really interested in the KHL and other European leagues but this book/diary was extremely dry, Pretty good look at coaching Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the Russian Super League RSL, which preceded the current Kontinental Hockey League KHL, King started out basically spouting the crap most Westerners seem to about Eastern European hockey players lazy, enigmatic, etc, but that mellowed/improved as the book progressed, fortunately.
of the reason I read this book was for the glimpses of baby!Evgeni Malkin during thehockey season, including a bit about Malkin "defecting" to the NHL at the beginning of theseason.
Very nice insight on Russian Hockey, A little dry in some parts, Dave King pulls a LOT of punches in this notsotellall about his time coaching the Russian Super League, Still, its a good look into a world of hockey most people don't know about, Dave King highlights the cultural and developmental differences between the hockey played in Russia compared to his native Canada, Not only on the ice, but off the ice, King describes the difference in living circumstances in a former communist country adjusting to life with democracy, The journal entry format makes this book a perfect bathroom reader, It can get a little dry/repetitive, but the journey
is greatly summarized in the epilogue, and overall King offers a very lucid, wise account of a unique hockey experience.
Being the hockey fanatic I am, I would personally give this book five just because of its constant firstperson take on the new experiences of unventured land of the coaching world.
The difference is that not everyone is in love with hockey so I can say I would give this book a strongon a five star scale, But, dont get me wrong, you don't HAVE to love hockey in order to enjoy this book, but I find it difficult to believe that there are hockey players like me out there who wouldn't like this book.
King of Russia is a bout a professional hockey coach, Dave King, who coachedyears in the NHL and multiple years before at division one college hockey schools, and various years as a professional scout in the NHL.
As the NHL lockout begins in, Coach Dave looks elsewhere to work while the NHL figures out how they will resolve their issues, After declining a job from Sweden, he is offered a job as the head coach for the Russian KHL team, METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK, This was taken as a shock, because if he were to take the job, he would be the first CanadianAmeifcan coach to ever coach in Russia, Due to some language barriers, and different gameplay styles than he is used to, Dave experiences one of the best seasons as a professional hockey coach ever, and has experienced something that he may have never gotten he chance to if he didn't take the job: he became close to a whole new culture of people and style of hockey.
Throughout the book, there are sense of intensity, humor, and admiration for all in the book, Whether it be running practices without players not being able to understand the coach, or a missed bus on the day of the championship game, this book will have you the reader laughing or crying.
I highly recommend this book for I enjoyed reading it and think others would too, I love fish out of water sports tales, This book is a fantastic insight into the postSoviet, preKHL era of Russian hockey, It is a little eery reading about the plane travel that Dave King describes, I read this book years ago, and after the Lokomotiv plane crash, Dave King without coming right out and saying predicts a tragedy like this,
It was interesting to see the interference from management with him, It must very tough when you are a coach, who has a stellar resume like Dave King does, to not speak the language and to try and navigate the labyrinth of management and trainers trying to undermine your strategy.
I am actually surprised, he didn't tell the team I can't work like this and quit, Of course, knowing what I do about Dave King through many articles and interviews I have seen with him, he isn't that sort of person, He signed the contract and unless they fire him, he will see it through, I'm an Evgeni Malkin fan, and reading about his last year in Magnitorgorsk before he came to Pittsburgh was very interesting, I knew nothing whatsoever about Russia and this was an eye opening read to say the least, Bitter cold, food shortages, the list goes on, Not just for hockey fans, Quick readmore of a travelogue than a wellwritten book, but there were a few cool nuggets and facets of Russia that I remember from my time there, Definitely more interesting if you like hockey, This book needed a stronger and more thorough edit and probably a better cowriter, The journal format didn't work there was so much repetition and so many bland anecdotes, There were some interesting tidbits here and there, and the last section, with King's overall thoughts and conclusions, was the strongest part of the book, Also be prepared for hockeyCanada parochialism and the aforementioned blandness, A revealing look inside the Russian Super League by its first Canadian coach,
Until now no Canadian had penetrated the coaching ranks of Russian hockey, but the year after the NHL lockout, Dave King became head coach of the Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
From the beginning, King, Canadas longtime national coach and former coach of both the Flames and Blue Jackets, realized he was in for an adventure, His first meeting with team officials in a Vienna hotel lobby included six fasttalking Russians and the “bagman” assistant general manager Oleg Kuprianov, who always carried a little black bag full of U.
S. one hundred dollar bills.
The mission seemed simple enough: keep the old Soviet style combination play on offence, but improve the teams defensive play and win a Russian Super League Championship.
Yet, as Kings diary of his time in Russia reveals, coaching an elite Russian team is anything but simple, King of Russia details the world of Russian hockey from the inside, intimately acquainting us with the lives of key players, owners, managers, and fans, while granting us a unique perspective on life in an industrial town in the new Russia.
And introducing us to Evgeni Malkin, Magnitogorsks star and the NHLs newest phenomenon, .