Defensemen of a Feather Won’t Flock Together

Ruslan Salei and Oleg Tverdovsky, both Mighty Duck defensemen, will step on the same airplane this morning, headed for the same destination for the same reason: the Olympics.

But what they carry with them is vastly different.

Tverdovsky lugs with him the expectations of Mother Russia, which is considered one of the favorites to win the gold medal.

Salei totes along the excitement of those in Belarus, once a pinprick in the Soviet Union.

Belarus, Latvia and Ukraine, once only contributors to the world’s most renowned hockey team, have found their own success since the Soviet Union’s breakup.

Belarus has qualified for the Olympic final round, as it did four years ago. On Friday, Salei and his teammates will face Russia in a rematch of a 1998 quarterfinal game won by Russia.

“Obviously they have the better team on paper,” Salei said. “But this is all about a team, all about one day. Any team can beat any team in that one day.”

What is the Russian translation for “Do you believe in miracles?”

“This is a huge thing for my country,” Salei said. “Growing up, you never thought about playing for Belarus. Why think about Belarus? Growing up, the thought never crossed your mind that the Soviet Union would separate. You wanted to play for the Soviet Union.”

When the Soviet Union broke up, Russia remained a player in international hockey, as it could draw from a deep pool of NHL players. Salei is the only NHL player on the Belarus roster.

But teams from the other republics are beginning to emerge. Latvia finished 2-1 in its qualifying pool, missing out on the final round only because of a 4-1 loss to Germany on Tuesday. Ukraine won two of three preliminary games, losing only to Belarus, 1-0.

“It’s great for those countries, Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, to compete in the Olympics with Russia,” Tverdovsky said. “To me, they are all Russians. But before they wouldn’t have a chance because Russia was the main country in Soviet Union hockey.”

Belarus, a country of 10 million that is slightly smaller than Kansas, is squeezed between Poland and Russia. In the big picture that was Soviet hockey, Belarus was a nonentity. The country had only two indoor hockey rinks when the Soviet Union toppled in 1991. Its claim to hockey fame was that Wayne Gretzky’s grandfather emigrated from a small Belarus town.

But the interest in hockey grew when Alexander Lukashenko became president in 1994. His passion for hockey is such that he and his two sons often practice with national team members during the summer.

“You’re not allowed to hit him,” Salei said. “They have guys with guns there. But his sons can.”

Lukashenko has pumped money into the national team, which has remained almost entirely intact since the 1998 Olympics.

“I don’t think he will be at the Olympics, but he’s watching us closely,” Salei said. “People in our country are cheering for us, support us all the way. I talked to my family members, and they are excited we made it.

“It’s great for us to be in the Olympics, especially with it in the United States. So many people will be watching us, it is really good for our country.”

Belarus and Russia have had memorable moments when they’ve met on the ice. Russia won, 4-1, in Nagano. But two years later at the world championships in St. Petersburg, Belarus stunned the Russians, 1-0.

And so they face each other again, with Belarus already having three games behind it, while some of the Russian players will be on the ice together for the first time.

“You still feel like the same nationality,” Salei said. “There isn’t a big difference really, Belarus and Russia.”

Except they will be in different color jerseys.