Ekaterina's life was centred around vodka. Before a game. After a game. After a period. After practice. On the plane, on the bus, at the children's hospital. And of course, during the off-season.

She used to be injured more and more or had problems after the playoffs to get back in shape and stay healthy. The doctor recommended stopping alcohol completely. It's when she learned about myofibrillar protein synthesis, how vodka stops the process of regeneration after a prolonged exercise, and how it impacts skeletal muscle mass. She switched to beer, which was not that good, but has lower side effects. As muscle growth is one of the main outcomes of effective myofibrillar protein synthesis, an athlete can become injured more easily if consuming alcohol, and that is what happened during her first summers in Baltimore - or happened to many Habs players in a parallel universe. So you read it first here, last summer, Ekaterina did not get drunk each day and could train more effectively, not being injured all the time.

WC: 176