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.