Chance to run into Ovechkin in 10 mil city

We reported in one of the previous posts that Pens fitness coach Mike Kadar flew to Moscow to help Evgeny Malkin with pre-season training. Mike Kadar managed to run into Alex Ovechkin in a 10 million city. LOL.

Here are some excerpts from his impressions of Moscow and Russia:

Kadar just returned from spending 17 days in Moscow overseeing Malkin's offseason workouts and rehabilitation from a knee injury.

With the cultural tables turned, Kadar got a sense of the difficulty Malkin and other European hockey players face when they arrive in an NHL city without knowing the language or culture.

"It's extremely difficult," he said. "I give those guys a lot of credit, to be able to play and understand the game if you don't know the language and you can't communicate. You're lost."

Kadar said he was fortunate that Malkin and the family of former Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar were gracious, taking him to Red Square, a Russian circus and a monastery where a monk guided them on a tour.

He also was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the restaurant food, other than the fact that most things were dolloped with sour cream. Very little was deep fried, the fruits and vegetables were fresh, and there was good sushi. One night, at a grand opening of a restaurant, they ran into Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.

He called traffic on roads up to 10 lanes wide "organized chaos" and was flabbergasted that at times drivers stuck in gridlock simply left their cars to get coffee.

"I would most certainly go back," said Kadar. ...hmmm... Was Ovi right in his GQ interview about Americans not wanting to leave Moscow?

I can hear Ovi saying "I told you so!"

---

Share |

Link to the latest post