Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Alexei Tezikov isn’t in line for the Norris Trophy, but he might well take the prize for being the NHL’s friendliest Russian defenseman. And hey, it doesn’t hurt to score some points with the media when you’re playing your first NHL game since a 23-game stint […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd “Sammy? Is that Hagar or Davis Jr.?” If you’re a Boston Bruins fan, you might think of a different popular figure. He’s only 21 and stands a mere 5-8 and 184 pounds, but he looms large in Boston’s youth movement. Known as “Sammy” to his teammates, […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Sometimes Alexander Selivanov must wonder if his career is doomed to consist of a series of bad jokes. Last season, playing for the Edmonton Oilers on a line with Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth, the 29-year-old Moscow native led the NHL with 18 goals at the […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2004 By Lucas Aykroyd For decades, beating the Russian national hockey team was about as difficult as wrestling with a brown bear. Despite triumphing frequently in best-on-best competitions, Canadian teams faced their stiffest challenges against the Soviet senior squads, who posted an international record of 725 wins, 110 losses, […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2003 By Lucas Aykroyd Most Canadian hockey fans have fond memories of Maple Leaf magic on Moscow ice. Paul Henderson’s winning goal in Game Eight of the 1972 Summit Series remains a defining moment in our nation’s history. Jimmy Waite’s 38-save performance in a 3-2 victory over the Soviets […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd The Montreal Canadiens used to be known as the Flying Frenchmen. Nowadays, it’s more like the Flying Foreigners, and Oleg Petrov is part of that new tradition. The 5-9, 171-pound right wing returned to Montreal last season after three years with HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Sometimes it’s all about quality instead of quantity. The number of European NHLers has declined from 300 (29.5%) in 2003-04 to 262 (27.2%) in 2005-06, but elite talent from the Old World still made a big splash at the 2006 NHL Awards in Vancouver, Canada. At […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd EuroReport is proud to present an advance review of Pavel Bure: The Riddle of the Russian Rocket, the new unauthorized biography by Vancouver writer Kerry Banks. Banks is an award-winning journalist and sports columnist with Vancouver’s Georgia Straight. He has published five sports trivia books and […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Ten seconds. That’s all it took for Andrei Nazarov to show the Vancouver Canucks he was fighting mad and ready to live up to his many nicknames in a 26 September exhibition game at GM Place: “The Russian Bear,” “The Mad Russian,” and “The Nazinator.” At […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd You might associate the “Changing of the Guard” with Buckingham Palace or Red Square, but a recent changing of the “Keepers of the Goal” with the San Jose Sharks has given a 25-year-old netminder from Kazakhstan his big shot in a different arena. Evgeni (John) Nabokov […]