For five years, Evgeny Kuznetsov made a name for himself in Russia, dominating the KHL with his hometown team Traktor Chelyabinsk. Three NHL seasons later, Kuznetsov is fifth in scoring (66) and leads the Capitals in points. He even made his first NHL All-Star Game in 2015-16.
To honor Kuznetsov’s success, Bauer Russia painted a mural of Kuzy at their office in Riga Ice Land, an ice skating rink in Moscow. I know this because the hockey equipment manufacturer posted a photo of a tiny mite posing in front of it on Instagram.
The painting is inspired by Bruce Bennet’s signature photo of Kuznetsov celebrating his game seven, series-ending goal against the New York Islanders, which closed the coliseum.
According to Igor Kleyner, the captions say in Russian:
- Make every step an important one.
- One hit to change everything.
- Celebrate like you train.
- Your game. Your path.
Igor even fancily plotted it on the image here.
So to summarize: there’s a mural of Kuznetsov in an ice skating rink in Alex Ovechkin’s hometown. And it’s on the wall of one of Ovi’s chief sponsors.
The people must really love the Kuzy.
