The final chapter of former NHL defenseman Ryan Whitney's career was penned in Sochi, Russia, and after a piece he wrote about his KHL journey hit the Internet on Monday, we're glad it did.
Whitney opened up about his KHL sojourn in The Players' Tribune in a piece entitled "Tales from Abroad: Russia" (warning: it contains some colorful language).
His NHL career over at 30, Whitney figured he'd make some money and have an adventure overseas by playing in Europe. He had no idea what he was getting into.
The guy drives me to my apartment. There's no more exciting and nerve-wracking feeling than landing in a new city and being driven to your new home. So after a while, I start seeing all the Olympic rings everywhere. We drive into this big complex, and there are hundreds of these brand-new apartments. Perfectly paved streets. Rows of street lamps.
And there's not a single living soul that I can see. No cars. No nothing.
I'm like, "Wait a second, this is the actual Olympic village."
Which is awesome, except for the fact that the Olympics are over.
The guy stops the car outside one of the buildings. He points. "OK. Apartment."
I get out of the car and look around, and it was like the zombie apocalypse had hit a college town. I get into the apartment, and there's a single light and a bed.
Whitney says he took life in the NHL - "a fantasy world" - for granted, and explains that everyone, even superstars, has a love-hate relationship with the game.
One of his most treasured experiences from his time in the KHL was meeting the other imports on his Sochi team, and realizing they were all in it together - whatever it was.
We get out onto the ice, and it's a shitshow. For any NHL guys reading this right now, let me tell you something: You don't know how good you have it. A normal practice in Sochi was harder than any day I ever had in an NHL training camp.
In Russia, they skate. Then they skate some more. You're dying. You’re about to fall over. Your coach is screaming. You look at your Russian teammate and ask, "What did coach say?"
And he says, "This warmup."
The language barrier led to one of the funnier parts of Whitney's stay:
We had an assistant coach who was straight out of an '80s movie. This crazy, hardass Red Army-era guy. His last name was Kravitz. I couldn't pronounce his first name, so I would just call him "Lenny."
"Hey, what up Lenny?"
I figured he didn't get the reference.
So I walk into practice one day, and he starts calling me Obama.
"Skate! Skate, Obama! skate!"
I'd mess up a drill and he'd start screaming, "What dee fuck are you doing, Obama?"
Whitney played 42 games for Sochi, scoring six goals and adding 13 assists. In the end, his stay in Russia made him appreciate life back home.
"It was hell," Whitney writes. "I loved it."
