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Blog:
10 April 2008-The Playoffs are just around the corner More…
Washington Forward Alexander Semin: Ovechkin and I Have Pillow Fights on Road Trips
Soviet Sport, 5 November 2008 No.164(17663)
D. Chesnokov
In the first part of an exclusive interview with Soviet Sport, Alexander Semin, (Washington’s current top player and winner of the NHL first star for October), discussed how he was offered some serious money this summer to go to the KHL, and he also shared his opinion of Sidney Crosby.
The material was of such interest that it caused a deafening uproar in
North America, even before it was published in our newspaper. NHL
analysts called it “the best interview of the year”, and you can
understand why. Semin has never before been so forthcoming.
“WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT CROSBY?”
A bombshell went off because of Alexander’s following statement. I’ll
cite it here verbatim:
“To be honest, I don’t see anything like that in Crosby” said Semin,
discussing the style of play of different NHL hockey players. “What is
it in him that is special? Yes, he skates well, he has a sharp mind, and
he makes outstanding passes. I don’t like to make comparisons. But if
you look at others… it seems to me that Chicago’s Patrick Kane is a much
more interesting guy.”
“You
can put a spin on any player, even the most lumbering one. If he makes
100 points in a season everyone will be beating the drum, whether or not
what he does on the ice is highly skilled. He could stand in front of
the crease during the power play and knock in 50 goals from there and
everyone would say “Now that is a real forward!”, and they will offer
him a $10 million annual contract. This is what they value in the NHL.”
“But
in Russia we value things differently. We love graceful hockey, not this
dump and chase. I have never understood players who do this. Why would
you do this when nobody is forechecking? Why fight for the puck and
crash into the boards? This is just not my style.”
These
statements by Semin, as well as several others, were sent to our
colleagues at the world’s largest website, Yahoo!, in order to announce
the interview. Oh my God, what did we start? After just a few hours
Alexander’s words were flying around the internet and for several days
all of America was hotly discussing them.
Three-fourths of the fans were in support of Semin. “Alex! Buddy! You
are absolutely correct!” It’s no secret that “Sid the Kid” is stuck in
the craw of a lot of NHL fans. They are upset with the endless spin on
the young Pittsburgh captain.
The
remaining one-fourth said plainly “Semin, you were too hasty.” Imagine
if Marek from “Magnitka” were to say “So what’s special about Morozov?
He’s constantly injured, and he’s no good in a hard fight”. You can
imagine what kind of row this would start among KHL fans.
Sasha
was accused of tactlessness. But if you carefully read the words of the
Washington forward in that quote, which is given to you here in its
original form, -- is there really any attack on Sidney? All that was
discussed was the style of play of different hockey players, and Semin
likes Kane better than Crosby. Is that a crime? Some people like
bananas, some like pears. It’s all a matter of taste.
“ENGLISH STILL DOESN’T COME EASY”
On the
whole, the Crosby incident has been picked apart. I propose that it not
be recycled. Especially since Semin said a whole lot of other
interesting things in our interview.
What
do you value most of all in a forward, Alexander?
“Circling and shooting. I’d like to be able to circle like Datsyuk or
Jagr.”
Your
contract with Washington continues for another two seasons.
“What’s going to happen then? I don’t know. New negotiations haven’t
started yet. I’ll just wait and see what they propose.”
You
don’t think about the KHL?
“How do I know what tomorrow will bring. Everyone is talking about the
financial crisis, but I don’t fill my head with bad thoughts.”
You
haven’t been affected by the crisis?
“I
haven’t taken any loans out. But those who did take out loans are now
totally out of it.”
You
weren’t even invested in real estate?
“No. That’s why I haven’t lost anything.”
What’s
your relationship with Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington
Capitals?
“Very good. True, Leonsis hasn’t been over to the house for barbeque,
but whenever we meet we always have a nice conversation. The owner of
our club has a great relationship with the players.”
Leonsis once said that he gave an mp3 player to Semin so that you could
study English.
“He
never gave me anything.”
What
do you mean? Think hard now.
“Ah—this was an I-Pod with some songs on it?” Sasha exclaims. “Which
Dainius Zubrus also wanted to buy from me? Yeah, he did give it to me.
Thanks, Ted! But I still haven’t learned English very well. There are a
lot of Russians around and I hang out with them. Foreign languages don’t
come easy to me. It was kind of towards the end of the season that I
started to converse, but then I went to Russia over the summer and I’ve
forgotten it all once again.”
“I
feel comfortable ordering in restaurants here in the USA, but I don’t
want to give any interviews in English. Now understand me correctly—if I
start doing this, I’d make all the reporters hairs stand on end. And
then, if I give an interview in English to just one reporter, he would
tell all the others, and there would be no end to it. I’d just start
jibber-jabbering. Do I really need that?”
What
did you do over the summer?
“Nothing, really. I rested. After the World Championship I went to
Turkey with Ovechkin. Then we were going to meet up in Spain but that
didn’t work out. And then I flew off for the season. I partied back home
in Krasnoyarsk.”
When
you were in Russia, did you get any calls from the KHL?
“Did they ever call me! Through my agent, I received offers from three
clubs. All serious offers, too. But both I and my family are
categorically against going to the KHL. Why should I bring a scandal
upon myself? To run away from my current contract with Washington would
just destroy my reputation. I’m not burning any bridges with the NHL. If
you play well they would call you back, but they would now look at you
with a jaundiced eye.”
“I
didn’t even begin to look at those offers. I like it in America. It is
interesting and fun here. Even if you don’t speak the native tongue you
can get along just fine. I had some difficulty early on, but now I’m
used to it.”
“SANYA
AND I ARE YOUNG AND PASSIONATE”
Viktor
Kozlov said that you and Ovechkin are the two main clowns on the team.
“Maybe this is because of how we behave ourselves?” laughs Semin. “Vitya
and Sergei Fedorov are already aged. They are old men. But Sanya and I
are young and passionate. When the two of us are together, we’re always
playing pranks on the veterans. But when we are by ourselves, then they
start to “oppress” us. I’m having to fight them off while Ovechkin is in
Russia.”
“…Sanya
and I share a room on away games. All four of us dine together.”
How
many hotel rooms have you already destroyed?
“Oh
man, a lot of them” laughs Semin. “It happens—we just start goofing
around. We pour juice over each other’s head, we fight with pillows. We
go at it full-bore.”
How do
you feel about your nickname “The Snarling Siberian”?
“And who called me that? One Russian reporter. I’m not going to justify
myself, because I can honestly say that I don’t “bare” anything. I don’t
pay any attention to nicknames. This is just the press. Their job is to
write and mine is to play. To each to his own.”
Do you
have a nickname on the team?
“Sema, and that’s all.”
What’s
the deal with Ovechkin hitting Malkin?
“I
don’t know. They have something amongst themselves, and I didn’t stick
my nose into it. I don’t want to know anything about it.”
It
seems odd that Ovechkin makes hard hits on Malkin, and then Zhenya comes
and hits you.
“That was just one time. But he came up to me afterwards and apologized,
saying “I didn’t do it on purpose”. But I saw his hit coming, and took a
step back on purpose, so I didn’t get hit very hard.”
What’s
it like playing with Fedorov?
“We
are already used to one another. We know who is going where, and that is
the main thing in hockey—reading the game one step ahead.”
Were
you certain that he would sign a new contract with Washington this
summer?
“Fedorov really wanted to stay here, but nobody knew if the club would
make him a decent offer. But Sergei really likes it here. He himself
said that he has gotten a second childhood back here in Washington. I
don’t really know why.”
Because they didn’t let him play in Columbus.
“That’s not a problem here. Fedorov likes the style and tactics of the
team, as well as living in Washington.”
"As
far as playing together,-- when Russian National Team head coach
Vyacheslav Bykov approached us in March, he immediately said that
Ovechkin, Fedorov and I would be on the same line in the world
championships. He also saw our potential, and we didn’t let him down. We
scored a lot of points."
"When Kovalchuk made the winning goal in Quebec, we couldn’t think of
anything for a while. It was absolutely mad happiness. Then we started
to realize what we had done.”
And
you were received by the President of Russia.
“That was difficult. We didn’t sleep all night on the flight. We walked
into the reception half-asleep—even a glass of champagne didn’t help.”
“Ovechkin went up to Medvedev wearing flip-flops. This was the fault of
the organizers. They should have thought about how we should have been
dressed before we boarded the charter flight. But nobody said anything
about it, and we were taken directly to the Kremlin from the airplane.”
VERBATIM
Ted
Leonsis, Owner of the Washington Capitals
“We
have to correctly understand exactly what Semin was trying to say. I
believe he wanted to say that there are many world-class athletes in the
NHL, and that one is simply garnering a lot of attention. We all have
high regard for Crosby. He is one of the best players in the league.
BTW
Alexander Semin was named the first star of the NHL for October. The
Washington forward scored 16 points (8+8) in nine games and had a rating
of +7, which ties the team record. In the entire history of the
Washington Capitals only Dale Hunter was able to record 16 points (1+16)
in the first nine games of the 1991/92 season.
Semin
is the sixth Washington player to be named the NHL first star of the
month. The league has selected the best players since 1980. Keep in mind
that this title was given to Alexander Ovechkin three times (January
2006 and 2008, and March 2008).
The second star of the month was Rangers net minder Henrik Lundqvist, and the third star was Nashville defenseman Shea Weber.
Click on Icon above or thumbnail below to see original story on sovsport.ru
Photo: D. Chesnokov
Photo: AP