Tarasov's Vancouver 'Vacation'

Most everyone here thought the grandfather of Soviet hockey, Anatoly Tarasov, was over here to sample the cuisine and have a vacation away from mother Russia.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Upon meeting Canadian senator Ray Perrault at a snowy Mirabel airport in Montreal, the 68 year old man, who still considers himself a coach, began work on the Vancouver Canucks.

Peppering Perrault with questions, he arrived late Friday, Jan. 30, in Vancouver and ordered that tapes of the Canucks' most recent losses be at his hotel room with the appropriate video equipment at 7 am the following day. 

"I came here to work, not to take a vacation," he said through an interpreter. "I will reserve judgement on the players until I have seen them play and practice for a few more days. But then we will talk about them.

Tarasov watched his first practice that Saturday morning, a day on which goaltender Richard Brodeur had to leave to see his ailing father. That meant the Canucks called in Wendell Young from Fredericton, but because he wasn't expected to begin the work out, they used a local dentist named Kenny Walters to play goal opposite Frank Caprice.

During the practice, coach Tom Watt called the players over for a chat by the penalty box but Walters didn't bother skating over, feeling he would be prying.

After the practice, Tarasov asked about the seemingly neglectful goalie. A mix up in communication resulted in Young being presented to Tarasov, who immediately began castigating him for having a poor attitude. Young didn't have the slightest idea what was going on.

Tarasov, thankfully, has been more helpful on other matters, according to coaches Tom Watt and assistant Jack McIlhargey. But the huge former coach of the Soviet national team was not optimistic about the real reason the Canucks brass brought him in - to help facilitate their continuing attempt to pry players out of the Soviet Union.

"It's my personal opinion that Russian players should stay in Russia for our fans," he said. "You don't need Russian players. You have your own. If you want players like Russian players, send some coaches over and learn how we train our players and learn our style. How would fans in Canada like it if Gretzky came over and played in Moscow. The game is for the fans. Why should Larionov and Krutov play for your fans?"

Both Larionov and Krutov are Vancouver draft choices.

"If we let hockey stars come, then the plumber and mechanic would want to come too," said Tarasov.

One person suggested that were the Soviet Union a more desirable place to live, qualified people would be willing to replace emigrants. Tarasov responded, "Why do we need a mishmash of people? Then it would be like the NHL in the Soviet Union."

Tarasov said it's remarkable a "good coach like Tom" should have such a bad team. He has infinite faith in the power of the coach, apparently unaware of constraints that face them in the NHL.

Tarasov also made his prediction for Rendez Vous series.

"It will be very good hockey, but we will win both games. We had a goaltending problem for a couple of years, but not so much anymore.

"Now you people have the goaltending trouble. Your goalies are good for playing your hockey, but not good for playing us. The best against us was Ken Broderick. Here the goalies know exactly when the players will shoot. They don't know that against us."

Then, it's the Canadian who are the robots, Tarasov was asked.

"Let me tell you story. I was coach in 1957 and we came to practice at the Forum. The Montreal players were watching us and I sent my interpreters to go over and stand by them. After just 12 minutes watching us on the ice, guys like Beliveau and Moore were laughing at us and what we do. Now you see who's laughing"