On July 21st, 2004, the
St. Petes Times newspaper out of Tampa Bay made the
follow revelation:
Tampa Bay left wing
Dmitry Afanasenkov will be added to the
Russian World Cup team, replacing an unnamed
player, according to Lightning officials.
If true, Afanasenkov
would become the sixth member of the Stanley Cup
champions to participate in the upcoming World Cup.
Defenseman Pavel Kubina will play for the Czech
Republic, left winger Fredrik Modin will play for
Sweden, while Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and
Martin St. Louis will play for Canada.
A seventh Bolt,
goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was originally slated
to be Russia's starting goaltender, but pulled out
due to philosophical differences with the Russian
administration.
Speculation will be
running rampant about which player is dropping out
of the World Cup. Is he injured or is he, like
Khabibulin before him and several others rumoured to
be, boycotting due to political reasons?
While the rest of the
hockey world focuses on the possible defections from
Team Russia, it should be noted Dmitry Afanasenkov
is exactly what Team Russia needs.
How can that be? How
can a first year NHLer with just 6 goals in the
regular season and just 3 points in a lengthy
Stanley Cup run replace the highly talented likes of
Pavel Bure (injured) Alexander Mogilny (boycotting),
Sergei Zubov (boycotting), and potentially Sergei
Fedorov or Alexei Zhamnov (rumoured to be unhappy
and possible drop-outs).
Anyone who closely
watched the Tampa Bay Lightning's playoff run
couldn't have helped but be impressed by the 24 year
old left winger. The speedball previously best known
for his alphabet-soup name proved to be a very
versatile role player averaging more than 13 minutes
a game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It is such role
players that Russia needs more of if they are going
to salvage this tournament.
Afanasenkov's
adjustment to the NHL was made complete this past
season. A skill player with a goal scorer's
mentality, it was his lack of defensive play and
grit that kept him out of the NHL until this year.
But he proved that he has matured his game to the
point where he will make the little sacrifices for
team success.
Afanasenkov was
rewarded in the Finals against Calgary. When sniper
Ruslan Fedotenko (who is also conspicuously absent
from Russia's roster) was felled by an injury, it
was Afanasenkov who moved up to the top line with
Lecavalier and St. Louis.
Afanasenkov will
likely grow into more of an offensive role with the
Lightning and Team Russia over the coming years. But
it was maturing of his game that will give him a
chance to accomplish this.
Maturity is something
Team Russia needs in order to return to the glory
days of Russian hockey.
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