The modern NHL is almost impossible to imagine without Russian hockey players. Many of them play a fundamental role in the image of the league, attracting millions of fans around the world. It is not surprising that even in the era of complete isolation of Russian sports, clubs from the United States stand by the mountain for our players when they are threatened with unfair sanctions.
Even the Czech authorities failed to convince the Americans last year.
“We are with them”
NHL leaders are making a big bet on playing their league games abroad, and road games help further promote their brand. The 2022-23 season was no exception, with Nashville and San Jose having the honor of opening the season with the Global Series. Prague was chosen as the venue for the meeting of the two teams.
However, due to the Czech authorities, the match was suddenly in jeopardy. The local Foreign Ministry has laid out a brazen condition for the league: they will be able to play in the country’s capital only if they leave the Russians behind.
– We can confirm that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the leadership of the NHL, in which it warned that neither the Czech Republic nor any other state in the Schengen zone should grant visas to Russian players to enter our territory. This approach is based both on the sports ministers’ recommendation not to allow Russian athletes to participate in sports competitions in Europe, and on the conclusions of an informal meeting of foreign ministers at the end of August, Martin Smolek, vice-president of the department. he confirmed to Blesk.
The NHL’s reaction was immediate. The leaders of the organization traditionally defend the rights of their hockey players, regardless of their nationality. This time, the league stood up for our compatriots and gave the Czech Republic a harsh ultimatum: either the teams come in full force, or the game is canceled altogether.
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The American public supported this gesture, as did the representatives of the clubs. San Jose general manager Mike Greer was the first to speak. He came to the defense of Alexander Barabanov and Evgeny Svechnikov:
“Either we all go or no one goes. I firmly believe that we are a team. It’s not the players’ fault, they didn’t do anything wrong. So I don’t think they should be punished for it. We stand with them and we stand together as one,” Greer said in an interview with NBC.
The comrades of the Russians did not remain silent either. All the more valuable is that the Czech Tomas Gertl became one of the main defenders of his teammates, who, due to his position, could lose the opportunity to play at home:
We support the whole team and especially Barbie. I played a lot with him last year and he’s a great guy. This is a difficult situation. This is not the players’ mistake, and he should not be punished for this, Tomasz said.
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“There’s no reason not to let them in”
A few days later, the author of the ultimatum, Deputy League Commissioner Bill Daly, reported that there was no need to worry about the participation of Russian hockey players. The NHL managers managed to get away with it and the Czech authorities had to agree to the organization’s conditions. On September 29, Tomasz Pojara, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Security Affairs, addressed:
“This is a private event. Russian players have visas. From the point of view of the state, there is no reason not to let them in. Their presence does not threaten national security. I’m not even talking about the fact that, in addition to Schengen visas , they have long-term US visas and they also live in the US,” Seznapzravy quoted Poyara as saying.
Finally, a series of American clubs took place in Prague – the meetings were held on October 7 and 8 at the O2 arena. The confrontation ended Nashville’s dominance: they won the first game with a score of 4:1, and in the second they managed to develop an advantage and win 3:2. Our country was represented in the Czech Republic by Yakov Trenin, who still plays for the Tennessee team.
