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February 17, 2005
End of NHL season
Well, I guess that's that, as far as the NHL is concerned. I have to admit, I'm one of those suckers who held out hope right until the very end, right until the actual words came out of Bettman's mouth. Hell, I thought he left enough of an opening that when it was time for Goodenow's press conference, they'd both be there with big smiles. And, you know what? There's actually still some tiny little part of me that's still holding out hope. Some reports said that as many as 400 NHL players were on the phones and going crazy last night. And if they manage to get in a vote and give up enough to appease Bettman/the owners, I still think... I still hope... there's a chance that he'll stand up in front of the same reporters on Friday and announce that the NHL will take to the ice this season. Once this is finally solved, he and Goodenow are as good as fired anyway; at least he'd have a moment in the sun.
Yeah, ok. I'm a big sucker and hope springs eternal.
In other news, Marty's saying all the right things... but he's saying them to the Czech press. He's talking about how Ottawa is his only team, and how he'd rather be playing for the Stanley Cup right now; he already has a World Championship medal, but no Cup. Too bad it's not in English so those who are biased against European players in general (and Marty in particular) can read it and believe it.
In other other news, I updated the pictures. I haven't made a page yet for the Sweden Games of the Euro Hockey Tour, but Marty only played in two of the three anyway, and (if I recall correctly) only registered 8 shots and goal and came away with a +1 rating. He got an assist in Sparta's last stomping of Plzen 5-0, and I think I will get to updating all that later today. Possibly.
Finally, as I mentioned last time I updated, we have a wonderful interview with Marty's parents, thanks to Hana. It's from April 28, 2004. Once again, thank you so much, Hana! It is appreciated a lot more than I can even begin to explain. :)
Source: http://hokej.idnes.cz/hokej_ms2004.asp?r=hokej_ms2004&c=A040428_110649_hokej_ms2004_mah&t=A040428_110649_hokej_ms2004_mah&r2=hokej_ms2004
The Havlats: Martin is a good boy.
He celebrated his 23rd birthday few days ago, but he has already won Junior and Senior World Championships, attended the prestigious Olympics and played for four seasons in Ottawa. Martin Havlat arrived at the end of last week in Prague to appear in his second World Championship, but he's still not able to play because of a virus.
His appearances overseas and in international events are always carefuly watched by his parents. "We call him often, we're in touch practically every day. Sometimes we know the news sooner from internet and TV," say Hana and Miloslav Havlat.
A while back they moved from Brno and they're now living in a brand new house in Ricky near Domasov, not far away from the highway to Prague. "We spent our whole lives in a prefab, so we're enjoying that Martin provided a better living for us. And he bought us a companion, too -- a barely two year old Labrador Retriever."
During the hockey season, they visit him regularly in the capitol of Canada, where he lives with his girlfriend Ivana. His mother sometimes took care of him in Ottawa the first year even though he had experience living alone since he was transfered to Trinec when he was 17. "I cleaned up his house, loundered all his clothes and flew back home," she reminisces. "Now it's different, Ivana is handy, she treats him well."
Good child, rebellious teenager and a self-confident young man -- the hockey forward Martin Havlat had passed through all of these. "As a child he was very spry, he had qualities and vices like every normal boy. And he has always hated all kinds of losses," says Miloslav. "But he has always been a nice guy, we've never had any serious problems with him," says his wife.
Miloslav is going to celebrate his 74th birthday later this year, Martin could be his grandson. "My first wife died when i was 48, I spent some time alone and then I got married once again. And my wife wanted another child... I asked her if she's gone crazy, I was done with that in my fifties," smiles Miloslav, who has a daughter and a son from his former marriage.
The birth of his third child was a shock for him at first. "When Martin was a baby, I was really terrified. He was screaming all the time and I had to sleep on a balcony. I thought, that can't even by my child! And he had red hair! But when he started talking, everything was wonderful."
With Martin, Miloslav was going through many things that men at his age are starting to forget about. "I felt younger, though I wouldn't like to talk about it like this. When I met my old friends from school, I found out they can no longer be joyful like me, I was still full of go," he admits.
The problems came with Martin's adolescence. "Until 14 years of age, he was an exemplary boy. But then he was like someone else. We thought, where did this guy come from? He acted like he has completely forgotten about his good breeding," says Martin's mother.
His father suffered the change much worse because of the age gap. "I didn't like when he defied me, but that was almost all the time. But I always tried to make him behave himself. When he came home from a hockey game, I always asked him first how he behaved, not how he played," says Miloslav, who was coaching his son. "I admit I was quite strict, at home as well as in hockey."
When the future star went to Extraliga's Trinec, another trouble appeared -- school. "He was doing well until then. But he had to quit in the last grade of Police high school and he still hasn't returned there," says Hana. [Clarification from Hana: You get general education until you're 15. Then you can choose - you can continue with general education for 4 years or you can go to a
specialized school (4 years as well), like Marty's police high school. When you're 18/19 and you have graduated from high school, you can go to university/college.]
Martin's parents hardly put good faces on the fact that he didn't finish his studies. "We were disappointed, but it had to be this way. However I think he has a good general knowledge, he proved it many times. The knowledge he gained in school enabled him to solve problems by himself. But I believe he'll finish school eventually," hopes Miloslav.
"And he'll graduate like Jagr, in his thirties," adds Hana, pretending anger.
They don't force Martin to finish school anymore. "Actually we don't force him to do anything at all. He realized that he doesn't need us to make decisions. He's surrounded by many people who give him good or bad advice. He finds out that people are sometimes not what they seem," points out Miloslav. Martin was taking his advice for a long time, however now he follows his own sense. "I'm still trying to get along with it. But one must agree that it's his own life now."
What did he dislike to do?
-He didn't have to help us with housework, but he wouldn't like to do it anyways. No one likes housework, you know.
What did he spend most money on?
-Hot dogs.
Which player was his childhood hero?
-Wayne Gretzky.
What food did he like?
-Pancakes. He also liked blueberry dumplings, various sauces and potato soup with mushrooms.
When did he came home most "damaged"?
-After the U16 cup in Canada. He broke his elbow.
Which present made him the happiest?
-When he was little, all sorts of remote-controled toy cars. And everything that had to do something with hockey. Now it's difficult with finding the right presents for him.
When did you want to forbid him playing hockey?
-We didn't punish him this way. But he wanted to quit hockey when he knew he's good enough to play on junior championships but he didn't get nominated because of his height.
Did you have to clean his room a lot?
-He was really clean until 14. But we had to force him to do it himself when he was older.
What was he afraid of?
-He always says he was afraid of his dad. (laughs) But as a child he was scared of Cert and Mikulas. [Hana: These two are a part of a Czech pre-Christmas tradition.]
What did you want him to be once he'll grow up?
-We wanted him to play hockey, from the very beginning. We found it natural. We didn't want him to be a teacher or a doctor or something like that.
What were you scolding him about the most?
-We always found a reason. (laughs) We tried to make him behave himself well.
Posted by jz at 03:18 PM | Comments (13)
February 07, 2005
Quick news
Once again, Hana has come through big for us! I'm going to have to send her some chocolate or something. But before I post that, I need to ask for a couple of quick points of clarification. In other news...
Marty is playing with Petr Nedved and Rostislav Olesz (2004 Panthers first round pick, 7th overall) for Sparta. It seems to be working out pretty well for all three of them.
Czech press is saying that no money changed hands to bring Marty to Sparta, but Russian press tells the story a little differently. They say they gave Marty a temporary transfer card until a sum agreed upon by them and Marty's European agent was in their hot little hands, at which point they'd send the permanent card.
You can see footage of Havlat assisting on one of Nedved's goals here. It's the one on the bottom right, but you should be able to tell that by still shot of the way he's skating...
Posted by jz at 10:59 PM | Comments (13)
February 01, 2005
Marty's Back
Just a brief update here, as I don't have a lot of time. The Australian Open stole my attention completely for the past two weeks, and now I'm playing catch-up with my life.
In Marty news-- he's back, and managed to get a deal done with Sparta Praha (the team he played for in 2003 during contract negotiations with Ottawa) on the last day for transfers in most of the IIHF leagues. I have no idea how they managed to get this done, but I assume that Sparta was able and willing to pay his ransom from Dynamo, and Znojmo wasn't going to stand in the way of him playing. Hana, our friendly Czech correspondent, is back from months of computer trouble, and I'm certain she will set me straight. :)
Havlat played today in the big crosstown rivalry game between Sparta and Slavia, making a couple of good plays, but evidently not ending up on the scoresheet (he was originally credited an assist on Nedved's first goal, but they seem to have taken it away). He still ended up a +1 on the evening, and you know, sometimes for him that's pretty good.
He's also been selected to play for the Czech Republic during the final leg of Euro Hockey Tour next week in Sweden.
There are a number of articles I will pester Hana about and a bunch of pictures of his (not particularly) triumphant return to the Czech Extraliga but, as I said, quick update here. I'll fix things up here shortly. No, really, I know I've said that before, but I do mean it this time.
Posted by jz at 05:17 PM | Comments (14)