How Caps and Ovechkin fan was a fly on the wall with the Russian Pittsburgh support crew
As you've seen in the news Dan Bylsma visited Malkin in the smog covered Moscow and met with Pittsburgh support crew, the Russian Pens fan club. One hard core Russian fan even brought the hockey cards of Bylsma himself with his autographs. The Penguins site made a reference to a Russian blog on sport-express.ru:
All photos are courtesy of the Russian website (http://blog.sport-express.ru/community/sehockey/post132103367/), where a text story from Bylsma’s visit accompanies the pictures.Turned out the blog is run by Oleg Fedorov, who is Caps, Ovechkin and Moscow Dynamo fan and he was at that meeting. Here what he said in his blog:
They were supposed to beat me up and bury in a nearby cemetery... Nay! Offered me the food and drink, and even talked about my passion for Ovie. With humor and without any jibes.There are quite a few typos in the post about Bylsma and it is a collection of posts from several people who attended the meeting. I think I was able to identify one guy's post and here it is:
Triphon, the organizer:
Even Oleg Fedorov showed how he loves hockey in a global sense of the word. He knew that this event was not just for the Pittsburgh fans, but for hockey fans in general. And that's why he was with us. Moreover, he didn't try to camouflage as a Pens fan, but openly stated that he roots for Dynamo and Ovechkin personally )) Nobody ejected him or accused of bias. I hope this dispelled a bit a common myth about the inadequacy of Pens fans.
...Of course we could not avoid the talk about Washington. According to Bylsma, it is hard to play against them not because they execute some tactical masterpieces. It is namely because of the mental reasons. Most of the league is really afraid to play against Ovechkin [or one-on-one against him, not clear -tj] and that is true for most of the Pittsburgh players. But exactly the same problem exists when other teams play against Crosby and Malkin.
When asked why people in Canada like Ovechkin more than Crosby, Dan did not answer with his own words, but quoted Canadian fans: "Crosby is ours, we love him, and we criticize him. And Ovechkin, we simply enjoy him."
There were questions about power play, at that Bylsma said simply something which in Russian translation would sound like "Do not piss! I'll take care of it!" By the way, we reminded the coach that his team's Captain had his birthday yesterday. Either they don't care to remember it or something else, but he was not embarrassed, and immediately text to Crosby his congratulations. At that time it was 7 am in Canada. We all laughed that it's not too early, he is working out already ))
A bit later he received a text from general manager about to his vision of the roster for next season. The information was in the category of VERY SECRET, so we'll not disclose the details )) [Oleg will :-) -tj] The main thing is that we saw the part of the communication between the coach and team management, and they are never on vacation 100%.
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17 comments:
Waiting for Bruce to drop in on Ovie at a Moscow nightclub.
Also, I doubt any NHL team ever takes a vacation. There is always work to be done even in the off season.
So why isn't there a Russian Caps fans club?
I think that's just called "Most of Russia"...
Japer's Rink had a Google translator version of another interview with Semin. This one was in lifesports.ru.
http://lifesports.ru/news/34885
The Google translator resulted in an English version that has that weird, strange English. Hope you are up to translating it to normal English as Semin interviews are not that frequent.
We wore our caps shirts in Halifax this summer just to be funny, and hthe only "crap" we got was from Pens fans, but its was only in good fun. That is why I like pens fans.. they usually are pretty nice/convivial about the rivalry. Unlike another pa club who shall not be named...
@anonymous: You're right. I don't really hate Pens fans, unlike other pa club you've mentioned :-)
@CathyW: Life.ru is tabloid, 2 out of 3 articles are total crap. They make up things, they right BS and that's normal for them. I can only believe in their photos, they haven't gotten to a point when they'll start using Photoshop. Remind you, they wrote that Ovechkin's grandpa died when he was still alive and they didn't even bother to take it out. It was there until grandpa died 2-3 months later.
Regarding Russian Pens club, and why there's no Caps club... Maybe there is, I don't know... I know there was Russian Red Wings web site and Pens had Kasparaitis, Kovalev...
Here's an example of crap that found in today's Life.ru article:
Овечкину подыщут шведку
Нападающий "Вашингтона" 22-летний Никлас Бэкстрем зовет Александра Овечкина в гости к себе в Швецию. За последний год хоккеисты сильно сдружились в клубе и частенько вместе проводят свободное время. Как и Овечкин, Бэкстрем является завидным женихом, однако не спешит расставаться с холостяцким статусом. В Швеции Никлас предлагает Ови отдохнуть от большого города на свежем воздухе, а заодно обеспечить женской компанией.
They will find a Swedish woman for Ovechkin
Washington's forward 22-year-old Niklas Bäckström is inviting Alexander Ovechkin to visit him in Sweden. Over the past year the hockey players became very good friends and often spend free time together. Like Ovechkin, Bäckström is the eligible bachelor, but is in no hurry to part with his bachelor status. In Sweden Niklas wants to offer Ovie a break from the big city on the fresh air, and at the same time ensure women's company.
90% in the article is true, but the headline is not:
A Swedish woman for Ovechkin
@TJ
Maybe they're prognosticating. Sweden has lots of attractive blondes. Ovi prefers blondes. Therefore a Swedish blonde might break Ovi's Russian women only rule.
Ovi don't have to go to Sweden to find a Swedish woman; I'm right here in the Washington DC area ;-)
Yeah, that magazine sucks- though I wouldn't be surprised if his parents did handle his most of his money, that's not that weird.
I actually think it's stupid to hate any fan, really. They're just cheering for who they like and usually for their home town. There are fans that are a bit ridiculous though.
I honestly can't stand most Leafs fans (I'm a leafs fan btw, lol) It's fucked up, they don't really care that we haven't had a winning team since the lockout, haven't gotten the cup in FOREVER- but when a player has promise but doesn't deliver right away, or makes the smallest mistake- they're all over them saying they should be traded or whatever. It's always been that way, and still is that way.
In our D-man prospect, Luke Schenn's rookie year (18 y/o), he didn't have a good start and everyone was calling him useless!!! AN 18 YEAROLD KID! He couldn't even drink away the hate from the fans, he was too young! lol
I also can't stand fans who badmouth other players for being shitty- they usually aren't if their in the NHL, and I'd like to see them do better! Most cases, they can't. It's one thing to not like a player or a team- or even fans- but you can cross a line.
It's actually quite refreshing to know they were quite welcoming on both parts.
@Mango: as I said on another thread, you and all Leafs fans have my sympathy.
But don't give up hope. When the NY Rangers won the Cup in 1994, it was 50 years since their last championship. When the Blackhawks won this year, it was 49 years after their last Cup win. If I calculate correctly, it's been 43 years since the last time the Leafs won the Cup. They still have a few years left to match either the Rangers or Hawks LOL.
The Capitals came into existence in 1974, 36 years ago. Sometimes I ask myself if it will take 50 years of their collective life or close to it for them to win their first Stanley Cup. However long it takes, I hope I'm still around to see it happen.
I asked a girl from Toronto if she's watching Leafs. She said, "only when they are in playoffs." And I like, excuse me? that means you don't watch them.
haha I'm actually excited about the Leafs! Last year was brutal, we started with bad training camps, limited chemistry and bad plays, goaltending... but since we revamped the team, I couldn't be more confident that they'll at least be even more exciting than recent years, and hopefully make the playoffs (not expecting any more than first round due to lack of experience from most of the team)and so what if they don't get the cup for another couple of years?
You only get the cup for a summer, I'd be happy with a few years of excellent plays and exciting games before we got to that!
I've always liked hockey and been a leafs fan, but I got really into it the past few years with the additions of Kulemin, Grabovski, and Schenn. Now that we have Kessel, Gustavsson, Bozak, Versteeg, Armstrong, Phaneuf(We have a captain, yay! almost thought the "C" was retired for Sundin o_O), and so on, we have a pretty stacked team. No need for advancement for goalies in the next few years, no needs in D-land so far, and we're alright for forwards- though I could take or leave a few f's or d's.
I'm really happy with how the team looked at the end of the year, and it sounds like a lot of our boys are healthier right now! The games have gotten more exciting, they're younger and stronger than we've had since the lockout... be afraid! lol
And yeah, we have probably the worst fans by way of confidence. Most leafs fans are just bitter haters lol There are a few of us who see the light! lol
I'm still cheering for the Caps to bring the cup home though! ;0)
@Mango: you are a true blue Leafs fan, and your enthusiasm for the team shines through loud and clear. I respect that kind of fan loyalty and support, and I hope the team deserves all you have to give to them.
Like you, I'm cheering for the Caps--with cautious optimism--to finally bring Lord Stanley's Cup home. Hope springs eternal.
TJ Thanks for the response about that publication. The article seemed a little strange even with the mangled English translation. Guess libel laws are very different in Russia if they keep making up stuff. Your decision to not translate that article is one of the reasons why I trust your blog when it comes to posting translations of Russian articles about Caps players.
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