Vitali Abramov: When on the ice, I don’t act as a little player

BRONZE MEDALS IN CHELYABINSK, WORLD U-17 HOCKEY CHALLENGE,TALK WITH ANVAR GATIYATULIN

Traktor-1998, where you were the leader, was considered to be unique in many respects by many experts. What exactly was so unique about that team?
Well, first of all, we had tremendous coaches, Vladimir Glinkin and Vladimir Shabunin. They would help us a great deal all the time. From the very start, we were motivated to be winners. Plus, the atmosphere in the team was great; we supported each other on and off the ice. We also used to spend a lot of time off the ice together. After I came back, I already had a chance to meet up with the boys, and we were really glad to see each other again.

Was the call-up to Belye Medvedi in the middle of the season a surprise for you?
No, I was waiting for that chance to shine. I was called up at the start of the season, and I was really worried, because everyone on the roster was older than me, and I didn’t know the new coach so well. However, my parents, friends and teammates lent me overwhelming support. The only thought that I had back then was that I should become a fixture on the roster. I was not even thinking about going to Traktor, but deep down I realized that if an opportunity ever came, I would have to make the best of it.

Traktor management wanted to keep you in Chelyabinsk and came up with a decent contract offer.
Yes, there were talks about trying to keep me here, but I also received other offers from North American teams. My family, my agent and I considered all the options and eventually chose Canada. I talked with the guys who had already been to Canada; for example, Ilya Zinovyev told me quite a bit about life in Canada, about language barrier etc. He also told me I had to prepare for the power game because there is a lot of it in the junior leagues.

Before your departure, you met with Anvar Gatiyatulin. What did you talk about?
We talked about the season and my future. It was a great talk; he gave me some tips about how to prepare for the season and pointed out some mistakes in my game. We also discussed whether or now I wanted to stay with Traktor. In the end, he wished me best of luck.

Was it easy for you to leave?
No, of course not. My friends and family are still here. However, I wanted to try to play in another league and another country. I wanted to find out about the style of hockey that is played there.

Some of the experts said your last season in Medvedi was not a successful one.
Well, we actually won bronze medals with Traktor-1998 and Belye Medvedi. In November 2014, U17 team Russia won the U17 Hockey Challenge. Plus, there was a victory at a European Olympic festival. If that is not a successful season, I don’t know what is.

GATINEAU, HOST FAMILY, SPECIAL TREATMENT

And so, you went to Gatineau. Why there? How did that option come up?
One of the key reasons is the coach. His name is Benoit Groulx. He is a very emotional guy, but more importantly, he is a very good coach. His team Canada won the 2015 World Junior Championship. I liked the city itself too. The fact that my compatriot Jakov Trenin is also in Gatineau was equally important. Of course, there were other options, but I leaned towards Gatineau from the start.

How did you like the city?
It’s great! It’s actually located in the suburbs of Ottawa; the city is right across the bridge. Gatineau is a hockey town in the truest sense of the word. Our arena is one of the oldest in the league, but the atmosphere inside is just awesome. At the start of the regular season, the attendance was modest, two or three thousand fans, but closer to the playoffs, the arena was often packed. The nature here is also great; you can see coons, squirrels and moose right on the streets!

Tell us about your host family. 
A great fun-loving family; the father is a policeman, the mother is a nurse. They actually had participated in the program before, and I was not the first hockey player who lived with them. They gave me a key to the house, but it’s still forbidden to come home late – every day the coach sends them the schedule and the time when I should be back home. There wasn’t any trouble with transportation – the boys from the team would often pick me up. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to get a Canadian license; plus, here it takes a full year to get it. Dad loves cooking, so I’ve never been hungry. When my mother came to visit me, she shared with them the recipes of Russian cuisine. When she left, he would often cook borscht! So all in all, it is really nice, all went without a hitch. Money was not an issue either; the team pays a monthly amount for pocket expenses.

Which large Canadian cities did you have a chance to visit?
I visited Montreal and Vancouver. Montreal is a very big and beautiful city; I’ve been there by myself. I also was in Vancouver for the CHL top prospects game.

Tell us a little bit about the Gatineau training camp?
Well, the most surprising thing for me was how many players were there; the amount of them was enough to fill up the rosters of two teams. There were no training sessions at first – games, games, and games. Sometimes they were four or five hours away, with absolutely no time to rest or have a meal. It lasted for five days until there were enough players for only one team. It was all new and fun for me; I experienced all the ‘pleasures’ of a North American training camp. And yeah, a lot of fights on the ice too.

Was there any kind of biased attitude towards you due to recent political events?
No, not at all. The attitude was and is fine. Actually, everyone treats everyone well there. In the second half of the regular season, the team got a Czech goaltender with a Canadian passport. He immediately made friends with everyone. Yakov Trenin also helped me a great deal.
Russians are treated well in Canada. You are never going to feel any negative feelings directed at you; they are respectful and friendly, although it is true that Canadian media portray Russia in negative tones. 

How about the attitude on the ice?
No one cares where you are from – you get hit hard and punished verbally. Canadians love cussing on the ice; my vocabulary is now rich with Canadian and French obscenities (laughs).

IMPRESSIVE STATS, PHYSIQUE, QMJHL PLAYOFFS

Your stats are quite impressive: 73 games players, 45 goals, 61 assists, and a +43 index.
Well, I was not doing too well in the beginning of the preseason, but in the first game of the regular season I got four points. I was a fixture in the first two lines, and I played either at center or the wing. In junior leagues, coaches shuffle the lines quite a bit, and the search for ideal chemistry continues throughout the season. I played with Jakov Trenin for the majority of the season, and although I came to Canada as center, I ended the season on the wing.

Many list your not-so-impressive physique as your main disadvantage…
I don’t think so. I do believe the contrary –it is often an advantage. When on the ice, I don’t act as a ‘little’ player. I used my size to my advantage; every time I was up against a big and slow D-man, I went to outplay the guy.

Throughout this season, I upped my power game because I had to face a lot of pressure along the boards or at the goal crease; I scored a lot of garbage goals as a result of that. I learned a lot about forechecking, about how to finish a hit. Coaching staff wants this from everyone, and at some point I realized how useful it was for the entire team.

The same goes for the "dump and chase” strategy. We did not stick to this rule all the time during the regular season, but in the playoffs, the coaches wanted us to be very attentive and not to lose the puck at the blue lines.

Moreover, since I was moved to the wing, I learned some aspects of his play. I often returned to the defensive zone to help my teammates. Finally, I got some useful experience about how to play without the puck; you have to know these things because of the smaller rink size. So yeah, all in all, I learned a great deal of things throughout the season.

Gatineau Olympiques could have gone a lot further in the playoffs than they actually did. Whathappened?
It’s really hard to say. Jakov Trenin got hurt in the first game of the second round. I think we should have ended the series on the road when we had the lead in game 4. We had a three-goal advantage in game 5 but allowed five straight goals after that and lost. Game 6 was a blowout too.

After the series, we were thinking about how we lost and never got a solid answer. I have to give our opponents and their fans their due – the support of the home crowd in Moncton was overwhelming. But still, we gave up these three games when we had everything going our way. We still don’t know why exactly this happened.

Maybe other lines did not do their job on the ice?
Well, every line has their own tasks and different ice time. The first two lines’ responsibility is scoring goals; the other two lines have to appear during the shorthanded play and hold off the leaders of the opposition.

FISTICUFFS, COACHING DECISIONS, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Did you ever have to drop your gloves?
No, I’ve never been in a fight on the ice, although I was a part of many scraps. Each team has tough guys who drop the gloves when they need to. However, a lot of fights do happen; at some point, I was shocked about how many of them took place. In Olympiques, we have a couple of sturdy guys who will not let anyone slap you around. Fights never happen for no reason. For example – we lead three to nothing, and during the intermission the coach comes up to us and says that we get hit a lot, and we need to hit back to gain some respect. This is a typical Canadian thing; it’s all about respect. 

Have you ever been hit really hard?
Yes I have. It was a second or third game of the regular season; I often move through the wing and then to center. So, one of the defensemen caught me flush, and it was a very hard hit. I was okay after that, but remembered this check for a very long time (laughs). After the game, coaches showed me the video of the hit and explained what I needed to do to avoid hits like these in the future. Since then, I always try to notice when I could get hit and try to avoid it.

Were there any coaching decisions that were surprising to you?
Among the most important ones are constant shuffling of the attacking lines and the same players appearing in four-on-five situations.

Does the team’s head coach keep subordination or is he the best friend of the players?
He does keep the distance, both on and off the ice. However, his assistants may spend some time with the team in informal setting. For example, we met with the coaching staff before the playoffs at one of the local restaurants. This is how the friendly atmosphere is sustained in the team. Our head coach is an old school guys while his assistants are from another generation who can joke around and discuss different guys.

You were named QMJHL’s Rookie of the Year and included in the team of the best players of the season. Tell us about who chooses the best players in the league.
I think there is a poll among coaches, and they decide who the best rookie was from the list provided by the league. There were two main candidates: me and a French goaltender, my teammate. Eventually, I was named Rookie of the Year.

Were there any jokes that your teammates pulled on you? Is there any tradition to meet the new guys?
No, I don’t remember anything like that, although I saw a couple of times how the team pulled the stunts on some of the guys in the team, but not on me (laughs). My teammates love to crack jokes; however, sometimes I don’t understand their jokes, just like they sometimes don’t understand mine.

When you were leaving Russia, did you already have a decent level of English or did you have to catch up in Canada?
No, my English was poor, but at the end of the season I already gave interviews in English. This is a difficult language; one word can have several meanings.

I had private lessons with a tutor who taught me a lot of things. She helped me a great deal to learn a lot about Canada and adapt to the life here. I feel I have made some progress in my studies of English, but I can’t say the same about French.

FREE TIME, UPCOMING NHL DRAFT, INTEREST FROM TRAKTOR

Tell us how the team participates in social events that are held in Gatineau.
First of all, all the events of this kind are organized by the team management. Players know in advance which events they will participate in. Presents and souvenirs are bought by the team management. I remember that I had a lot of fun participating in such events.

What did you do in your free time?
I often went to the movies. At first, I didn’t understand much; my first movie was Mission: Impossible, where there was not too much to understand (laughs). With time, however, I started understanding more and more; I started to watch TV. My Canadian family also paid a lot of attention to this aspect. By the way, no one from the team management follows you around, but you yourself should be responsible.

What hobbies did you have in Canada?
Well, I read some history and geography books. I didn’t have a car, so I didn’t have much chance to get around, so these books were very useful.
I also watched a lot of history programs on local TV and learned a lot about the relations of the Englishmen and the French, their wars; I also learned that the Englishmen and the French sing a different line in their national anthems, how Canada almost became a US state, and about the hockey battles between Toronto and Montreal.

Is there a difference between Canadian and Russian fans?
Canadians produce a louder reaction to certain moments in the game, but there were no specific chants, like the fans do in Russia.

What do you expect from the upcoming NHL draft? According to the ratings of the scouts, you could be picked early.
I can’t wait for the draft. I don’t read any articles or anything – I just watch the ratings each time they appear. Of course, I want to get as high a number as possible, but I cannot influence that. I also don’t know what team picks me; I am now a fan of the Capitals and the Lightning, but who knows…

If the NHL draft is not going to be successful, are you going to consider Traktor’s offer? Team management and coaching staff are still interested in bringing you back.
Of course I am, Chelyabinsk is my native town. However, I don’t know when exactly I am going to return. I understand that I left Chelyabinsk early; I could have played for Medvedi or Traktor, but I have a dream of going to the NHL, and I am working hard to get there. My thoughts are focused on the NHL draft in Buffalo.

What are your plans for the next months?
I am going to have some rest and then start preparing for the Combine 29 (stamina and fitness tests – translator’s notes) that takes place in Buffalo, just like the draft. Depending on the results of the draft, we’ll see how it goes from there.

Photo by Ilya Belan