Tom,

Don't know how I missed this post this week - I just saw it this morning!

That's indeed how I used to dance in the early 1990's - remember during the ICC in Calgary when we took the Norwegian's to the Ranchman's? In fact, I know I saw you busting out the same 'funky chicken' moves!!!

Love Tarasov's hair; I also liked his little loudspeaker. I don't think he will appreciate the one skater who didn't touch the line with the rest of his three comrades... cheater! Off to the gulag with him!

I am amazed at the body weight fitness regimen and when they add weights / people to it... wow! I have seen some others like this on YouTube - crazy stuff, that is simple, but demonstrates the incredible proprioception and relative strength these athletes possess! (Kevin Sullivan sent me a DVD with a bunch of off-ice stuff - I think it had Russian / Fin / Swede players using minimal equipment in and outdoors - stuff like body weight, parks, playgrounds, etc.)

Coincidentally, The Colombian and I met last night to discuss the creation of a DVD utilizing body weight and readily available facilities for off-ice training and the development of athleticism. I will post more in a separate thread...

Last week I finally started reading "Russian Hockey Secrets" (Pocket Books / Simon & Schuster) - otherwise known as "The Road to Olympus" (Griffin Press, 1969) by Anatoli Tarasov - (Standard Book Number 671-78619-9 / SBN 88760-002-6). This is a very hard book to find - I had to go online and search used bookstores to find it. It was $1.25 new back in the day - I spent $30 plus shipping for a decent used copy. Well worth the money - I am up to page 50 and it is excellent. He provides great descriptions about the evolution of Russian hockey on and off the ice. Particularly interesting are the off-ice exercises and games he played.

The North American 'experts' at the time (1950's and 1960's) thought that Canadian Lloyd Percival was insane, ridiculing him about his beliefs about hockey and how one should train. (I recommend picking up his original book, "The Hockey Handbook" 1960 SBN 498-08846-4 A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc South Brunswick and New York). It is another tough book to find... again I had to search online for a decent used book. I ended up buying three for my collection as they are significant works. One to use as a working copy; the other two are for display!

Anyway, the Russians used Percival's book as their guiding light to design their hockey system - to outstanding results. Obviously, the cultural differences between Communism and Democracy allowed the Russians to have quicker results in a top-down system. "Tarasov's way or the highway" - and hockey provided a better lifestyle than strictly a military life - so the same ideas would germinate differently and have different results in the two widely opposite cultures.

I consider you, myself and The Colombian as similar to Lloyd Percival... we are WAY ahead of the times when it comes to coaching and training methodologies... the existing culture and governing bodies in Canada just don't accept it - YET! As 'Russian Hockey Secrets" and the subsequent 1972 Canada / Russia series revealed, Lloyd's work was used as the basis to create the Russian superpower in hockey. Maybe in 2022, your "Hockey Coaching ABC's" and the joint project between The Colombian and I - our "Game Intelligence Training" methodology - will be hailed as the 'next best thing since sliced bread!'

Will do Tom! I have seen the Variable Goals Training stuff from Bukac - bought a DVD while at the IIHF conference in Quebec City in 2008 - and have looked at the VGT channel on YouTube.

Thanks!