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Khabibulin, Kubina and Ylonen seek gold in an NHL-flavored Olympic tournament.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 15, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY -- Call them friendly enemies.
Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina said he will have no problem crushing teammate Juha Ylonen against the boards if Kubina's Czech Republic team faces Finland in the Olympic tournament that starts today.
Kubina also has no problem engaging in a little cross-culture trash talk.
When Ylonen was asked for the English translation of "Suomi" written on the front of the Finnish jersey, Kubina interrupted: "Loser."
Kubina laughed. Ylonen rolled his eyes and explained it means Finland.
"It's just for fun," Kubina said of his outburst. "We're close friends."
He also is friends with Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who will play for Russia and is another target of Kubina's taunts.
"Nik is cool with the trash talk," Kubina said. "We say, "We're going to beat you guys.' But we're here together, not as a Czech or a Finn or a Russian. We totally forget about it once we say something."
Kind of.
Asked what he will do if he has Kubina lined up, Ylonen said, "I'm not a big hitter, but I'll do my best to help our team win."
Then the forward smiled.
"I'll let him know I'm there."
For Khabibulin, 29, the Games are a chance to gain two gold medals, including one denied him by his coach at the 1992 Games in Albertville, France.
For Kubina, 24, they are a chance to contribute to his country's rich hockey history that is still being shaped by past political events.
For Ylonen, 30, they are a chance to step to the forefront on a team without its emotional leader.
"This will be awesome," Khabibulin said. "It is always an honor to play for your country and put your country's jersey on. I don't know how many times you get to do that in a lifetime, but it never gets old."
Khabibulin and Russian coach Slava Fetisov, one of the first Soviets to play in the NHL, are more acquaintances than friends. But Fetisov still has Khabibulin's back.
Khabibulin said Fetisov is the reason he is expecting to receive a gold medal to replace the one stolen in Albertville by coach Victor Tikhonov.
"He didn't have to do it," Khabibulin said. "But it just shows me he cares about each and every individual, and if something was wrong, he wanted to change it."
Khabibulin was the third goalie for the Unified Team, comprised of players of the former Soviet states. He did not play and was not invited on the ice for the celebration after the gold-medal game.
So when Tikhonov took Khabibulin's medal for himself, the goalie did not mind even though coaches are not supposed to receive medals.
"I wasn't really upset at the time," Khabibulin said. "I didn't think I deserved anything. But as I got older, people said that I should have had it, so I started to think about it."
He thought about it a lot. And after a "bad experience" at the 1996 World Cup that proved to Khabibulin that Russian Federation coaches "don't know how to treat people," he refused to participate in the 1998 Games in Nagano.
"It's a lot of little things," he said. "They say something, and they don't do it. You run after them just to make them do what they told you they were going to do."
Fetisov's most important job is to make sure his squad doesn't turn into a cauldron of infighting and melt down like the Russian team at the 2000 World Championships. Had Fetisov not been named Olympic coach, Khabibulin said he might not be playing.
"He is a very smart hockey person," Khabibulin said. "He has a tremendous amount of respect among the players and the fans, and I think the players will listen to what he has to say."
Khabibulin also will say thank you for his gold medal.
"I don't know if they made a new one or what's the deal," he said. "But it's something I can show to my grandchildren. It stays with you all your life."
When the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 and rolled tanks through the streets of Prague, they brought a change in government and lifestyle. For Isidor and Otylie Kubina, that meant relinquishing their small farm for the sake of what the now hard-line Communists considered the greater good.
Kubina, remembering the stories told by his grandparents, said the people fought back through hockey, which they played very well.
"That was the only way one little country could beat them," he said. "Everybody was watching those games and screaming for the Czechs to beat them. Everybody was pumped up for those games."
The intensity is only slightly less when the Czech Republic plays Russia.
"There's always going to be a little hate for Russia," Kubina said.
Kubina was 12 when the Czechoslovakian Communists lost power in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, so the matter is less personal. His tangible memories are of learning to speak Russian in school.
Still, he said of possibly facing Russia in his first Olympics, "It's going to be big even for me. I want to win those games. I know the people, how they feel. So I'm going to try to win those games for the people back home and make them happy."
Now the Czech Republic is the bully. The team has won the past three World Championships and gold in Nagano.
Its roster is full of NHL stars, including Dominik Hasek, Jaromir Jagr, Roman Cechmanek, Milan Hejduk, Petr Sykora, Patrik Elias and Jiri Dopita.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to be there with those guys," Kubina said. "It's in my heart. It's something special. The whole country is going to watch. I will do my best."
The Finns were expected to be medal contenders, but the loss of captain Saku Koivu, who is battling cancer, left the team without a No. 1 center and with the question of who will fill the void
Ylonen, in his second Olympics, said he is ready.
"I hope I'm one of those guys who can really step up and do some good things," he said. "We would have a stronger team, no question about that, with Koivu. But we're still going to try to win every game, and we have a chance to do that."
The tournament also might be a chance for Ylonen to rev up for the rest of Tampa Bay's season. The forward has played well and with energy on defense but, like most of the Lightning, has not contributed much offense.
If he is to help fill Koivu's role, that will have to change, and fast.
"Everything will happen quick," Ylonen said. "The final game is about one week after we start the tournament, so you can't wait. You have to be right on top of your game."
And maybe his game will take off.
"That might be something that if I have a good tournament, it may carry over," Ylonen said. "Maybe that will be the jump-start for my season."