With this post I am very happy to bring you the next installment in my “get to know the Russian reporter” series. Today, dear reader, you will learn a little bit about Dmitry Chesnokov, a Washington D.C. based freelance reporter with Sovetsky Sport (“SS”).  As a little background information, Sovetsky Sport is the ‘Grand Old Man’ of the Russian sports press, and has been presenting scores and analysis to the Slavic speaking world since 1924. Like all institutions that have survived from the Soviet time into the era of free markets, it has gone through its share of transformations. No longer an official state “organ”, it is now published by a joint venture of the Sovetsky Sport publishing company and the Russian Olympic Committee. Since 2001 it has been printed in color, and although circulation is far from its high of over 5,000,000 during the communist days, circulation has been steadily growing, as attested to by an almost 15% growth from 2007 to 2008. The latest figures from TNS Gallup, (May-October 2008), show a daily average issue readership of over 707,000 for the print edition in Russia.

If the name Dmitry Chesnokov is not familiar to some of you, his work most certainly should be. For the last several years he has been published on various sports blogs such as Puck Daddy, and late last year Dmitry was vaulted into the top levels of sports blogging notoriety when he scored the interview of the year with the normally reserved Alexander Semin. If that article was your first sampling of Dmitry’s interviewing skills, I humbly suggest that you search out the interviews he has done over the past several years. One recurring comment always seems to be along the line of “your interviews put English language interviews to shame”. And I fully concur on that point.

So enough with the background, on to the interview! Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: FHR Site

The Russian Hockey Federation recently announced the release of a souvenir stamp set in honor of the 2008 World Champions in Hockey. Pony up your rubles and you can have this nifty set to remind you of all the stars of the game, if Radulov, Grebeshkov, Markov and Afinogenov were all the stars of the game.Hurry up though, only 72,000 sets will be printed!

Thanks to Slava Malamud for this article on an overlooked bit of sensational news during the All-Star Game.

1/28/2009 Slava Malamud

MALKIN, OVECHKIN AND KOVALCHUK AGREE TO GO TO SOCHI IN 2014 DESPITE THE PROHIBITION

Slava Malamud             Montreal

It is difficult to imagine a better advertisement for Russian Hockey that the recently concluded NHL All-Star game in Montreal. Practically all of the greatest moments at the traditional celebratory event were provided by our players: the long-awaited reconciliation between Ovechkin and Malkin under the sensitive guidance of Kovalchuk; the comical performance of both during the skills competition; and Alex Kovalev’s performance in the All-Star game itself, for which he was selected MVP. We could hardly write a better scenario if we tried. Read the rest of this entry »

And his name is Kovalchuk. Check out Slava Malamud’s guest blogger spot on Capitals Insider for the inside scoop on how Ovi’s craziest ever “hat trick” came about.

Oh, and sorry Slava–  but Ovi’s Hat Trick–

Photo: Getty

Was even cooler than your Gordie Howe/mad-bomber hat trick

Photo: Slava Malamud

H/T to “A View From the Cheap Seats” for finding  this video piece on the “Inside Hockey” segment on last night’s Hockey Night in Canada. Now where have I seen that game show clip before? I’m just glad to hear that somebody actually was able to call him.

Update: The vid is now on youtube so here it is for your viewing pleasure:

“Well, I think, you know, fans have to see how we are, who we are, you know. They see our skills and, I think the last trick like was just for fun. I think fans love it.”

H/T to Kukla’s Korner for the post-skills contest Q&A with Ovechkin which resulted in this fine quote.

Beautiful, just beautiful. Definitely a First Place Performance! Congrats Alex!

Photo: Puck Daddy

Photo: Slava Malamud

The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close
Like brothers
The future’s in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me
To the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Click on the links to see the photos in their original articles. Thank you Pavel Lysenkov (Sovietsky Sport/PuckDaddy) and Slava Malamud (Sport Express) for the photos.

I’d like to thank to JP over at Japers Rink for giving my translations a wider audience. If you head over there you can find out Alex’s preference for an All-Star game.