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Author Topic: Metallurg  (Read 2188 times)

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Offline freebird

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Metallurg
« on: April 17, 2007, 10:19:05 PM »
In celebration of the Stanley cup playoffs and Atlanta Thrashers being one of the teams, I submit the following for good karma:

I went to visit my girlfriend in her home town for new years 2007. It was the perfect time since she is an English teacher and school is out for the holidays. It was good for me because I could add New Years day to my week-long vacation to make it one day longer.

Prior to my visit I did some research on the city where my girlfriend lives. Interestingly, one of my hits on an internet search was an American hockey player from her city. It turns out that there are a few players from her city playing in America. I had never thought about it but now I want to see a real Russian hockey game. A little more investigation and I have figured out that her citys team is part of the Russian big league despite being a smaller mining town in Siberia which ranks about 30th in Russian population.

Armed with a new fascination, I called my girlfriend and asked her if there was going to be any hockey games in her city while I was going to visit. She didnt know but said one of her co-workers is a big fan and she would check. I asked her if she had been to a game and she said she had never been. She said that she thought hockey was a violent game and wouldnt be interested. I reminded her that she has seen Kill Bill a hundred times. She said she would check on the schedule.

Im not a big hockey head. I dont know any players names or any statistics. I just like to watch one or two games a year. In Atlanta, its quite a production. All the wannabee cameramen, producers, announcers, etc. for CNN work the hockey games. I wanted to see the Russian equivalent.

I got good news; The Mettalurg will be playing a game during my visit to Siberia. The main industry of this city is mining. It is rich in nickel, copper and coal. Coal is the key ingredient since it is the fuel used to smelt the metals. This citys main industry is metal; hence the teams name Mettalurg.

Offline freebird

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Re: Metallurg
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2007, 12:12:39 PM »
My gal and I walked to all of our destinations but she said that the arena is in the center of the old city and we would have to ride the mashrutka. I dread riding in those crammed deathtraps. When she said mashrutka I cringed thinking about the dirty yellow vans. It turns out that we rode on a short version of a big bus. It cost all of 9 rubles and was big and comfortable. It even had an attendant to collect money. As we were riding to the stadium, I noticed something.. This city doesnt have any of those awful mashrutka vans like everywhere else in the FSU. I asked my girl about this and she her city just had short and big busses, no mashrutkas like in Moscow.

We had to walk a few blocks from the bus stop to the stadium. We crossed over a bridge and I noticed that there was a river flowing underneath. How could this be? This is the middle of Siberia and the middle of the winter. I asked my girl and she says that there is a park a few blocks away and this small river flows through it. The city adds chemicals to keep the water from freezing. Its a closed loop man-made river and the city pumps the water sort of like an amusement park river. She says that there are live ducks at the park even in the winter.

We arrived at the stadium but were a little bit early.

We walked around and found an internet café so I could check my e-mail. I visited 4-5 different cafes during my visit and they were almost all the same. In one section there were 20-30 computers full of kids playing games and a smaller section with maybe 6 computers for the non-gamers.

We then returned to the stadium to wait for Victor. I had given him 1000 rubles to get the three of us tickets. I had told him that I dont get to see Russian hockey very often and I want good seats. Yana and I wait and wait but no Victor. Soon the outside of the stadium is bustling with people. There is a ticket office building to the right of the stadium and it is like any typical Russian venue where hundreds of people are entering and exiting through one door. We went inside and still no Victor. It was a beehive inside so we decided to go back outside and wait for Victor.

Finally Victor shows up. I asked him about the tickets and he says that he ahs got good tickets for us. He then says he must go get them and then goes inside the ticket office. He is also quite drunk already and my girl and I are wondering what we are getting in to. Im also wondering if he didnt buy the tickets in advance and if we are going to be sitting in a crappy part of the arena. Victor emerged a few minutes later and handed me three tickets. I looked and we are sitting in sector one. This is good I hope...

Offline freebird

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Re: Metallurg
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2007, 12:13:51 PM »
One thing I noticed while waiting on Victor was that many of the people had scarves and hats with Metallurg logos, etc. I couldn't wait to get inside to see if there was a shop that sold all of these things. I've been to Russia before and all my friends have the usual souveneirs, but Stuff from a real Russian hockey team would be kickass.


Offline freebird

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Re: Metallurg
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2007, 12:23:24 PM »
Some pics:

Offline Jinx

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Re: Metallurg
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2007, 11:43:16 AM »
 So what happened? How was the game?  Metallurg...what a name!  ::)

 I'm the same as you, not a huge hockey fan, especially after the strike, but I root for my hometown San Jose Sharks, they are doing well in the playoffs as I write this, but it's going to be difficult to beat the Red Wings.

 That would be cool to get some 'Metallurg' stuff, what is there logo, metal being smelted?  ???