[net.sport.hockey] Oilers vs Central Red Army

lor@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/03/86)

>P.S. BRING ON THE RUSSIANS!!!!
>
>					Ken Hruday
>				  University of Alberta
>

>Hmmm.  Rob and Ken, didn't the Oilers already beat the Russians?
>Congrats to the best hockey team in the world today!
>(Now that the finals are over, time for a new discussion : 
> best of seven series, Oilers vs. Russians.  And the winner is? )
>--
>  Andrew Folkins                      Yes folks, it's party time up here.
>  ihnp4!alberta!andrew

	These were the postings last May after the Oilers won their
second Stanley Cup. Well, THE GAME finally came last Friday (12/27/85),
The Oilers VS the Central Red Army.

	I was waiting for a game between the North American champions
and the Soviet champions for a long time. 
I was thrilled when I realized that ESPN was going to televise it. 
What a mismatch! The Oilers did not put any heart into the game and 
deservedly, got embarrassed by the Russians.

	Sure, you may say this was only a meaningless exhibition. 
However, regardless of the Oilers' motivations, this exhibition simply 
proved some points:

i) The only way to dominate the Oilers is to outfinesse them. The 
style of the Islanders and the Flyers -- physical, tight-checking
defensive battle -- simply does not work, since the Oilers
can play this type of game as well as, or even better than,
their Wales conference counterparts. But the oilers are no
match to a team that can skate, pass, and handle the puck better
than they do.

ii) The Russians simply displayed much superior skating, passing, 
and puck-handling. Tempting the Oilers to play such a style
against them is the key to be an Oiler nemesis.
Also, the Russians have good self-control. It is difficult to
get them into fights to upset them.

iii) This Oiler team is a great team, maybe even one of the
best in NHL history. They are certainly a class above in the 
NHL right now, but they are far from being the best in the world.

iv) No finess team in the NHL can beat the Soviets. An
extremely physical team, like the Bruins or the Flyers
may have a chance.
-- 
					Eddy Lor
					...!(ihnp4,ucbvax)!ucla-cs!lor
					lor@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
					Computer Science Department, UCLA

fishkin@degas.BERKELEY.EDU (Ken &) (01/05/86)

Does anybody have the game-by-game scores of the Red Army series?

	thanks,
		Ken Fishkin
		ucbvax!fishkin	fishkin@berkeley
		Ken Fishkin
		Berkeley Computer Graphics Lab
		ucbvax!fishkin
		fishkin@berkeley