> > Just a quick, seemingly unimportant note: > >I saw the Moscow Spartak team play the Buffalo Sabres on a tour of the >NHL back in the mid 1980's. It seems to me that they were in the >Soviet elite league (correct me if I'm wrong) that played against teams >like Moscow Dynamo and the (former) Red Army Team. I can't recall whether >I managed to be there in person or viewed it on televsion, but they played >*traditional* European style hockey (ie. quick small forward, big agile >defensemen and NO dump and chase). Either way my guess is a team like >this would give a college team fits unless their rink is like the Aud in >Buffalo; a few feet shorter and narrower, with very small tight corners. >If I recall correctly the Sabres played aggresive North American dump and >chase and hit everything in sight and were able to score a significant victory. >Hope this helps... > >Eric Hoffman >Cornell '88, SUNY-Albany ?? >e-mail: [log in to unmask] >Let's Go Red!!! See you at Lynah on Saturday for a Big Red whipping of >Canadian college hockey just like Napolean at Waterloo!!!! > > Actually, I beleive I saw Spartak play last year against the US Olympic team in a few exhibition games. One was here in Cleveland (well, therei n cleveland, I'm in Ann Arbor). In any case, the game was actually quite gooney, with a few russian players going crazy after the American Olympians, taking advantage of the smaller rink, played canadian Junior style hockey. In any case, a whole ton of spartak players from that team (the team that came over here) was drafted last summer, like every other European. -- Eric Rickin ([log in to unmask]) University of Michigan Class of 1996