“No tears, "please. If, the people who run . this.
national winter pastime of ours react properly,
. the Russians’ 6-0 humiliation of the cream of the

. NHL just may be the best thing that could have .

happened.
fit accomplishes nothing

else, it at least shatters the’

myth of natural superiority;
the myth that Canadians play
hockey better than anyone
else because..... well...
because they are Canadians.

That used to be the case
because it was a new game in
almost every other country
where it was played. The
Canadians were the teachers
and they were the pupils.

But the ‘pupils. are grown
up now. and, as you may
have noted: last week, they
have become: the teachers.
’ They have taken this game

of ours and. stretched its

potential for athleticism and
entertaining excitement to a
degree: ‘that i is only the stuff
of dreams in the country of
its birth. .

NO EXCUSES

Since last Sunday I have
heard again the classic
Canadian copout,-
goes: .

“The Russians have our
climate and 10 times the
population. Why shouldn’t
they be so good?”

They miss the point. It's
not because of their huge
population that the Russians
are good. It’s because they
treat hockey as a sport in
which the purpose is to
excel, to develop player and
team skills to their
maximum,.to play the game
as well as the human body
and mind permit.

If population is the key,
then how does one explain
the success of the Czech
national team, which is
equally as good as_ the

Russian model? Maybe
better, in the view of many
hockey people.
Czechoslovakia has two- -
thirds the Canadian

pulation and much less
ice, both artificial and
natural.

And if you are interesied
in one of the great hockey
ironies of our time, follow
this progression. When the
Russians took up hockey in
the taic 1940s. they went to
Cre ioslovakia to learn the
ganic They copied the
Crech model.

The Czech model, which
is still the v basis of their

hockey program more than
40 years later,
structed for

was con-
them by a

which

Canadian who ‘happencid to
believe (and still does) that
hockey is all about skills and
movement.

A LEGEND IN EUROPE

Today he lives in
retirement in Trail. His
name is Mike Buckna. He is
a legend in Europe,
especially in Czechoslovakia
where he is revered_as the

he is the man who ceeeree|
the basic foundation on
which the Soviets con-
structed their magnificent
hockey, machine, the one
you saw destroy the best of
the NHL Sunday evening.

What's gone wrong in this
country? y is Canadian
hockey standing still, even

retrogressing, in terms - of.
- skill and science and team

tactics? .
For as look to the
top. It’s not rt. It’s show

business. The motivation is

greed, the making of a buck

by owners and players alike
in an overexpanded league.
In a league where the
shoddiness and lack of skills

are covered up, much as
ketchup disguises bad food,
by brawling and intimidation
and. an emphasis on hitting.

With 85 per cent of
professional hockey owned
and operated in the United

. States (this is the Canadian
speciality, is it not, foreign

ownership of our natural
resources?), where the
customers don’t really know
the game, stich diversions
adequately hide the fact that
most of the players lack the
basic fundamentals.
RUBBISH COACHING

At the lad and youth level,

- too many coaches are using

the rubbish they see on TV
as their model; as the goal
for the kids in their charge.
They should be teaching
youngsters the fundamental
skills that will permit them to
get more enjoyment out of
hockey for the one good
reason they ‘should be

playing the game: fun.

If I were the great dic-
dictator, until the age of 12

_there would be no formal

coaching, no structured
leagues. Parents wouldn't be
allowed inside the rinks. The
kids would spend practice
time doing their thing ~
shinny, 15-a-side teams,
making up their own rules,

_ whatever they want.

-At 12, when they are old
enough to accept and absorb

instruction,

reed

‘the stuff they .
learned on their own playing
shinny would be refined.
They would be taught only
skating and skills. No bodily
contact. \
At 16, no younger, they
would start meshing those
skills with the physical side
of the game. Then I would
outlaw Tier One - junior
hockey in its present en-
treprenural form, whére-
some of the greatest damage
is done:
level

Memorial cup

' hockey is not run for the ~

kids, but for the team
owners. It is underpaid,
under-age professional play,
in which the prime function
is for the owner-coaches and

the owner-managers to make

a living.
SURVIVAL TEST

As the prime development
level, as-it purports to be, for
youths in their late teens_
who aspire to pro careers, it
is a joke. It’s a survival test,
not a finishing school.
Where is. there time for
teaching and _ reinforcing
skills, for correcting
mistakes, for working on
weaknesses when a normal
season involves more than
100 league, exhibition and
playoff games, plus
thousands of miles of bus
travel? ~

The wonder of the system
is that it does graduate a few
skilled. players each year.

But they age the exceptions, —

the fine natural talents who
come to the top despite the
system, which is all about
recruitment, not
development.

In its place? Half as many
games; twice as much time
on the practice ice and a
change from the neanderthal
coaching philosophies that
pervade youth hotkey.
Mention a possible prospect
to a typical coach and his

The Corporation of the District of
WEST VANCOUVER
invites qualified development
proposals for prime,
prestigious location

Development proposals are invited ‘tor a
2.8 acre prime commercial land site on
Capilano River frontage at the entrance to

West Vancouver, adjacent to Park Royal
Regional Shopping Centre (serving a

North Shore population of 133,255).

The site is 5 miles from Vancouver
City central business district and is
accessible via Lions Gate Bridge and the
North Shore Upper Levels Highway.

For information concerning accept-
able development and land use criteria,
please write or telephone in confidence as
indicated below. Proposals to be re-
tumed by 4 p.m., March 30th, 1979 to:

Director of Development
The Corporation of the District of West Vancouver
Municipal Hail

750 - 17th Street
West Vancouver, B.C V7V 3T3
(604) 922-1211 (local 287)

4} PARK ROVAL

“first questions are: Is he ‘big?

Is he tough? Does he. take

the body? _

If this is the direction in
which Canadian hockey -°
‘continues to fly, five years -

from now.6-0 scores against : the.

the Russians will be the 8

norm.

It’s not only the mechanics

that need changing, but the

From West Vancouver
Recreation Centre are two -

members of the men’s team.
at the.

to represent B.C.

Games. They are Glen

Harder and Ron Gosney who-
. have trained at the Centre for

several years. Their present
coach is Glen Butler who took
over from Keith Russel when
he left to become Men’s
National Coach.

- Harder has been winner of
B.C. Junior divisions since
1975, and finished in the top
four placings in the Novice
division at Westerns. Gosney
who also plays for Hillside

Has this ever
| happened __
to you?

‘SHYLINE
SPORTS

FOR THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

SKYLINE SPORTS
119 West 16th St,

(Just off Lonsdale)

985-9161

Open until 9 p.m.,
Thurs, & Fri,

‘Provincials and. Wester

_ Lethbridge |
’ teamrfinished in second
and the.men in fifth

You just bought a new pair of skis. (What a steal they were!)

The first time out on the slopes...and... crunch. So much for
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North Vancouver, B.C.

Senior “Rugby. tear
competed. since: 76- at

Other members . 0
men’s team. . are .
Christie and. Mark Byrne
Surrey North.Stars, with
Boulanger and_ Craig -M:
Donald of Burnaby B.U.
who: are accompanied
Burnaby coach Maurh
liams. '

0 to Skyline Sports—
that are right for your