Russian Red Army skates into Dundee
WEST DUNDEE -- The Russian Red Army was in the Dundees last week and some area hockey players put up a good fight -- on the ice, that is.
The West Dundee-based Leafs Hockey Club played host to several games this week as part of the Triple-A Bauer International Invitational tournament, Leafs assistant coach Ken Shemanske explained. About 7,000 hockey players ages 9 through 16 from 300 teams descended upon the Chicago area this week. Those players came from around the U.S., Canada and Russia, playing at rinks from West Dundee to Oak Park.
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
On Wednesday, two of those Russian students spent their day at Dundee Middle School, sitting in on classes with Jack MacDonald.
"They speak good English, so it really isn't that hard," said Jack MacDonald, 13, during his study hall Wednesday morning. His guests were 13-year-old hockey players Alexey Morozov and Ivan Silaev, whose attempts to communicate with a reporter included a lot of pointing to words in the English-Russian dictionary.
After lunch, they sat in on John Blomquist's language arts class. The boys saw students diagram sentences on a digital Smart Board and write a few sentences, too.
Actual communication was happening during the boys' weeklong stay at their Dundee home, said Jack's dad, Doug MacDonald. They picked the boys up at the airport and took them out for some Chicago-style pizza before heading home. There, he said, the boys ended up finding the ultimate in international teenage communication devices -- the Xbox.
On Wednesday night, the boys were at the Leafs Ice Centre to watch and participate in pre-tournament exhibition games. Ivan Nickolishiv, also 13, played interpreter. Nickolishiv's English was better than some because he lived in the U.S. until he was 7 years old while his father played in the National Hockey League.
"I liked the experience with the school," Morozov said through the interpreter. "It was interesting to be in an American school."
There was some laughing between the boys when he admitted the part he enjoyed most -- the girls.
"They were very kind to us," Morozov said of all the students. "We appreciated it."
However, there are many differences between school in Russia and in the U.S., he said. "American students do whatever they want. In Russia, you go here, you sit there, like that," Morozov said.
His plans for the future, Morozov said, include playing professional hockey. "I would like to learn how to play better hockey. The U.S. and Canada have the best hockey," he added.
The games, said Doug MacDonald, are a sight to see. It was also amazing to see Russian students hanging out with their American counterparts. While spending a semester in London during the mid-1980s, Doug MacDonald snuck into the U.S.S.R. and spent some time in Moscow. He met Russians at the museums, who then invited him and his friends into their homes.
"How things have changed in 20 years," he said, reflecting on the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago today.
"We talked about that, the Berlin Wall," Doug MacDonald said. In the mid-1970s, he said, the Russian Red Army hockey team had a totally different connotation than it does now. "The name is the same, and they are a phenomenal team," he added.
