RossiyaSport
Registered User
Lately Russian female hockey is the main thing in hockey I support and have an emotional attachment to. I am invested into their development and eventually they are going to have a Miracle on Ice moment against US/Canada that is going to be gratifying.
Russia only really started to seriously develop the girls leading up to the Olympics. Many other countries are kind of in a similar boat. US and Canada have had a big advantage because of title 19 and the university system. So they have always had a good group of well experienced physically mature girls in the sport. Its a similar thing in football. Its why the US womens team can win titles and the mens team sucks. Lack of competition.
A lot of those veteran US/Canada girls now are retiring or will retire after the Olympics and gradually the gap is closing. The dividends of the modern development of Russian girls hockey seem to be paying off with a talented group of girls who are 18-23 such as Shokhina, Kadirova, Belyakova, Shtaryova, Pirogova, Merkusheva, Dergachyova etc. The main good veteran is Olga Sosina who is only 25.
This group has talent but still is not able to match up against US/Canada whos teams are girls mostly in their mid 20's who are more experienced etc.
I project that the Russian girls will be able to compete on even terms in like 6 years. The girls right now who are 20 will be experienced veterans. The top prospects they have right now who are around 16 will be in their prime early 20 years. And the top pee wee girls right now will be like 18 then.
ZHHL (site isnt letting me write it in Russian for some reason) is a a really fun league with a lot of scoring that has games that are easily accessible on Youtube. Right now there is 7 teams and a Kazakhstan team is rumored to be joining next season. It would have had a Chinese team if not for Digit Murphy. I would like to see further expansion to maybe 12 teams. There could definitely be a second Moscow area team and cities like Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirisk would be other logical destinations.
I would also like to see the league rebranded as the WKHL.
I have also stumbled onto the world of Russian girls pee wee hockey in the last year. Theres a Russian girl who is a top pee wee player who has become somewhat of an Instagram celebrity. Shes constantly showing amazing highlights from her games and all the intense training she does off ice. All kinds of drills and training equipment. At least in the Moscow area there is some really serious development going into girls pee wee. A lot of the games are put on Youtube. Not only are they broadcast, they have score and time graphics and an announcer doing play by play.
This girl plays on a few different teams including on a boys team. Also, the girls team she is on often plays against boys teams that are a year or two younger. This further helps their development and helps toughen them up.
I would say she is the most talented player but theres other players in her team and other teams that have amazing players as well. I frankly was kind of shocked how good some of these girls are. You don't really expect an 11 year old girl to have a great wrist shot etc.
I will give an example of a Russian pee wee girl that wowed me the other day. Heres the whole game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6fxomyKTA Focus on #29. She scores like six goals. And almost every one of the goals was highlight worthy. This was against a team of boys I believe born in 2007. This girl pretty much carried the girls team to a convincing win over boys.
Since the ZHHL has no real age restriction these young talented girls can go pro at a young age. In the ZHHL there is a number of girls who are 15 so in just a few years these young prospects can be playing in the pro league.
So hopefully eventually Russian women win hockey gold in the Olympics and worlds.
http://whl.khl.ru/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH54DJ7J4t38id2gyhx_yUw Tornado Moscows Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCgB2r_6tL3NeCJ63PHZcw Agidel UFA Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChTjNVa9bUkz1Kq3sSviicQ Skiff Nizhny Novgorod Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gmdB_G63oDmVAlEWzf8nA Dinamo St. Petersburg Youtube
Russia only really started to seriously develop the girls leading up to the Olympics. Many other countries are kind of in a similar boat. US and Canada have had a big advantage because of title 19 and the university system. So they have always had a good group of well experienced physically mature girls in the sport. Its a similar thing in football. Its why the US womens team can win titles and the mens team sucks. Lack of competition.
A lot of those veteran US/Canada girls now are retiring or will retire after the Olympics and gradually the gap is closing. The dividends of the modern development of Russian girls hockey seem to be paying off with a talented group of girls who are 18-23 such as Shokhina, Kadirova, Belyakova, Shtaryova, Pirogova, Merkusheva, Dergachyova etc. The main good veteran is Olga Sosina who is only 25.
This group has talent but still is not able to match up against US/Canada whos teams are girls mostly in their mid 20's who are more experienced etc.
I project that the Russian girls will be able to compete on even terms in like 6 years. The girls right now who are 20 will be experienced veterans. The top prospects they have right now who are around 16 will be in their prime early 20 years. And the top pee wee girls right now will be like 18 then.
ZHHL (site isnt letting me write it in Russian for some reason) is a a really fun league with a lot of scoring that has games that are easily accessible on Youtube. Right now there is 7 teams and a Kazakhstan team is rumored to be joining next season. It would have had a Chinese team if not for Digit Murphy. I would like to see further expansion to maybe 12 teams. There could definitely be a second Moscow area team and cities like Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirisk would be other logical destinations.
I would also like to see the league rebranded as the WKHL.
I have also stumbled onto the world of Russian girls pee wee hockey in the last year. Theres a Russian girl who is a top pee wee player who has become somewhat of an Instagram celebrity. Shes constantly showing amazing highlights from her games and all the intense training she does off ice. All kinds of drills and training equipment. At least in the Moscow area there is some really serious development going into girls pee wee. A lot of the games are put on Youtube. Not only are they broadcast, they have score and time graphics and an announcer doing play by play.
This girl plays on a few different teams including on a boys team. Also, the girls team she is on often plays against boys teams that are a year or two younger. This further helps their development and helps toughen them up.
I would say she is the most talented player but theres other players in her team and other teams that have amazing players as well. I frankly was kind of shocked how good some of these girls are. You don't really expect an 11 year old girl to have a great wrist shot etc.
I will give an example of a Russian pee wee girl that wowed me the other day. Heres the whole game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6fxomyKTA Focus on #29. She scores like six goals. And almost every one of the goals was highlight worthy. This was against a team of boys I believe born in 2007. This girl pretty much carried the girls team to a convincing win over boys.
Since the ZHHL has no real age restriction these young talented girls can go pro at a young age. In the ZHHL there is a number of girls who are 15 so in just a few years these young prospects can be playing in the pro league.
So hopefully eventually Russian women win hockey gold in the Olympics and worlds.
http://whl.khl.ru/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH54DJ7J4t38id2gyhx_yUw Tornado Moscows Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCgB2r_6tL3NeCJ63PHZcw Agidel UFA Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChTjNVa9bUkz1Kq3sSviicQ Skiff Nizhny Novgorod Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gmdB_G63oDmVAlEWzf8nA Dinamo St. Petersburg Youtube
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