many people saw the entry of Russian players into the NHL as a threat to the then existing North American style. Unfortunately, the North American hockey world had a different perspective than me.
Its funny though, because to say that Russian style is a threat to hockey as we know it is to say Wayne Gretzky was a threat to hockey as we knew it.
Geez Juice- do you want to get one pucked? Why would you say such a thing? Well I didn’t. The Great One himself basically said it when he had this to say about Igor Larionov:
“He saw the ice the same as me, passing the puck, hockey sense probably as similar to me as any player who has played the game.”
Gretzky said Larionov was “as similar a player” to himself as anyone. Gretzky saw and acknowledged Larionov’s brilliance, equal to his own. And since Igor Larionov represented the very best Russia had to offer hockey, its impossible to disparage Russian hockey without disparaging No. 99.
Think that’s a bit of a stretch? Flame away, I’m sticking to my guns. But before you tell me to Phuck off, let’s get back to the basic premise: Larionov’s legacy.
For Igor Larionov, raising that Cup had to mean more than winning a trophy. More than winning the most impressive and difficult trophy to obtain in all of professional sporting. It had to be the moment when a lifelong and often impossible dream of freedom and the promise of a democratic way of life was most symbolically realized.
Larionov, whose grandfathers (both of them) were taken away by the KGB and sent to Siberia in the Stalin era, knew more than little about horrors suffered under the Soviet regime. And yet he fearlessly, tirelessly fought the law, risking everything. And after years and years he finally won. He gained his freedom and obtained the freedom of his comrades through his unwaivering efforts.
And when that wasn’t enough- he found the energy in his 37 year old legs (Legs which Tikhonov considered spent at age 29) to help lead an Original 6 team to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years.
Igor Larionov’s brilliance and courage, his mark on the history of Russian hockey, on all of hockey, are not just felt on the ice. Instrumental in bringing Russian players to the NHL. Instrumental in bringing the Detroit Red Wings their first cup in 42 years. Instrumental in changing the face of professional hockey in North America.
Stevie Y recognized it and rewarded it. The Wings won three Stanley cups with Stevie and Igor via a system that relied on a style of play that Larionov most perfectly, brilliantly pioneered and executed.
Over 10 years after that sweet, sweet victory, we see that puck possession, passing, defensive minded forward style so perfectly introduced by Igor Larionov and the Russian Five has ultimately changed the face of the NHL. I argue that it is for the better. Most importantly, I think there is an argument that No. 19 handing the Cup first to No.8 and 2 heralded in the era.
One of Canada’s finest, acknowledging and rewarding the greatest Russian center and the greatest Russian defenseman to ever lace ‘em up, (along with actually winning the Cup) had the impact of silencing many critics and forced every hockey fan, coach and player to recognize at the beneficial impact the Russian style of play was having on the game.
Only a man like Steve Yzerman, respected by every single player in the league, Captain and player beyond reproach and criticism, a man whose judgment, heart, and courage can never be questioned – could have made such an impact with that one symbolic gesture.
I picked that Cup exchange moment from 1997 to write about today not because its one of my favorite memories (though it is), and not because it symbolizes the respect and friendship between three of the greatest to ever skate (because it does), but because it was so clearly a culminating point, a pinnacle in the unbelievable career and life of Igor Larionov.
Want to know more? Well, there are volumes, this guy has one heck of a story. In the coming weeks I hope to find the time to continue writing about the legacy of Igor Larionov’s career, the contributions he made to the world of hockey, and the political significance of his efforts to open Russian hockey to the NHL. I hope you will continue read and enjoy.
(Ed note: This Yzerman quote shows up in a variety of versions…but each make the same point.(yea I know this is a blog celebrating Larionov, but there is no way to tell this story without props to Slava and Stevie too.)
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