Russian NHL team..

[Shell]

This strikes me as very weird on several levels.

Head of Russia's sports authority urges businessmen to buy NHL team
posted August 7 @ 10:35, EST

MOSCOW (AP) - The chairman of Russia's top sporting authority has urged Russian millionaires to expand their sporting interests by buying a National Hockey League team.

Former hockey star Vyacheslav Fetisov, chairman of Russia's State Sports Committee and a two-time Stanley Cup winner, said Russian businessmen should follow millionaire Roman Abramovich's example and buy a professional sports team - not in the English soccer premiership as Abramovich has done, but in the NHL.

"It wouldn't hurt to have our own, wholly Russian team in the National Hockey League. It would stir up more interest," Fetisov told a news conference, according to the Interfax news agency.

Last month, Russian oil and aluminum tycoon Abramovich landed a bombshell in the English soccer world when he purchased a controlling stake in Chelsea Football Club.

Fetisov played in the NHL from 1989 to 1998 and twice lifted the Stanley Cup as a defenceman in the Detroit Red Wings.

[Jeff O Rocks]

Do they plan a hostile takeover??? :eek: :roll:

[Stormbringer]

This eerily reminds me of an episode of The A-Team or some sort of action series where a country like Russia or East Germany (Remember, it was the 80's...) was buying various sports teams to win sporting events, tournaments, Olympics, etc. and somehow take over the world through that... (insert Twilight Zone theme here) :eek2: :crazy:

[drwFischerFan2]

I think he may mean a team owned by Russians.

[Shell]

I think he may mean a team owned by Russians.

Just curious if you interpreted that from the article I posted or if you have seen something else? "wholly Russian" gave me the impression that it would be 100% Russian.

[drwFischerFan2]

I interpreted it from the article you posted. The reason I am thinking ownership and management instead of players is the fact they focused a little on that Russian millionaire purchasing an English soccer team. They also couldn't just buy an already existing team and turn over the roster just to include all Russians. I think the wholly Russian ownership just makes more sense to me, but I could be completly wrong.

[nccanes]

Dunno. Seems like an all Russian team might not sell well in Canada of all places....



Canucks deny Russian ownership report
Canadian Press
9/25/2003

VANCOUVER (CP) - The president of the Vancouver Canucks has denied reports that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is negotiating to buy the NHL team.

``We haven't had any contact with this individual,'' Stan McCammon told the Vancouver Province.

Despite the denial, reports on a possible NHL purchase by Abramovich were carried Thursday in the London Evening Standard, Toronto Sun and Vancouver Province.

Abramovich's net worth is estimated at $18.3 billion Cdn. He has rocked the soccer world in recent months by buying English Premier League soccer club Chelsea and spending more than 100 million pounds ($220 million Cdn) on star players.

Seattle businessman John McCaw has been attempting to sell the Canucks for three years, and McCammon insists he prefers to find local investors.

``John's thrust has always been that we would like to find local ownership because we think that works best for the franchise,'' he said. ``Our position hasn't changed recently.''

But money talks, and Abramovich is loaded.

He is selling his 50 per cent stake in Russia's biggest aluminum company to buy the Canucks, reports the Russian newspaper Vedomosti. Negotiations are being conducted with ``senior figures'' of the team, it says.

Russian-born NHL players spending the summer in their homeland heard rumours of a possible purchase by Abramovich of an NHL team that would be stocked entirely with Russian players. Most of the millionaire players know Abramovich. Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman Viacheslav Fetisov, who now holds a government sport ministry position, is a friend and would have an interest in becoming involved in management of any team Abramovich might buy.

``It wouldn't hurt to have our own, wholly Russian team in the National Hockey League,'' says Fetisov. ``It would stir up more interest.''

Abramovich, 36, said to be Russia's second-richest man, already owns two sports franchises _ Avangard Omsk of the Russian elite league, and Chelsea of England's premier soccer league.

He's spending big to make both clubs winners. He's recently signed Oleg Tverdovsky, a defenceman with the Stanley Cup-champion New Jersey Devils last spring, to play for Omsk.

He spent $313 million to purchase Chelsea last year and another $248 million signing international stars to turn that club into a powerhouse.

``He is a boy who wants to enjoy himself,'' Moscow-based political analyst Sergei Markov told the London Evening Standard. ``He's got all his money and now he has decided to buy a lot of toys.''

Abramovich, who has cashed in big on oil, avaiation and television properties besides aluminum, is said to have turned his sights to the Canucks after talks to buy the Dallas Stars failed.

Russian authorities are investigating his business empire for any evidence of tax evasion, which is seen as a chief reason why Abramovich is divesting himself of financial interests in his homeland and spending most of his time in Britain.

[AbNormal27]

How aboUt a Thai NHL team?

Hockey attracting homesick expatriots and curious in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - In tropical Thailand, ice and sticks are most commonly found together in a tall glass holding a colourful cocktail.

But despite Bangkok's scorching temperatures, ice hockey is attracting a dedicated following among homesick expats and curious locals. The country has an amateur league and even a Thai National Team.

Over the past week, Bangkok has hosted the 10th edition of the international Bangkok Ice Hockey Tournament, attracting more than 200 competitors, many of whom travelled halfway round the world to crash and bang on the ice rather work on their tan.

The tournament featured teams from Russia, Canada, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia, mixing it with Asian outfits from Japan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia for four days of high-calibre hockey reminiscent of that played in Europe and North America.

The regular Thai-World Hockey League has also proven a success after launching its inaugural season in September. The league comprises some 60 players -half of which are Thai.

The TWHL is made up mainly of has-beens and never-will-bes who simply can't get the game out of their system, even in the tropics. The competition's biggest name is one Sheldon Bailey, formerly of the International Hockey League's San Diego Gulls.

But regardless of background or skill, players hailing from California to Massachusetts, British Columbia to Newfoundland -along with a handful of Europeans -lace up the blades and hit the ice twice a week to get their hockey fix.

``It's a wild experience playing hockey in Thailand,'' says TWHL Commissioner Scott Whitcomb, originally from Appleton, Wisconsin. ``Expats are pumped that they can play the game they love despite being far away from home.''

The sport is making quite an impact on local players as well.

Vanchalerm Rattapong, star player on the Thai national team, resolved to become a hockey player after watching Canada's Mario Lemieux score his memorable series-clinching goal against the Soviet Union in the 1987 Canada Cup.

With a laser-beam shot and blazing speed, Vanchalerm is known as the ``Jaromir Jagr of Thailand.'' And for him, hockey is more than just a game.

``It is a very important part of my life,'' he says. ``I work so I can afford to play hockey.''

While Bangkok is becoming known as Southeast Asia's ``hockey town,'' the sport's development here hasn't been without hiccups.

The game was almost shut down before it got off the ground when Bangkok's main rink closed in 2000. Many players balked at the next best venue, which resembled a swimming pool more than a skating surface.

Notorious for their violent outbursts, the east-meets-west hockey rivalry between Thai and expatriate teams in the early days also threatened to bench the game permanently. A spiteful stick-swinging incident left a foreigner's head bloodied, and a bench-clearing brawl ended with a Thai player's arm fractured.

``It was like a war out there,'' recalls Toronto native Scott Murray, player-coach of the Flying Farangs team. Farang is the general Thai term for westerners. ``The Thais wanted to beat us. And of course, we always wanted to win.''

Murray worked to keep the game alive and tirelessly recruited players from hockey-playing nations to inject the necessary lifeblood.

But the biggest boost arrived in November 2003 when Bangkok's Central World Plaza overcame its fear of flying pucks and dropped its long-standing policy of banning the game from its rink. Thai hockey now had a pristine, Olympic-sized ice surface. It was game on.

And despite taking several thrashings in international competition that would have disillusioned a less resilient culture, the Thai National Hockey Team keeps coming back for more.

In one of the worst defeats in hockey history, Thailand lost 92-0 to South Korea at a tournament in 1998.

Things hadn't improved much by the time Thailand made its first ever appearance at the Asian Winter Games in February 2003. It was hammered 39-0 by Japan and 24-2 by China.

But unfazed by the lopsided results, the Thais played the game of their lives against Mongolia. Thailand's 4-2 win was their most important in international play, and kept the team from a last place finish.

Hmm, 92-0, 39-0, 24-2? Maybe not.

Aaryn

[StormShaman]

They must not have a goalie. ;)

[Captain Slack]

They must not have a goalie. ;)

Wow! I can do better than that and I can't even skate!!! :crazy:

[ONeillsNo1Fan]

They must not have a goalie. ;)
No kidding.

So if 92-0 is one of the worst scores in hockey history...what is the worst? :eek:

[puck_it]

I think he may mean a team owned by Russians.

Just curious if you interpreted that from the article I posted or if you have seen something else? "wholly Russian" gave me the impression that it would be 100% Russian.

yeah thats what i thought, 100% russian players or 100% russian ownership... are they going to try to move them to russia? that would be a mess with travel and all

edit: i looked for most goals or largest loss and the onlything i can find is 58-0 new zeland and oh crap i forget the other team, but new zeland lost. that was in the guiness book of records. 92-0 hmmm any body for putting the canes against em for stat padding ;)

[talkingcanes]

I think he may mean a team owned by Russians.

Just curious if you interpreted that from the article I posted or if you have seen something else? "wholly Russian" gave me the impression that it would be 100% Russian.

yeah thats what i thought, 100% russian players or 100% russian ownership... are they going to try to move them to russia? that would be a mess with travel and all

edit: i looked for most goals or largest loss and the onlything i can find is 58-0 new zeland and oh crap i forget the other team, but new zeland lost. that was in the guiness book of records. 92-0 hmmm any body for putting the canes against em for stat padding ;)

from the article it sounds like it would be wholly owned by one Russian and the rumor is that it would be wholly a team of Russian players. I think that would be a near impossibility. the NHL wouldn't even consider a team based in outside Canada/US. That wouldn't make sense. And the man rumored to be the potential buyer is apparently having some tax problems in the homeland and is not too anxious to return.

[puck_it]

tax troubles... greeeeeeeeat.

[talkingcanes]

tax troubles... greeeeeeeeat.

I'm not going to fret about the tax troubles of some Russian billionaire who may or may not be thinking of buying a NHL team and who may or may not be thinking of stocking that team with only Russians. Buying a team that may not play for 18-24 months? A fool and his money are soon parted ;)