Sergei Bobrovsky: “Philadelphia is a great city” (Photo © Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Russian rookie Sergei Bobrovsky is surprising many with his play in the NHL for Philadelphia Flyers. In this interview with the press club of his former team, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Bobrovsky talked about his new life in Philadelphia, about the sensations of the first game and about his mask.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation:

Sergei, how did you settle down in Philadelphia? Do you live alone there?
Bobrovsky: “I live alone for now, waiting for my girlfriend. There are some problems with the American embassy. It’s not easy to get a visa to the USA! My parents and my sister are going to visit me after the New Year.”

How are you doing with the English language?
Bobrovsky: “I wouldn’t say that I have big problems with it. I get what they say me, but it’s hard to talk myself. My team mates are good guys, there is a great atmosphere. In such an environment I don’t feel myself out of place because of the language. I arrived three weeks before the training camp’s start and they assigned an English teacher to me and I studied almost every day. Now that the games are started there is no free time and I cope with the language myself. I have to go nowhere, all the people around me talk in English!”

With whom do you talk more? Did you befriend someone already?
Bobrovsky: “I talk mostly with Nikolay Zherdev, he’s the only one I can actually discuss with. There is also Oskars Bartulis from Latvia, he talks Russian as well. With the other guys I can only exchange a couple of phrases, things like ‘Hi, how are you?’ ‘All good, thanks’.”

What is your ipression of the city?
Bobrovsky: “The team’s training center isn’t in Philadelphia, but in a nearby city called Voorhees. I live in a hotel not far. This is why I didn’t have the chance to visit all the important parts of the city. Philadephia is a great city. There are a lot of great buildings, I put one of them on my mask. Also the arena is great.”

Talking about your mask, how long did you think about what to draw there? And why did you choose that? Didn’t your team mates asked about the tower of Novokuznetsk’s fortress depicted on the mask itself?
Bobrovsky: “My father helped me! I thought a lot, I don’t even know for how long. And when they asked, I replied that the tower is the top attraction of my city!”

Did you think to get a spot with the Flyers already on the very first game of the season?
Bobrovsky: “I trained for the season with the team, getting ready to play. This is why when I got to know that I was going to play it wasn’t for me like a bolt from the blue. But for many fans it was unexpected.”

What did you feel playing against Pittsburgh and players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin?
Bobrovsky: “It was nothing new before the game. You can’t waste time on emotions. But after the game I was, of course, very happy! I’m glad that the team won and that I had a good game.”

If it’s not a secret, how many messages did you get on your phone and/or social networks after the game?
Bobrovsky: “A lot, I don’t even remember. It was very pleasant.”

Do you miss your home?
Bobrovsky: “I have no time to miss something. Here it’s a whole another life, and I’m deeply immersed into it!”

Flyers going after Sergei Bobrovsky (Photo © metallurg-nk.ru)

After the reported interest in Evgeny Bodrov, the Philadelphia Flyers seems to be going after young goalie Sergei Bobrovsky of Metallurg Novokuznetsk, as per Sport-Express.

Bobrovsky, 21, spent his entire career with Metallurg Novokuznetsk and is the team’s starter goalie for the past three seasons and he always had a saves percentage of more than .900. Playing for one of the weakest KHL teams he faced every night a good amount of shots and showed that he can deal well with pressure.

In his career Bobrovsky represented Russia at the 2008 WJC and at the 2007 Super Series against Canada. His contract will run out in April and the Flyers will have to work hard to secure him as surely most of the top KHL teams are going to offer him good deals. SKA St. Petersburg were among them.

Flyers interested in Evgeny Bodrov? (Photo © ak-bars.ru)

Evgeny Bodrov of the Ak Bars Kazan might be under the radar of the Philadelphia Flyers, as reported by Tatar-Inform. The Flyers signed Evgeny’s brother, Denis Bodrov, on the last January.

Bodrov started the season with Lada Togliatti, then was traded to the Ak Bars Kazan when the season was still young. He scored a total of 25 points this season, with eight goals and 17 assists. He won the bronze medal at 2008 WJC.

He is a center who plays hard and is good on the face-off dots. He has a very good technique and stickhandling, as well as good skating abilities. He plays with poise. Bodrov’s contract is set to expire in April 2011.

Flyers sign Denis Bodrov (Photo © khl.ru)

The Philadelphia Flyers signed Denis Bodrov to an AHL deal. The Russian defenseman was a second round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and was released by KHL‘s Atlant Mytischi in November due to bad performances.

“He hasn’t played in about a month,” GM Holmgren said to philly.com. “I don’t really know the process over there in Russia, but it worked out where he was free to do what he wanted. He’s been here the last few days.”

Bodrov, 23, started his pro career with Lada Togliatti. He was drafted by the Flyers after his good performances at 2006 WJC, where he won the silver medal with Team Russia. He was then traded to Atlant Mytischi after he was rumored to have a bad influence on the team’s youngest players. In the Moscow Region team he didn’t manage to play up to the expectation and he was finally released in November.

“He was a highly thought of defenseman in our system at one time,” Holmgren said to philly.com. “He was on our reserve list. He’s not in shape right now. He needs to get down there and play. We’ll see what happens.”

The move to North America might be a successful change of scenario for the young defenseman, who was very near to sign with the Flyers already on summer 2007, but then he decided to spend a further year with Lada.

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Denis Bodrov leaves Atlant

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Denis Bodrov leaves Atlant (Photo © atlant-mo.ru)

Through Atlant’s official site, the team’s General Manager Ravil Ishakov reported that the contract with Denis Bodrov is ceased with immediate effect. The parts mutually agreed to separate ways. Bodrov joined Atlant last season, after spending his whole career within Lada Togliatti. A couple of years ago he has been very near to a move overseas as the Philadelphia Flyers manifested much interest towards him, but he apparently refused offers from both the Flyers and Avangard Omsk to remain in his hometown club. Denis Bodrov was a second round draft pick on the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

In the 33 games he played with the Moscow Region team during 08-09 and 09-10 seasons, he scored two goals and five assists, with 30 PIMs. He also played four post-season clashes last year, with one assist in four games. So far no rumors have been spread about his career’s continuation.