[rbmillerjr]

“but you can’t pass a puck three meters to another player on the ice.”

Kind of disproved in 1980. Also, the Soviets and Russians couldn’t wait to get out of the Soviet Union and Russia. Then they did, only the very very elite top players performed well. They are doing ok now, but don’t dominate like most expected.

Critically, it is the Russian players who had to adjust to NHL more physical brand of hockey. Western hockey proved to be superior as a system.

[katana]

Interesting point. By 1980 college hockey had come to resemble the Soviet style game. A sort of soccer match on ice with lots of passing. The NHL then was a bit like today’s NBA, flashy individual runs and long slap shots (slam dunks), interspersed with the requisite brawls. The 1980 US team of college players beat the Russians with their own tactics.

[Alberta's Child]

Actually, the 1980 Winter Olympics proved that the traditional North American system didn't work very well in international hockey. That's why NCAA players -- who played under rules that were similar to IIHF rules for international play -- were able to win. And Herb Brooks brought a collegiate hockey mindset to his coaching, while he was pretty average at best later in his career as an NHL coach. He also built that 1980 team around his strategy of going to Lake Placid with a squad that would be superior to the Soviets in one respect that Canadian and U.S. teams were never able to achieve: they would be in better physical condition, and able to wear down the Soviets late in a game.

Critically, it is the Russian players who had to adjust to NHL more physical brand of hockey. Western hockey proved to be superior as a system.

Wayne Gretzky would disagree with you. And if you look at the NHL today, you'll see that it much more closely resembles the Soviet style of hockey in the 1970s than the North American style of that era. I would argue that the Europeans won out by forcing change in the NHL game, not vice versa.

As Ken Dryden wrote in one of his great books after he retired from the Montreal Canadiens ... Canada may have won the 1972 Summit Series over the Soviets, but the series really exposed a lot of flaws in the Canadian style of play.