Ducks’ Tverdovsky Is Black and Blue in Canada

The Mighty Ducks’ Oleg Tverdovsky was born in Ukraine and used to play hockey in Moscow, but the NHL lockout has taken him to a piece of the earth he never expected to see--the Canadian town of Brandon, Manitoba.

“It’s a little bit different than Moscow,” Tverdovsky said. “Here, it’s colder.”

Tverdovsky, the second pick overall at the NHL draft in June, spoke little English when he arrived in Anaheim for training camp in September, and a groin injury made his preseason miserable. He missed all eight of the Ducks’ exhibition games.

But the lockout has had its advantages--if only it would end. His injury has healed, his English is so polished he can conduct interviews by telephone--some Russian NHL veterans can’t do that--and for the last two weeks he has been playing Canadian junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

“It’s a lot of travel by bus, 10 hours, seven hours,” said Tverdovsky, 18, a defenseman who has two assists after five games in the Western Hockey League, where he competes mostly against teen-agers who are working to get drafted.

Don’t think he has gone unnoticed. The other players know they have a hotshot draft pick, who signed a three-year, $4.2-million contract, in their midst. They might even realize that none of them are likely to get that kind of money now that NHL players have agreed in principle to a rookie salary cap.

“He’s all black and blue. They’re running at him pretty good because of who he is,” said David McNab, the Ducks’ player personnel director.

“It’s good hockey,” said Tverdovsky, who is still working to get back in playing shape. “A lot of hits.”

Though he hasn’t fought yet, it might not be long before Ukrainian fists fly.

“I think so because I’m sick and tired of it, everybody hitting me,” Tverdovsky said.

Should the lockout end, Tverdovsky would leave Brandon for Anaheim almost immediately--he is guaranteed a spot on the Ducks’ team. In the meantime, he will take a leave to join the Russian junior national team at the World Junior Championships in Red Deer in the Canadian province of Alberta, beginning Dec. 26. Nikolai Tsulygin, a Duck prospect who is playing for Central Red Army, was supposed to join him, but a shoulder injury is likely to keep him from coming.

“(Tverdovsky) has made these last few months a benefit and I give him credit for that,” McNab said. “He hasn’t just taken his money (a $500,000 installment on his signing bonus this summer) and had a holiday, lived it up and had a big party. He made sure he learned English and got in shape.

“The first year a player like this comes over, that transition to the North American lifestyle is a tremendous hurdle. And the biggest hurdle he’s overcome so far is the language barrier, which we never thought he’d be able to do so quickly.

“He’s with guys his own age and he’s getting a chance to learn a lot of the ways of life. It’s better to be with 18- or 19-year-olds than NHL players who have families. He’s learning to play cards in the back of the bus.”

Tverdovsky doesn’t understand all the issues that have kept the NHL pucks from being dropped, but he does know--for better and worse--it would never happen where he grew up.

“I don’t understand it, but it would never happen in Russia, because we don’t have any players association there,” he said. “Here, I hope the season is going to start, because it is difficult with no season this year.”