Artemi Panarin

[conundrumed]

I read a recent article in The Athletic regarding Artemi Panarin.

I'd link it, but it's a subscription rag so there's no point unless everyone is a subscriber.

With his improving English (still uses a translator with the press), he talks about his childhood.

His parents split up so he was raised by his grandparents.

They got him going when he was 5. They had no money, so took whatever they could from the tossed stuff at the arena.

He wore his shoes inside his skates because that's what they had. No laces.

The gloves they found had no palms, so they stitched the leather from an old pair of boots on. Everything else they retrofitted or made, even his team jersey was handmade by his grandma.

He was ridiculed for his gear and poverty. A childhood friend describes it as "very sad".

 

He got a tryout at a boarding school in Moscow when he was 13. They provided the equipment, and he says it was the first time feeling the stick on his hands and the puck on his stick.

Says he was 16, already better than all that tormented him as a child, and that wasn't good enough for him to just be better than them.

Quite a story.

I've got no horses in this race, so I think I'll just cheer for Panarin!

In the age of, "only spoiled rich kids play hockey", he has the opposite story.

[travel_dude]

Neat story.

I was excited when the Flames were in on him, but alas lost out to CHI.

CHI missed the boat on re-signing him, and instead traded him for a player with term.

No wonder they are watching TV like the rest of us.  

[Flyerfan52]

Great story. Thanks conundrumed.

[Cowtownguy]

12 hours ago, conundrumed said:

I read a recent article in The Athletic regarding Artemi Panarin.

I'd link it, but it's a subscription rag so there's no point unless everyone is a subscriber.

With his improving English (still uses a translator with the press), he talks about his childhood.

His parents split up so he was raised by his grandparents.

They got him going when he was 5. They had no money, so took whatever they could from the tossed stuff at the arena.

He wore his shoes inside his skates because that's what they had. No laces.

The gloves they found had no palms, so they stitched the leather from an old pair of boots on. Everything else they retrofitted or made, even his team jersey was handmade by his grandma.

He was ridiculed for his gear and poverty. A childhood friend describes it as "very sad".

 

He got a tryout at a boarding school in Moscow when he was 13. They provided the equipment, and he says it was the first time feeling the stick on his hands and the puck on his stick.

Says he was 16, already better than all that tormented him as a child, and that wasn't good enough for him to just be better than them.

Quite a story.

I've got no horses in this race, so I think I'll just cheer for Panarin!

In the age of, "only spoiled rich kids play hockey", he has the opposite story.

Great story, especially these days. Major protests take place at Starbucks when they refuse to allow anyone to use their bathrooms. Imagine that, being forced to buy something in order to use the can. Glad they struck a good blow to "the man" on that one. 

 

I recall when the World Junior Championship was held in Winnipeg in the late 1990s. Apparently, Canadian fans felt badly for the Belarusians because their equipment was in such poor shape. The folks in Winnipeg held a major equipment drive and got the entire team new gear. I always thought that was a classy move.

[robrob74]

My bro found this video of 8 year olds doing skills drills in Russia:

 

 

[DirtyDeeds]

On 4/16/2018 at 7:41 AM, conundrumed said:

I read a recent article in The Athletic regarding Artemi Panarin.

I'd link it, but it's a subscription rag so there's no point unless everyone is a subscriber.

With his improving English (still uses a translator with the press), he talks about his childhood.

His parents split up so he was raised by his grandparents.

They got him going when he was 5. They had no money, so took whatever they could from the tossed stuff at the arena.

He wore his shoes inside his skates because that's what they had. No laces.

The gloves they found had no palms, so they stitched the leather from an old pair of boots on. Everything else they retrofitted or made, even his team jersey was handmade by his grandma.

He was ridiculed for his gear and poverty. A childhood friend describes it as "very sad".

 

He got a tryout at a boarding school in Moscow when he was 13. They provided the equipment, and he says it was the first time feeling the stick on his hands and the puck on his stick.

Says he was 16, already better than all that tormented him as a child, and that wasn't good enough for him to just be better than them.

Quite a story.

I've got no horses in this race, so I think I'll just cheer for Panarin!

In the age of, "only spoiled rich kids play hockey", he has the opposite story.

you could take a screen shot of a couple important parts or use gyazo sections  to quote.

[conundrumed]

2 hours ago, DirtyDeeds said:

you could take a screen shot of a couple important parts or use gyazo sections  to quote.

You definitely overrate my abilities.

[DirtyDeeds]

2 hours ago, conundrumed said:

You definitely overrate my abilities.

others had you ranked highly though...