Dear Valeri Bragin and the rest of the Russian Hockey Team,
I have several suggestions for you on how to improve your team.
First and foremost, please respect other teams. When you beat the Canadians (at some point in history – oh, wait, right, that was in ’72), they stayed on the ice for your national anthem and respected you. However, last year, when they beat you, Ilya Kovalchuk started rounding up all of the Russian players and you got off the ice and headed to the locker room. Three players, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Viktor Tikhonov, stayed on the ice and waited for ‘O Canada’ to end. I commend these players for their respect and show of class, and I’m sure Canadian coach, Todd McLellan, and the Canadian players appreciate it. That is my first request to Team Russia.
Next, don’t play dirty. We all saw Anatoli Golyshev’s blindside hit last January that knocked Swiss defenceman, Phil Baltisberger, out of the game. And this is not the first time; Russians in the NHL are known for playing dirty. Dmitry Kulikov is one of the NHL’s dirtiest players. Remember his hit on Tyler Seguin? You, yes, you, meaning KHL coaches and Russian coaches, need to teach your players how to play fair and clean.
Last, but not least, when picking an Olympic team, do not just select your most talented players and lump them all together. Yeah, we all know you have Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikita Kucherov, and many other talented guys, but did you ever wonder why Canada is so successful in the Olympics? Well, it’s no secret. The Canadians do not pick up their most talented players and lump them all together; first they make sure their team has chemistry, and the players play well with each other. If you follow the same plan, you will have a much better team, especially considering you have a lot of talent.
Valeri Bragin and Team Russia, if you follow my advice, trust me, you will have a much more successful team, and you may possibly – finally – be able to beat Canada and win the gold medal. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Fatima Younis
