SB Nation User Blog: koopa kid

Belarussian interview with Mikhail Grabovski

koopa kid — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:48:07 -0000

Editor's Note: Glove tap to koopa kid for tracking down this interview with Mikhail Grabovski. There are some hilarious answers as well as some very revealing ones about the current climate of the team.

I haven't seen this posted anywhere on here, forgive me if it has. Check out the broken translations. Hat tips go to Belarus from HFboards for the post and colonel_korn on SAS for the relay:

Mikhail Grabovski: Maybe he got his license suspended?

- When during preseason you were able to finds the back of the net, but at the start of regular season you were in scoring drought from Minsk it looked like "eternal bad luck". Did you dwell on it?
- Absolutely no. There is nothing eternal in life and so is bad luck. I waited it out. When you're being trusted it's easier to deal with temporal difficulties. And they trust me in Toronto.

- Is this the biggest difference between Ron Wilson and Guy Charbonneau?
- No, there are others. Ron is more experienced than Guy, he has brought his team to the Stanley Cup final. Also, he has different approach towards players: in Montreal our relationships were strictly businesslike. Here in Toronto coach takes an interest in his players life besides hockey, can have heart-to-heart talk with you and it prepossesses you. Finally, what's also nice is that Wilson - proponent of euro style of hockey. I have no idea where it comes from, but being a North American he allows us to improvise more. Oh and I already said about the trust.

- They trust you so much that it looks they pick players "for Grabovski" now, and not cover holes with you as it was before.
- Perhaps. But this is normal because i'm playing center. Recently looks like coached found optimal blend of our line - Kulemin and Hagman playing wings. Before Kolya (Kulemin) recovered from his injury they constantly shuffled my partners. Now burst of our line's offensive production I directly link to Kulemin's complete recovery.

- Especially "burst" goes along with your "fondness" towards Carolina. Four goals in two games in three days - it's big. Where such a love for Hurricanes comes from?
- How you can not love them if the name of the city is female's name. (Grabs laughs)

- Wait a sec... I hear some romantic notes. So, very soon we should discover you're no longer promising single.
- Oh, come on... Let's agree: you haven't asked - I haven't answerd, ok? Let's talk hockey only.

- As you wish. Then shed some light on if it was possible for you to wind up in Toronto's farm club during your drought?
- Impossible. The contract was put in the way that they could only trade me to some other NHL team. I've got enough of two way agreements. I've had a dilemma this summer: whether I play in the NHL or I come back to play in Russia.

- To put it this way one must be confident about what he can do.
- I've never had any problems with that. Always felt there is nothing extraterrestrial for me in the NHL and I could play some good hockey here. I now I think I'm proving this.

- Oh you're sure do. From now on You can only improve uour previous, even though modest personal record.
- Yes, but I'm more happy about my other record. My seventeen-twenty minutes a game - this is what I craved. Now, when I have it what else do I need?

- Well, how about comfort in life for example.
- I'm perfectly fine. I always liked Toronto as a city and Toronto as an NHL club. And these are not regular words and not regular due to management. I said it before, when playing for Montreal and Hamilton. There is a friendly team climate in Toronto. It is so encouraging: I feel myself as I felt before in Neftehimik (Russia). Look, it's very reminiscent of what I've had there: experienced coach, young team, complete trust.

- You can tell me whatever you want, but I won't believe Saturday's game against Canadiens was regular game for you.
- Of course it was a special game for me. But not because I hold grudge against my former team. It's the opposite, I made my first steps in the NHL playing with them and only for that I'm grateful to my former teammates and Gi Charbonneau. But I've had the same satisfaction from victory as if it was any other game, except that we lost to them one month ago 1:6 and it has strengthen it a bit.

- Ok, now let's talk about the most important: what was between you and Sergei? Was his charge a surprise for you?
- Oh, and there you go... Why all reporters, whether it's in Canada or back home have clung to this episode? Right in that game Kostopolus sent our player Van Rynn to hospital for more than a week. But, I feel like no one talks about this really unpleasant moment comparing to our trash talk.

- Illegal hits are common in the NHL. But clash of two out of total four countrymen in the NHL we couldn't leave unnoticed. Why would Sergei charged into you so viciously?
- It was hit like any other hit and I don't hold grudge for Sergei. It's NHL - anything happens here. But why he's mad at me, I don't understand. Maybe, he got his driver license suspended, maybe he has problems with his girlfriend - I don't know. But there is no my fault in his problems.

- One of the versions says you've said something to him. What was that?
- I don't remember exactly, but it was regular trash talk as it happens in cases like that. I told him to look at the scoreboard and said he was too young to fight me. Andrei (his older brother) didn't want to sort out our relationship as he's older and controls himself. But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk.

- Another thing you've said is the "I have no friends in Montreal". Also, some say Ponikarovski translated it the wrong way.
- I doubt it. Alexei's English is very good to be it this way. Other thing is reporters interpreted my words incorrectly: I meant I have no friends among opposing team on ice.

- Why you're using partners to translate it for you? Your English is not so good?
- Not so bad, but it's not ideal either. When one on one I speak decent, but right after game you colleagues surrounded me and I had to ask for my teammate's help.

- I guess you spend more time with Russian speaking guys after hockey games.
- And it's a wrong guess. This is a beauty of Toronto - they don't have team divided in groups by some features. We're all together. And it's good as my English is getting better because, for example, during road games I share the hotel room with Dominic Moore.

- By the way we're not disturbing him now with our conversation? It's 1am in the morning.
- No, it's ok. He went to visit his local relatives.

- You shouldn't feel yourself lonely in Toronto also because, If I'm not mistaken, here is the biggest Belorussian population in Canada. They have even Belorussian church.
- Seriously? I didn't know. I've heard they have many Ukrainians here, but I haven't met Belorussians so far. And I don't feel lonely at all. I have my relatives in Toronto too. My dad's cousin lives here. He's is my guide to the city.

- So, I see you're feel yourself comfortable here. What do you see in your future?
- Fight for the playoff berth. They don't demand it here right away as we're building new team. I hope to contribute. The more I contribute - the better.

Alright, so this is actually kinda lame...

koopa kid — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:45:53 -0000

Do I smell the occasion for a potential PPP meet and greet?

via www.torontomarlies.com

Justin Pogge, Mark Bell, Jeremy Williams, Ben Ondrus, plus a Wendel Clark bobblehead? Sign me up. Considering the Marl haven't topped 5K attendance in a season or so, we can't not get one.

The game is at 4, which leaves about enough time to find a bar and drink ourselves to death watching the Leafs play after the almost assured crushing loss by the Marlies. The Leafs will be playing the Blackhawks, so you know, the drinking will help.

Why would the Habs hate Grabs?

koopa kid — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:04:34 -0000

This came up in one of the Montreal postgame threads, I figured I'd fanpost it because I have a sorta long response and those discussions have a tendency of dying, which would be a shame as this is a juicy topic.

Basically, Grabovski demanded a trade, and not just that, but a trade to a team that could find him ice time.Carbonneau had his pecking order down, a player like Grabovski was basically not on it.

Now, talent had one thing to do with it, it's hard to name a player in that top 6 that Grabs could supplant easily even now, but Grabovski is also certainly playing better for us than he ever did for the Habs. He's not dumb, he knows that he can't demand another trade without becoming a poisonous player to GMs, so instead he's working his tail off doing everything he needs to do to get ice time from Wilson. That includes backchecking, that includes forechecking, two areas that needed improvement when he was in Montreal.

Imagine you play for a storied franchise like Montreal (or, you know, the Leafs). The organization does it's best to impress upon it's players the honour and value of simply being a Canadien, it's special and it's a reward that comes from hard work and playing in the minors. Good teams often don't need talented rookies right away, Detroit is a great example with a stacked AHL team, so they need to convince their talent that the wait is worth it, else they all demand trades. Kind of like Grabovski. When he demanded a trade he gave the entire organization the finger, including every player in the NHL and the AHL pipeline.

Imagine Tlusty got fed up and demanded a trade. Would we as fans react well to that? Would the team? Grabosvki is probably more talented, and was given less of a shot in the bigs than good ol' Lusty.

Now imagine that the Leafs were not only nice enough to oblige Tlusty his request, but also traded him to a struggling divisional rival so he could have a shot. Now imagine he became their leading goal scorer.

I think we'd all be a little pissed off at the guy.

Fandom?

koopa kid — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:10:28 -0000

In the spirit of avoiding summer boredom, here's my story on how I came to spend $150 of student money on a Leafs jersey:

As a Toronto native, it's hard to say exactly when it all started. When we went to my grandfather's on a Saturday the Leaf game was inevitably on, and the entire family would be present, though my grandfather, mother, and I may have been the only ones actually paying attention. This was at a young age though, I didn't know player names and barely knew how the game worked. I remember I went out to get a mini-stick to play out at recess, the shop was sold out of anything good so I grabbed a Tampa Bay Lightning stick, not really caring which team I got. Of course I was laughed at the next day.

My mom was a Jays fan first and foremost, but when the Leafs made the playoffs she watched intently, and loudly. Once again I'd watch, mostly because of the fact that it often extended my bed-time (once again, very young). I've got a better memory of those days. Later in life I'd go on to yell at the TV with her, I remember cursing Dominik Hasek for looking amazing, laughing at our inevitable defeats of the Sens, and the outrage at Gretzky.

Once I started going to high school hockey pretty much slipped to the backburner in my mind, I missed the heartbreak against the Hurricanes in '02, other things were keeping me busy and I'd only been a casual watcher growing up.

After my grandfather and mom died at the end of grade 12 and I went into university, a few of my old high school friends were watching games together (this would be 05-06) and invited me to come along. Being new in uni and lacking much to do, I started watching games with them. It had been a while, I barely recognized anybody or remembered the rules, but after a while I was heckling Jason Allison and Aki Berg with the best of them. I was really just watching hockey to get out of the house, but seeing it again reminded me of my mom and grandfather and gave me something to do

Once I moved out of the house in 06-07 I was without cable and most of the comforts of home. I'm obsessed with following numbers and generally going neurotic on a hobby, so I switched to watching the Leafs on CBC. What was casual viewing in 06 got pretty hardcore in 07, with the start of the 07-08 season marking me entering hockey pools, going to Leafs/Marlies games, buying jerseys, etc

That's it I guess, pretty unremarkable. While it could be said I've been a fan all my life, I don't really think of it that way, I just didn't follow the game the way real hockey fans did. So I'd say I've been a real fan for about 3 years and counting, and I picked a hell of a time to start watching again (they haven't made the playoffs since I started following the team closely).

Bryan McCabe rumours are silly

koopa kid — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:29:50 -0000

I'd like to preface this by saying that I don't think McCabe is moving. He's been asked too many times and stated unequivocally that he's staying too many times to back down now. He seems like a dumb, proud guy and I think the media's putting his back to the wall with this decision.

I'd also like to point out that the Leafs can't actually make McCabe not show up for training camp, as he can be suspended for not, and he's under contract. The only way to get him off our roster without buying him out is to scratch him every game, taking up a player spot and generally creating a sticky PR mess between us, him and the NHLPA. The NHL also keeps watch on teams not icing the best roster they can in order to place a check on tanking (I guess we'll have to be subtle), so if we wanted to keep him as a healthy scratch all year then we'd have to prove that we aren't any worse off replacing him with Staffan Kronwall. A tall order, to be sure.

Oh, and there was this little article printed by David Shoalts (a pillar of integrity in a shitty town for sports journalism) wherein Fletcher calls not playing McCabe "the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard" and that "Fletcher said he does not plan to prevent McCabe from playing. To do so would violate the collective agreement".

Hopefully that settles what we're doing with McCabe then.