Your New KHL Head Coach Nutty

((HT: KHL their own selves))

The HQ remembers Andrei Nazarov in his playing days as an enforcer, and he seems to have taken that approach to his time behind the bench for Barys Astana in the KHL.

A "too many men" penalty has resulted in one of these outsbursts


To be honest, the arm swing reminds us more of this... at the 4:11 mark

Oshie's Winner From A Different Perspective

((HT: OBS/IOC/Timothy Burke's vine))

Here's the Russian call of the Oshie game-winner...
And it's awesome...
Especially, the fade-out by the play-by-play guy...

Something Of A Hockey Preview

((HT: Sportsnet))

There is an amazing amount of pressure put on the home team to win a gold medal...

And the Russians will have an interesting chemistry issue to deal with. The KHL players on the squad all practiced together before the NHL players even arrived in Sochi, so there is almost two factions at play here...

The Kovalchuk/KHL faction and the Ovechkin/NHL faction and how they will interact will be an interesting subplot to the whole thing...

There are four teams (maybe five, if you include the Czechs) that will be fighting for the medal stand- USA, Canada, the Russians, and the Swedes...

The HQ believes in defense first when putting these squads together, so goaltending will keep teams in the medal race long before any other aspect of togetherness...

Thus, we look at Lundqvist and Miller over Fleury...

Hockey Central discusses...

Sportsnet Follows Lokomotiv's Resurrection

((HT: Sportsnet))

The HQ had a personal attachment to the plane crash that wiped out the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team on September 7, 2011.

Atlanta Thrashers assistant coach Brad McCrimmon was doing the same as the head coach with Lokomotiv at the time of the crash and we remember him for his hard-nosed play on the ice and teachings off it.

The KHL let them reassemble for the 2012 season with a bunch of young kids and Tom Rowe as head coach. One year later, Pyotr Vorobyov is now in charge of young kids who are a year older...

If you follow the NHL, you'll recognize the name of goalie Curtis Sanford and that's about it...
But, they haven't turtled and they're three points clear of the 8th playoff spot in the Western Division...

Here's a look at their road back...

As a side note, relatives of six players are seeking 105 million rubles ($3 million) in a lawsuit filed late last week.

The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for moral damages, insurance payments, burial expenses, property damage and survivors' benefits from Yak Service, the charter company operating the flight, and insurance firms.

The HQ hopes they get it, too...

Meteorite Damages KHL Arena

And the comments about karma can start here...

The meteor that passed 17,000 miles from the planet caused a lot of damage in Russia- over a thousand injured and a lot of buildings got taken out of commission...

There's a lot of cool dashcam video out there like this one from the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural mountains...


But what it did was knock out part of the Traktor arena...

Here's the statement from the league:

The meteor shower which struck Chelyabinsk and its environs has also caused some disruption to the hockey season schedule. The emergency services have confirmed that the walls of the Arena Traktor were among those structures to suffer damage, and therefore large-scale events at the stadium have been postponed. The sporting facilities will undergo an inspection by experts to assess the readiness of the arena to return to full operational use.

The results of the assessment will be made public on Monday, after which it will become clear whether the Chelyabinsk club can stage the first games of the play-offs. The knockout stages of the Gagarin Cup get underway on Wednesday, and as Traktor is already assured of a top four place in the Eastern conference, the team is due to start the play-offs with home games on the 21st and 22nd of February.

At this time, the meteor shower has not affected Traktor’s schedule, as the Chelyabinsk men finish their regular season campaign with a trip on the road to Magnitogorsk on Sunday. However, three events -today’s and tomorrow’s Youth Hockey League games between Belye Medvedi of Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk’s Stalnye Lisy and Saturday’s planned opening of the Traktor’s museum - have had to be postponed.

Goalie Michael Garnett is on Traktor's roster and he thought it was something serious:

"I thought for sure there was an explosion, and then I thought it might have been a natural gas leak or it could have been a bomb or a missile or a plane crash," he told CBC Radio.

Traktor is third in the Western Division and are in the thick of the playoffs race, and the team CEO is confident about the arena.

"The damage to the wall is not substantial, and there will not be any severe consequences to the integrity of the building," Vladimir Krechin said in a statement.

"The arena personnel have been evacuated in order for the rescue crew and the Ministry for Emergencies to carry out a further analysis of the situation. I would also like to point out that nobody has been hurt due to this incident; everyone was at their workplaces when this happened and left Traktor Arena immediately as soon as emergency evacuation was in effect."

More Gangnam Style: Creepy Russian Hockey Mascot Style

((ht: puckdaddy))

Geez. I think I may have nightmares after attempting to watch this incredibly bizarre video. And yes, we know--Gangnam Style is quickly heading towards major over-exposure.

But the sight of an Evil/Creepy Snowman who looks like a character from a B-Grade Horror movie and a dancing bear are oddly entertaining and extraordinarily scary at the same time.

The mascots, according to our friend Puck Daddy are from The KHL (Russian Hockey) Sibir Novosibirsk. And no, we don't know what that means.

Watch at your own risk--while certainly safe for work, we'd certainly recommend screening it before allowing the kiddies to watch....or make sure you aren't prone to nightmares.