Red Army Page #7

as much as I would have liked,

but I just let them do

what they wanted to do.

Scotty comes to the dressing room

and said,

"Guys, I don't know who teach you

to play this way,

"but I wanna ask you one thing.

"Don't change anything."

...on game one

of the Stanley Cup Finals...

I start looking for Igor right away.

And I said, "Igor, we'll go together."

It's true American dream, you know?

Afterwards, I went to Gary Bettman.

I said, "Gary, I need the cup in Moscow."

He said, "You crazy? We'll never

let the cup go to Moscow.

"It's mafia. It's a bad country."

I said, "Listen, I want the cup

to be in Moscow."

He said, "Slava, it's impossible."

I said, "What do you mean impossible?"

It's great to be home.

For me, the Red Army Club

is home, of course.

I started here when I was 8 years old,

and I left when I was 31.

It's very strange.

When you're born in the Soviet Union,

and you left one country

and come back to another.

It does not feel comfortable, you know?

When I get back to Moscow,

it's totally different.

Different mentality.

Different culture.

Different... Everything's different.

That capitalism has taken root here

is no longer in doubt,

and some people are making

a great deal of money.

But some of the problems

may be getting worse.

In Moscow and Leningrad,

many are turning their hand

at making a fast buck.

Operating outside the legal boundaries

is often more effective

than operating within them.

Russians don't like

the corruption in this country.

They feel that they're

not protected by the courts.

They feel that the police,

just regular police,

can pretty much do

what they want with you.

Country's got no heroes. Got no system.

No structure. Nothing.

Everybody runs around

trying to get something.

It's not the way I want to live.

Everything is about the material

side of things:
money, finance.

Our country's crisis

is now reflected in hockey.

With the first selection,

the Atlanta Thrashers

are pleased to select,

from the Russian Division I,

Spartak Moscow...

Ilya Kovalchuk.

Nail Yakupov.

Alexander Ovechkin.

Teams have very little money to

keep players from leaving.

Yo, it's Alexander Ovechkin.

I am going to red carpet.

We kinda forget about the patriotism.

We are ashamed of what we were before.

We are gonna test

Alexander Ovechkin's shooting accuracy

by filling up these Russian dolls

with Russian dressing,

and he's gonna drill them

with these hockey pucks.

We lost something.

We lost our pride.

We lost...

Our soul.

But would you rather

it be the Soviet Union again?

You know, like, would you have rather

that not happened,

even though you kind of left?

Gabe...

It's not a proper question.

I'm a politician now.

I get my feeling

twenty years ago, right?

I was sad.

I played for the country for many years.

I was proud to play and

be captain of the national team.

When Putin invited me it was 2002.

It's 11 years it's no Soviet Union.

President Putin said,

"Slava, it's enough.

"Get back home."

Vladimir Putin gave me the position

of Minister of Sport.

Sport should be a way of life.

I'm a little guy in a big system,

but I try to do my best.

The people who are running this country,

born in the Soviet Union,

went to Soviet schools,

were members of the Komsomol.

They were created, shaped,

by the Soviet system.

That's who they are.

Much of the problems are still anchored

in that past.

And they're not gonna go away...

Like this.

It's a huge amount of work.

It's twenty hours working day.

Every day.

Y'know, we got lots of problems.

I need to build infrastructure.

I need to find the money.

I need to think about my people now.

The kids, the veterans...

Try to build something good

out of what's happened.

We built a junior league.

We built 300 new skating arenas.

We brought the Olympic Games to Sochi.

We are happy to be back in our country.

I think our country and people need us.

We went through a lot,

and I'm happy today we are

again like brothers.

Very close friends.

We're friends.

It's very important to get the people

you went through a lot with next to you.

It's better than finding somebody else.

We're still friends.

And when we played, we were even closer.

I dream about how we

used to play together.

First, a round of applause

for this great Soviet coach.

The word "great" hardly begins

to describe this great coach!

Unfortunately, Viktor says

he's unable to talk today.

The most important thing for me

is to stress to the kids how it's

important to be teammates.

How important to do stuff collectively.

To be proud of what team you play on.

I played 23 professional years.

One thousand eight hundred plus games.

I never had fun more than

playing with those five guys, together.

When you die,

this is gonna be your legacy.

I know and I appreciate it.

You're a good guy.

I'm lucky to have you.

I think we're both lucky

to have each other.

That's even better.

California boy, and a good guy.

Chicago.

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