Everybody friends. Like, even this guy Brooks Orpik. He’s totally different from me. But he became my friend. He’s a little older, so we call him Batya. It’s like "father" in Russian.
He win Stanley Cup, so I know I gotta learn from this guy. But I try to teach him, too. After every practice, we do what we call "hockey school."
For 20 minutes, we stay out on ice and work on our skill with Batya. He see how me, Ovi and a couple guys always do it. So he said he want to do it, too. We do some passes and stick handle, do crazy moves, funny things. For a big guy, he can really do it. He’s got skill. He’s not like a wood man, you know?
Brooks says, "OK, now we do checking school."
I say no way, man.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, via the Players' Tribune. Orpik may have joined the dark side, but with his desire to play checking school, maybe he's a double agent?
