Photo credit: Sport-Express

When you’re super-famous, I guess you get asked to do some bizarre things. Alex Ovechkin has danced to shill for Eastern Motors, operated as hypeman for his boy Sasha Belyi, and modeled to promote a winter clothing-line for Nike. General rule: if Ovi is doing something other than hockey, minds are gonna get blown.

That’s why I was intrigued when news broke that Ovi and his compatriots sang to promote the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. How would his voice sound? Tenor or baritone? Could he possibly improve on the lyrical perfection of Champion? We didn’t know. We had only photos.

Until now.

YouTube User Alex12TV has published video of Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin, Ilya Nikulin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikolai Kulemin, and Alex Radulov singing “Shaybu, Shaybu” with Russian pop star Irina Allegrova. It is delightful. In particular, I’m a fan of Alex Radulov’s air-drumming, Ovechkin’s excited hand motions, and — in general — the screaming, off-pitch singing.

And thanks to RMNB’s Fedor Fedin, here are the translated lyrics of the chorus.

Shaybu, shaybu
The victory is ours
Shaybu, shaybu
Guys, we’re with you
And if we need it a lot, we’ll score again
Shaybu, shaybu
Russia is behind us

Fedor also wrote this wonderful post a few years ago explaining what shaybu, shaybu means.

Photo credit: ria.ru

Top-seeded Team Russia defeated Team Norway today with a score of 5-2 to advance to the semifinals of the World Championship being held in Stockholm. Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin joined their national team on the ice for the first time and had an immediate impact, with Ovechkin scoring the first goal of the night and Semin providing two assists.

Ovechkin broke a World Championships pointless streak stretching back through all five games of last year’s tournament, scoring nearly eight minutes into the game. His tally began with teammate Alex Semin going strong to the net with the puck, allowing the Russian superstar to collect a rebound behind Norwegian goalie Lars Haugen. Ovechkin then knocked the puck in when he attempted to center the puck.

Ovi, Semin, Kuznetsov, and the rest of Team Russia will play Finland in the semifinals, which will take place on Saturday.

Video of Ovechkin’s Goal

Photos

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Photo credit: championat.com

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Ovi celebrates his goal with Kuzya and the rest of Team Russia. (Photo credit: championat.com)

Ovi smiles with Team Captain Ilya Nikulin after the game. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Hunter Hockey from AS28? (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Ovechkin shakes hands with Norwegian goalie Lars Volden. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Ovechkin and Malkin stand during the national anthem after the game. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Russia’s Captain, Ilya Nikulin, holds the Karjala Cup; Kuznetsov gets mugged in front of the net.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Russian National Team’s youngest player at 19, once again proved his mettle and how lucky-a**ed (Kuzya called himself that during last year’s WJC) he can be in clutch situations. With ten seconds left and Russia stuck in a 1-1 tie with the Czech Republic, Kuznetsov — currently leading the KHL in game-winners this season — potted his only goal of the tournament. Not only did the tally give Russia the win in their final tournament game, it also clinched them the 2011 Karjala Cup.

Video of his goal can be seen below the jump.

The footage above also includes the ceremony where Russia is awarded the Karjala Cup.

Despite only registering one point in the four tournament games, Kuznetsov also scored during a shootout attempt in Russia’s first game against Finland.

After today’s victory against the Czech Republich, Kuzya was interviewed by Sport-Express’ Andrey Kuznetsov. Below I have your translation.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I have a most enthusiastic impression of the tournament. I was able to score at the end, we won the tournament, and I liked working with the coaching staff. If they’ll call me up to the next EuroHockeyTour stage in Moscow, I’ll come happily. But I don’t know if I’ll get the invitation. The National team starts preparation for the Channel One Cup at the same time as our junior team starts preparation for the World Championships.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Did [Head Coach Zinetula] Bilyaletdinov teach you a lot?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yes, but I don’t want to disclose all his secrets. I will only say that all the wise coaches, like Zinetula Khaydarovich [Bilyaletdinov], like Valery Konstantinovich Belousov, keep saying how important it is to play well on defense. And that’s what we saw in Helsinki. I think we won the Karjala Cup first of all because we allowed such few goals.

Andrey Kuznetsov: In Finland, you had to play on the fourth line. Was this a problem?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: No, because everybody had almost the same amount of ice time.

Andrey Kuznetsov: But with Tarasenko on your line that was created during the game against the Czechs, you clearly felt more comfortable.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: We’re not at the age when we can tell the coach what would be the best combinations on the ice [smiling]. That’s under the coaching staff’s jurisdiction.

Andrey Kuznetsov: What did the head coach say in the locker room after your third win of the Karjala Cup?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: He thanked us all and said that we made him very proud. He also asked us to work and train even harder and do notable things when we return home. We applauded him.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Which one of the Czechs surprised you most during the game?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Petr Nedved. He’s so-many-years-old and still was able to score the key goals. He not only scored against us, he also scored twice against Sweden.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Do you expect to play until 39 like him?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I’m going to be a hockey player even longer [smiling].

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Alex Semin smoking: THE DRAMA!!

Oh, the off-season.  While the Stanley Cup contenders whittle each other away, we Caps fans are left to look at the Russian media in confusion.  Today’s scrum over Alexander Semin smoking might set the standard for our hockey coverage  between now and September.  So, yay.

Using Fedor Fedin’s masterful translation skills and cultural insider status, we trace this thread to its beginning.  It all started when Ovie and Semin were in Russia before the World Championships.  They were dining at a restaurant when the intrepid and not-at-all-unscrupulous Russian press snapped some photos of Semin smoking a cigarette.  That’s when the insanity began.

CAVEAT: This isn’t exactly Dmitry Chesnokov-caliber journalism.  Let’s have a grain of salt and throw back this tequila shot of “news.”

LifeNews.ru:

It’s known that Ovechkin and Semin are party guys and love to hang out during leave in Russia. But it’s also known that Russian head coach Bykov is very strict about discipline.  But if the “sweet pair” from the NHL generates results in Germany, no one will blame them for the behavior violation.

Players came to the base in time– thanks to Ovechkin’s fast car. Despite the night’s adventures, Ovie and Sam [Ed. note - Somehow, "Sam" is Semin's nickname in Russia] looked vigorous and fit, showing they’re ready to revenge after Vancouver’s shaming in Canada.

But when the Russian twosome arrived in Cologne, the partying did not stop.

LifeSports.ru:

After the game against Kazakhstan, [the Russian] team went downtown to a restaurant in Cologne to celebrate Semin’s long-awaited goal. The players’ spirits were high, and some of them even allowed themselves a smoke.

Russian team left hotel in small groups to not attract attention.

[...]

Ovi didn’t smoke, but Sam took a  couple of puffs. Vitaly Atyshov and Ilya Nikulin had a smoke break as well.

And after today’s game, Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov responded to journalists asking about Marlboro-gate:

Sports.ru:

“Those are clones. Not our guys.  They’re clones. I don’t watch it all… I don’t watch videos, I don’t read the Web. I trust our guys. They know how to prepare to the game.”

Here’s video of his press-conference.  It’s totally in Russian:

Fedor tells us that this is a big deal in Russia.  It’s not a typical thing for an athlete to smoke, and that justifies pounds of ink and megapixels of pixels.

Sitting aloof in our comfy chairs, we find this hilaaaaaarious.  Mostly because we don’t care.  Smoking is terrible for your health (don’t do it, kids!), but Sasha Minor is in awesome shape.  Mischief in moderation isn’t going to ruin his health, especially since he’s skating only 10 minutes a game.  And when even the hard-ass Slava Bykov cracks a joke, we know everything’s cool.

But seriously, clones?