Remember when you’d try to sleep on Christmas Eve and it was the hardest thing to do? That was me on the day before Media Day for the World Cup of Hockey! On Thursday players from all teams met with the media at the Air Canada Centre. It was packed, it was busy, and yours truly was there to chat with a few dudes who’ll be playing in this event.
Ales Hemsky Is A Vet (Even if I had to tell him he was)
“I didn’t even realize that!” (Ales Hemsky’s reply to me asking him is thoughts on being one of the veterans of this Czech Republic squad)
The now 13 year NHL veteran is the third oldest member for the Czechs who are in Group A with Canada, Team Europe and the USA and knows that as your career winds down you may not have as many chances to take part in events like this.
“You just realize that time is flying so you have to enjoy every minute so you have to enjoy every tournament or last year. You have to just enjoy every minute”.
For Hemsky and the Czechs, they open things up against the Canadians on Saturday night, and even though people question the World Cup in North America for being a preseason tourney and having two teams in it that are made up, it’s perception doesn’t matter to #83 and as he points out the amount of big names in it is no joke.
“It doesn’t matter but it’s actually the biggest tournament because everyone from the NHL is in it. It’s a little different than the World Championships and maybe the Olympics you can compare it to but we don’t know if we’ll be playing in the Olympics, but it’s a special tournament. You never know if you’ll have another chance to play in it again”.
United States Under Torts
He’s fiery, he’s great for a quote and the dudes on the stars and stripes are ready to play for him.
Playing once again for Torts is something that Ryan Kesler enjoys, Kesler had Tortorella as his head coach when both men we’re with the Vancouver Canucks in the 2013-14 season and having a coach that have everyone on the same plan is big for the World Cup.
“It’s nice to play for Torts, he’s a great coach, a great guy. In a tournament like this he gets everyone on the same page early and he never stops trying to get the team better, that’s what we need in this tournament”.
The sentiments are very much the same for LA Kings goalie Johnathan Quick who knows that Tortorella will also want a lot out of his skaters and goalies.
“He knows the game well, he expects a lot from his players, and the players also should expect a lot out of themselves”.
As for the talk of anyone being an underdog or favouite in this tourney, the two time Stanley Cup champion doesn’t see that and believes every team is pretty much even with the amount of talent on the rosters.
“I don’t think there’s any underdogs or favourites, I think every team in this tournament is very competitive. Every game will be close, one goal games, two goal games, it will be great entertainment for the fans and great to play in for the players”.
2018 and Ovi
When it was time for the Russians to take part in media day, a throng of no less than 98,000 reporters surrounded the podium of one Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin.
Although this was a day for the World Cup, talk of the Olympics came up and Ovi has mentioned before that he would like to be at the Winter games in 2018 in South Korea. Of course what we don’t know yet is if the NHL will be involved once again.
The Great Eight as said before that he’ll be at the games two years but as an NHLer? In a different league? No one knows for sure not even Ovechkin himself as quoted from Puck Daddy “Maybe I won’t be in the NHL. Maybe I’ll be retired then. We’ll see” although Ovi had a wide smile on his face when he said it so who knows!
What we do know is that whenever a decision comes down on NHL involvement in the Olympics in 2018 happens, it will be THE story in the hockey world.
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