Last Day in Kazakhstan. Maybe I Saw China. Borat Is Mentioned.

After a string of coincidental meetings, weather induced cancellations and some pretty slick work with a friend's FOP pass, I ended up going up three cable cars to the very highest point of Chimbulak in the company of Russian Ice Hockey Legend Alexander Maltsev. (Actually 'Aleksandr').

He had coached the Kazakhstan Women's Ice Hockey team to Gold the day before. He had not smiled throughout the competition but was in a very good mood today.

Maltsev was Alex Ovechkin's favorite player growing up and an absolute legend for the Soviet Hockey Powerhouse of the seventies and eighties. It was a thrill to chat with him. After all this was the man who scored a record 213 international goals for Russia. Seriously.

His assistant coach (sitting alongside) said I had slightly mispronounced 'Tukhtiyeva' in my commentary. Thanks for that mate.

At the top of the mountain, you were meant to be able to see into China, but I don't think you really could. It was still a pretty long way away, and Kyrgyzstan was in the way.

It was awesome up here.

Me & China (a long way behind me) 

Then I went to watch the Giant Slalom. They were giving away free hot chocolate which was a bonus. I'm not sure that Giant Slalom is a great spectator sport. Also, the range of competition meant that some athletes took 50 seconds to come down the course and some took 4 minutes. There were snipers in the mountains and all over the place there were mean looking stoney faced security guards who looked like this:

Stoney faced security guard, almost certainly armed. 

A Ski Marshall Tests The Giant Slalom Course

  

Then I got the bus down the hill back to Almaty. Walked for miles around Almaty to get a last-day look at the place I'd spent the last week and a bit in. Someone said to me the other day that all the best food in Almaty was Turkish food. So didn't resist when Kalbaeva and some local students insisted on buying me a little kebab wrap, although really I should have been allowed to pay for it myself. Ridiculous kindness. One of them told me about the history of Kazakhstan in extraordinary detail and pretty good English. Then I chatted with the guy in the Juventus cap about football. A lot of football chat goes on here. For some reason, I ended up playing a game of Russian snooker which turned out to be impossible and much less fun than it sounds, and then said some goodbyes, handed back my mobile phone and took another bus to the IBS to pick up my cheque. Now, let me tell you about getting a bus in Almaty.... There were modern ones like the ones the media used, then there were the public ones. An Almaty bus. It had curtains on the windows, like the sort of curtains you would get at a home, and normal wooden chairs for the drivers and ticket collectors, not secured to the bus in any way, but like house chairs, and the lights had sort of tassels like a lamp shade on them.

Lights in the bus

I don't think Almaty gets a lot of English or American visitors so often you are asked random questions about life, especially by young Kakakis. All the young people I met, volunteers, translators, students were bright and delightful and were fascinated to know what we like in England, especially football, music and films. I was asked if I liked Twilight and The Notebook. I explained that they were really popular in England but that I hadn't seen them myself. I was asked about Muse and Shane Ward. Then one young girl asked me if I had "seen a film called Borat?" Oh boy, I had gone the whole week without anyone from Kazakhstan asking about it and without mentioning it, but now it seemed that none of this group of students had seen Borat and were keen to find out what it was about. I left out most of the offensive details, in fact ALL the offensive details, and assured them that people in England didn't really think that cars in Kazakhstan were pulled along by donkeys. They said that it story was accurate in one respect in that people in Kazakhstan used to be obsessed with Pamela Anderson.   

So, that is just about it. For the record. A week in Kazakhstan commentating on Ice Hockey. Working for IGBS with whole bunch of really great Canadians and the UK commentating legend Simon Reed. Broadcasting in a nice but sometimes strange country. Nothing like in Borat. Hours can go by and you could be anywhere in Europe, but then something odd happens, or you try and get a coffee and realise you are a long way from home. I missed home a lot, but this was an interesting and fulfilling trip, I met some fantastic inspiring people, and there were some really good hockey games thrown in.

Me with Neil Chiplen my summariser

http://www.astana-almaty2011.kz/

For CC, MC and MC

AWG Women's Ice Hockey. How Did It End?

This was an excellent competition. South Korea finished with 4 losses scoring just one goal and in last place. North Korea finished fourth, with just one win, over SK. But the medalists were still duking it out on the final day of the round-robin format.
This is because of an amazingly topsey turvey game between Japan and China which Japan somehow won in OT (reported below) and Kazakhstan beating Japan in a penalty shoot out after a 2-2 draw after OT. So the Big Three had all been involved in tied games so far....and Japan, as expected beat North Korea in the morning game to put themselves top with just Kaz v China to play.

Look, if I'm losing you, this is what all this meant going into that final game....

If Kazakhstan beat China they would win Gold.
If China beat Kazakhstan, they would win Gold, but only if they won in regulation time.
If It was a 0-0, 1-1 or 2-2 draw...Japan could still win Gold...if China won in OT.
If it was a 3-3 draw or more, the winner of OT or Penalty Shots won Gold.....

So I went up the spiral stairs in the corner of the rink, edging past fans because there are no walkways in the Baluan Sholak, and got ready for the final game of the AWG.

Full House - Thursday Afternoon in Almaty



The Crosse - Chiplen - Love Line

It was a terrific game. Fitting for what had effectively become the Gold Medal game, but with the twist that Japan were watching from the stands still able to win it all.

Kazakhstan d-man Yelena Shtelmaister shot in the first goal in the 12th minute and a brilliantly finished breakaway by the speedy Zarina Tukhtiyeva, her second such goal in the competition, made it 2-0 after two periods. China were impressive though and every time the Zhang-Sun-Jin line were out they looked threatening. But the killer third goal came in the third period as Shtelmaister, powering in from the left wing, scored from close in. This we thought should settle it, but China came back so strongly you just felt there might still be a game on. China pulled their netminder on the powerplay and went 6 on 4, getting a goal back through extra forward Rui Ma and had chances to make it 3-2 before an empty netter from Lyubov Ibragimova in the last minute finally secured the win for Kazakhstan. China were my tip for Gold, their first line would beat anyone, but Kazakhstan had greater depth, a real finisher in Tukhtiyeva and great netminding from Darya Obydennova. And the 4-1 home win put everyone in a good mood.

And the result meant Kazakhstan won Gold, Japan Silver, China Bronze

Kaz celebrate

More

Kaz get their Gold Medals

Silver for Japan. Fast and skilled with the best passing game, and a Canadian Asst Coach - Andrew Allen - who is a great guy, always good for a chat and a useful source of research

Scored the only goal of the Penalty Shoot Out win over Japan which became decisive, plus two vital breakaway goals, possibly Player of the Games - Tukhtiyeva. A nightmare name for a commentator though.



Gold Winners



Tomoe Yamane with her Silver

The Kazaki netminder. A real bad-ass. Neck tattoo and all.



China. Should Do Better. Bronze




 And totally unofficial and my opinion only: The All Star Teams.

First All Star Team:
N/M: Obydennova - KAZ
D: Qi - CHINA
D: Shtelmaister - KAZ
F: Sun - CHINA
F: Tukhtiyeva - KAZ
F: Jin - CHINA

Second All Star Team:
N/M: Takahashi - JPN
D: Fujimoto - JPN
D: Aoki - JPN
F: Yoneyama - JPN

F: Yakovchuk - KAZ
F: Hirano - JPN

This Guy

So I am getting irritated by this guy. First he comes over and tells us off for walking on the plastic wire coverings on the floor in the press room, but they are the same colour as the floor so it's going to happen. Next day he tells me I can't go into coffee room because it's for media only. I tell him I am media and go and make a coffee (which btw was THE WORST coffee ever, a ready-made sugar, powdered milk and coffee sachet to add to hot water)...then the very next day he stands right by me when I am doing my game notes and and eats an orange!

But then I lose my glasses and he finds them and keeps them in a safe place until the next day and then carries them around with him until he sees me.

I LOVE THIS GUY

Farewell South Korea - World Ranked 27th Best Women's Ice Hockey Team

Lost 10-0 to Japan, 11-0 to Kazakhstan, 10-0 to China.

Then lost to North Korea 6-1 but when Kyousun Lee scored to make it 1-1 it was really great.



NK/SK warm up in demilitarised zone



Preconceived idea that they hate each other disappear when teams leave ice together

But SK players stay to talk to media in mixed zone

The Goalscorer

In some ways, the player of the games.

Bandy. Yes, Live International Bandy!

I would like to suggest that there is not another Englishman with as much knowledge of Asian Women's Ice Hockey as me. After a visit to Medeu up in the mountains outside Almaty, I'd now like to put myself in at least the top 5 of UK based Englishmen who have some knowledge of Bandy. I would still be a long way behind Charlie Brougham who had to commentate on the sport along with former GB and Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey player Shannon Hope, but at least I can tell you that it's a football pitch sized ice pad, maybe a shade smaller, with field hockey sized goals and two teams on skates with slightly curved sticks playing with a ball rather than puck. I can tell you that Mongolia are much better than Kyrgyzstan, and that Kazakhstan are better than Mongolia. I am also now in a minority of people who know how to spell Kyrgyzstan, as are you...

The Medeu Arena is the most beautiful sports venue I have ever seen. In the mountains, beautiful air, if it had snowed a bit more it would have been even greater. There is a speed skating track around the side where many records have been set. there are mountains around three sides and fantastic views from all around.

View from the cable car

Kyrgyzstan fans go wild, inspite of team trailing 10-0 to Mongolia at half time

Mongolian National Bandy Squad Member

After the game (17-0 final score, I think) I went with some of the Canadian Crew even further up the mountains. This was amazing. Had a pretty good pizza, even though the horse meat sausage grill smelled and looked a bit more tasty. Further up is Chimbulak Ski Resort which is where the Giant Slalom took place, but not the day I was there....We chatted about 'Bucket Lists' which I found out was a list of things, in this case sporting events, you wanted to do before you died, maybe it comes from 'kicking the bucket', I don't know. This is because I mentioned I'd given up a trip to Dallas for The Superbowl for this trip, but that I didn't care because I'd done six Superbowls. The Superbowl was on the Bucket List of most of the guys, but all this made me realise that I have been to a lot of stuff and there are not too many things on my sporting Bucket List any more. A Stanley Cup Final would be nice, the French or US Open Tennis, going to a Cagliari Serie A match.... um, that's all I could think of. But then going up to the mountains and meeting nice people and watching Bandy and enjoying the view would have been on my bucket list if I had even knew you could do such a thing. 

Finish Line - Giant Slalom

Chimbulak

This was a really good day with some good chat with Jeff, the director, and the guys. To think, I was so tired through work and jet lag that I nearly slept in and missed all this. So glad I made the effort. Chatted with an interpreter from the Baluan Sholak called Aziza on the way down about Almaty and Aktau (which seems to be the rich bit of Kazakhstan, by the Caspian Sea, but she told me it was a three day train ride away!) then back into town and the hotel to do my game notes and grab a nap.  Back to the Hockey tomorrow. But I think I could get into Bandy.

Day 5 or so, watching China.

China Centreman Fengling Jin; A proper player

My Commentary Booth

Warren from Edmonton. Spotter. 

Hannu Saintula. Coach. China

North Korea

Better than South Korea. Worse than Japan.

Merry Christmas Kazakhstan!

Yes, it's February so what's with the Christmas Trees?

The Astana International Hotel in Almaty is ok, a bit in need of an update, but ok. But there are Christmas decorations everywhere.
Never got around to asking why.
The hotel is on about four floors. Three floors of rooms, the ground floor which is a bar which is also at reception, then a basement floor which consists of a massage room, gym, a place to buy rugs (!) and a sports bar called, as far as I could tell, Eurospor. This place is seriously strange but the beer is about 150 tenge cheaper than upstairs at 330 (about 2 dollars US), the vodka even cheaper and the tea free. Nice staff and football on TV. They had three screens hooked up to just about every type of sat box you could imagine, cables coming out of everywhere, English, Italian, Spanish and Turkish matches all the time and a screen showing results from all over. But usually I was the only non gambling, non Turk in the place. Not a shred of glamour to the place but it was interesting. Smokey. Bar staff wore Chelsea shirts, home and away. 
Upstairs they served food in the bar. Can I suggest the club sandwich. Avoid the lasagne. My buddy Neil tried it, sent it back, but no amount of microwaving could make it hot.
In fact stay safe with the club sandwiches. With chips of course. Everything here with chips. A barmaid called Kamshat said rather disloyally "Not good cook here.....Russian".

Hotel a very good choice if you are going to a football match at the National Stadium, or the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace which is two minutes away....

Chinese Women's Ice Hockey Nicknames

The coach of China is Finnish. Hannu Saintula, and his assistant is Atte Karna.

I watched China play North Korea in the company of Atte and can reveal for the first time ever the nicknames of the Chinese players. You see, the Fins can't say the original names so have given them all what they call "English" names!

Danni Han - Eve
Shuang Zhang - Nikki
Ben Zhang - Ben, of course
Fengling Jin - Jeannie
Rui Sun - Sunny
Baiwai Yu - Barry
Yoe Lou - Alan
Liang Tang - Terry
Na Jiang - Gena
Cui Huo - Baby
Mengying Zhang - Lucky
Nan Wang - Nancy
Shanshan Cui - Tony

This had to be recorded.

Other well worn facts about China I used in the commentary:
1. They have the best player here, Rui Sun, and the best first line.
2. Coach Saintula admits the second and third lines needs work
3. There are only 160 players in China
4. But 30 players aged between 12-16 are in a full time pro academy
5. 3 good players quit after the Olympics in 2010 where they came 7th
6. Sun, Yu, Shi and Qi have all played in Canada
7. I think they could win Gold

More Kazakhstan Weirdness

Wild Blow Outs

Ok, this is the situation. The Ice Hockey here in Kaz.

Men's Tourney....just imagine how small a team, how poor a team, Thailand could put together in Ice Hockey. Ok, have you got that image in your head? Thai National Ice Hockey. Well they just beat Bahrain 29-0.

Bahrain must be really shit.

They also lost to the United Arab Emirates 25-0. In fact most games in the second division of the Men's Second Division are blow outs. Kyrgyzstan will win it. Thailand second.

But in Almaty I am calling Women's Ice Hockey this week and it is great. South Korea are the only really weak side but they have an amazing goalie and they try soooo hard. Shin, the goalie, faced 101 shots against Kazakhstan and allowed 11 goals. 90 saves in one game! SK lost 10-0 to Japan and China, 11-0 to Kaz. I spoke through a translator to their captain Boyoung Choi, who is a ref back home and a big able d-man on the national team. She said she was happy with the results as they were better than losing 27-0 to Japan like they did three years ago. She was looking forward to the final game against North Korea because she thought they had a chance to win. I have seen North Korea play and I'll tell you something; they have no chance of winning that game.

Even if Shin makes another 90 saves.

This is already more than anyone has ever written about South Korean Women's Ice Hockey in English, so I'll stop now. Just a mention for Chearyung Ko and Kyousun Lee who are nice little players. And some photos of Sojung Shin; Great Netminder. A Star.

Sojung Shin

Place of Work

The Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, named after local weightlifter, is where the hockey takes place in Almaty. As usual it is a misty morning. This place has been sort of done up at the last minute but is a pretty nice arena inside. 5,000 seats and nice marble steps but no walkways at all so everyone has to sort of squeeze in like a cinema. Even us as there is no way up to the commentary box without having to shuffle past spectators.

Next to the shopping centre and two minutes walk from Astana Hotel. 

This was my office for seven days, and the home of thrilling hockey, bad coffee and new friends.