Anatoly Tarasov

After World War II, Tarasov was asked by the Ministry of Sports of the USSR to put together a hockey program from scratch. He helped found a hockey department at the Soviet Army's sports club, CSKA Moscow with little more than several old hockey rule books. Before then, the most popular ice sport in Russia and the Soviet Union was bandy, a sport similar to field hockey, but played on ice. The Russian style of hockey, with its emphasis on skating skill, offense and passing, is still heavily influenced by bandy. Tarasov served either as coach or co-coach of CSKA Moscow from 1946 to 1975, except for three short breaks in 1960, 1964 and 1972. He was named coach of the Soviet national team in 1958, a post he held until 1960. He was then an assistant coach of Soviet national team to Arkady Chernyshev from 1963 until 1972. When hockey was introduced in the USSR, Tarasov, like the rest of the nation, fell in love with the game. It was his ideals and philosophies that shaped the Russian game into what it is today - fast, graceful, non-individualistic, and patriotic. To him, real teamwork was based on a common aim - comradeship and caring for each team member. This is why he introduced a rule that, in order to make the line-up, the team had to approve of each player. Tarasov devised many new training methods. Most of them centered on passing, for he felt passing was the key to their success, "after all, the ultimate aim of a pass was to get a free player. So if our opponents make 150…

Tarasov was inducted into the inaugural class of the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1997. Having helped to build the Soviet hockey program from scratch, he became the first Soviet man to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto as a builder. He posthumously received the Wayne Gretzky International Award in 2008. U.S. coach Lou Vairo attended a clinic by Tarasov in 1972 and stated, "He told me you don't coach with your feet, you coach with your heart and your brain, and you have to have leadership qualities, drive the boys, work them hard, but do everything you can to support them". Today, the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League has a division bearing his name, in recognition of his role in the development of ice hockey in the country. When referencing Canada, the Soviet Union's long-time rival, Tarasov famously said "the Canadians battled with the ferocity and intensity of a cornered animal". "Our players were better conditioned physically and stronger in skills than the Canadian professionals. But we could not match them in heart and desire, always the strongest part of the Canadian game". On 10 December 2019, Google celebrated his 101st birthday with a Google Doodle.