The Beautiful Game and the Fear of Failure

For those who have not yet read the piece, today Igor Larionov penned an incredible article at theplayerstribune.com titled “The Beautiful Game.” In it, he discusses his past as a member of the Russian Red Army team and the sacrifices they made to be great. (Side Note: I highly recommend the recent ESPN 30 for 30, Of Miracles and Men about the same team) However, the most interesting aspect of the article was his comments on the Russian style of play. Despite playing in the constrictive communist regime, the team played an incredibly beautiful style of hockey requiring the highest level of skill, creativity and chemistry. As he describes,

“If you watch video of us back then, it barely resembles the way the NHL is played today. It’s more similar to how Barcelona plays soccer. Our philosophy was about puck control, improvisation, and constant movement. Now, the game is all about “north-south,” chip-and-chase. We moved side-to-side and swooped around the ice looking for open spaces. A backward pass was just as good as a forward pass. You didn’t have to see your linemate. You could smell him. Honestly, we probably could have played blind.”

Despite NHL teams implementing some of these general principals, his assessment of the chip-and-chase game is accurate. However, what I found even more interesting were his reasons for this change and what I believe we, as fans, do to encourage this simplification.

This afternoon the article was quickly passed around the web and from what I saw most people seemed to agree with his assessment that the game is much more restrictive. There are a number of reasons for this, including rule changes such as the expansion of the offensive zone, elimination of the two-line pass and the introduction of the trapezoid. Not to mention the difficulty of acquiring and maintaining the skill and chemistry necessary for such a system in a salary cap league. While these are all valid claims and all have some impact, I place more emphasis on the philosophical problem that he addresses in the article.

“The problem is more philosophical and starts way before players get to the NHL. It’s easier to destroy than to create. As a coach, it’s easier to tell your players to suffocate the opposing team and not turn the puck over. There are still players whose imagination and creativity capture the Soviet spirit — Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in Chicago just to name a few. However, they are becoming exceptions to the rule. Many young players who are intelligent and can see the game four moves ahead are not valued. They’re told “simple, simple, simple.”

That mentality is kind of boring. Nobody wants to get fired. Nobody wants to get sent down to the minors. If you look at the coaches in Juniors and minor league hockey, many of them were not skill players. It’s a lot of former enforcers and grinders who take these coaching jobs. Naturally, they tell their players to be just like them. Their players are 17, 18 years old — younger than I was when I joined the Red Army team. Say what you want about the Whiplash mentality (or the Soviet mentality), but if coaches are going to push kids at that age, why are they pushing them to play a simple game? Why aren’t coaches pushing them to create a masterpiece?

What he is saying, and I have observed in my own experience, is that most coaches possess a fear of failure. Starting from a young age, players are told to focus on wins and losses; and the easiest way to win in minor hockey is to eliminate turnovers. As a result, coaches force kids as young as 10 to chip the puck out, dump it in and never turn it over. The coaches create an environment where players are afraid to take a chance and make a mistake. Players who deviate from the system or create their own are at risk of being branded “uncoachable.” Without the ability to experiment the children's natural creativity is extinguished and their skills go undeveloped.

This same philosophical fear of failure permeates through all levels of hockey. As fans, we instinctively groan every time Smith makes a boneheaded pinch or Jurco turns the puck over. We fail to realize that failure is the greatest teaching tool and that turnovers are the cost of beautiful play. As Larionov describes, this was a similar problem in Datsyuk’s early years.

“I remember Datsyuk made a couple turnovers in a game when he first came to Detroit at age 23. Players on the team like Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and myself had to tell him, “Pavel, just keep doing what you’re doing.” Thankfully, Scotty Bowman had the wisdom to see his potential. If he was on a different team with a different coach who did not appreciate that kind of unique skill, Datsyuk might have been out of the league. He would be playing in the KHL tonight.”

It is human nature to fear risk as we have a psychological preference for safety and consistency. Thus, I cannot blame fans, coaches and management for their constant fear of mistakes. However, this should not prevent us from striving for more. As Red Wing fans we are in a unique situation in that we have seen the beauty and success that this skill and creativity can bring to the game. Fans are the foundation of hockey’s culture; and as such, we need to start the change. We need to control our fears or risk losing the beautiful game forever.