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Avakael · 12-05-2020, 06:57 AM

1,995 words, ready to grade.

Baku is a weird place to have an ice hockey rink of even 5,000 seats, but it was considered a weird spot to have Formula One, too. I'm told after some fixable hiccups, the drivers love it there now. Personally, I can't say I had enough time to acclimatise to the weather. I work two jobs; one as a contract amateur scout for any SMJHL team interested in the services of any hockey minds prepared to bum it around eastern Russia for 6 months of the year, and one as a contract reporter for any hockey publication interested in paying me once off for any human interest stories I come across out here. I usually just send over weird local stuff, like the school in Usolye-Sibirskoye who had to cancel their hockey program for the year after a bear chewed through all their sticks. You'll also remember me from the story about the kids league in Norilsk where they used iron skates on brown tinged ice and the 11 year old goalie was chain smoking and making glove saves simultaneously. Perfectly fine if you don't remember that one. In fact, it's probably best we forget about that one. Kid was .895, tops, and brown ice is disgusting.

The point I'm making is that it's not often that these two jobs overlap. I either tell Newfoundland or Maine or whoever's hired my services this year about up and coming talents in central Russia, or I tell the Hamilton Herald about the open air rink in Omsk where the players share the ice with the local Judo club during practice. I do not usually find myself writing about the same thing to both groups of people. Baku is an exception, and it's an exception because both the scouting interests and the seemingly out of place competitive hockey facility boil down to one teenager. His name is Sanzhar Molochtovoi, and he's a fascinating kid.

I'll start with the rink. It's called the Baku Azerbaijani Unity Ice Arena. This rink is home to the Azerbaijan Caspians, and they play in the ИXHL, an 11 team budget professional league in the former SSRs with most teams east of the Ural mountains or south of Volvograd. It's pertinent to this story because both the team and rink owners are a group called Molotchovoi Athletics Holdings, and as you may have guessed, Sanzhar himself is directly related to this business- owned by his father, and specifically set up to allow his 3rd oldest son to develop as a professional athlete in a credible setting without needing to move away from the rest of the family. A few of you will recognise the name Molotchovoi; historically Russian nobility, they escaped the motherland when the Tsar fell, and now have business interests all over the Middle East. Indeed, the family still uses titles from several centuries ago when they really were sovereigns, more than 400 years ago. Sanzhar himself is in fact technically Prince Sanzhar of the Molonvoi. I am reliably informed that you will not have heard of them.

So right about now, you're thinking that I'm talking about some kid who's been bought a spot on a professional team, and that I'm writing this article to indulge the whims of a family who can afford to pay me for this article. You could not be more wrong. Sanzhar was on the opening night roster of the Caspians the first time they hit the ice. He was 14- two years younger than anyone else in the league. By the end of that season, he had produced 41 goals and 27 assists in 44 games, was considered the best player on his team, and was without a shadow of a doubt, the fastest skater in the ИXHL. By the time there was anyone in the league younger than him, Sanzhar wasn't just the reigning ИXHL MVP, he was also the playoff MVP, and the Azerbaijan Caspians had won the ИXHL Championship. Now, at age 17, Sanzhar Molotchovoi is 6 foot 4, and having seen him in action in person against the Almaty Nationals, the first impression that you ought to have is that Sanzhar has the potential to be a very special player- especially if he proves able to back up that speed with good shooting, good passing or even good bodychecking.

I was lucky enough to get to spend 20 minutes with Sanzhar Molotchovoi, and this is what we discussed.

~

So, I've never interviewed a Prince before. Is there anything I need to be aware of beforehand?

Not really. Hockey is not a place for deference to nobility, and we are a thousand miles from what was once our people. I shall grant you this favour, hahah.

Thank you. I've noticed that you have very good English?

It is not that uncommon. It is actually my first language; English is the language of America, and therefore, English is the language of business. So I was always expected to learn English, because if I was not a hockey player, I would be a businessman, and it would not do to not understand the room.

How did you get into hockey?

For as long as I can remember, I always loved to ice skate. My father always travels with the whole family if his affairs will take more than a few days, so I have been here, there, everywhere. I was born in Baku, but until maybe five years ago, I was elsewhere more often than not. There was a small rink in, I think Kuwait City, and I loved it, and I took to it immediately, and wherever we went, father would always take me to a rink, and I got quite good. At one of these rinks, there was advertising for the Simulation Hockey League, and I saw some highlights, and I saw all these adults skating around faster than anyone I had ever seen. I wanted to skate like that. I do not have my first hockey stick- nobody does, of course, but I do have one of the exact make. This led to some basic hockey training, and games, and I had aptitude for this. Eventually when I was eleven, my father was convinced to send me to a special skills camp, and this was in Sochi, and it went for three weeks. At the end of the camp, they told my father I was one of the best they had ever seen for my age, and he said well that is all well and good, but I must get on the plane, and they said you do not understand. They have seen dozens of children my age who eventually made it to the SMJHL, and even the SHL, and I am better than many of those, and he should seriously consider giving me the chance to turn professional.

Father thought about this for a few weeks, and I desperately wanted to be a hockey player, of course, I was eleven. Then father eventually reasoned that I could become a businessman later, but if I wanted to do hockey, the only time I could do hockey was now, but I could assist in the family estates much later and start as an older and wiser man. So he said he would help me become a professional hockey player, and that is when he first put money aside to build an arena in Baku, and a team, and here we are. He still travels, and I have travel too, and we are separate often, but I always know he loves me, because I am living my dream.

Who was your favourite SHL team growing up?

I cheered for whoever was winning. Probably not the answer anyone wanted to hear, but it is the truth.

What about favourite player?

The first highlight I saw that really excited me was of Ace Redding, in the year that Manhattan won their cup. It turned out he had already retired by the time I saw it, of course- that championship is older than I am. But I saw highlights from other players too. Mikhail Lokitonov comes to mind. So does Terrance Nova, and Dani Forsberg, and many others. I liked goalies, too, and defensemen, but I always knew I wanted to be up the front, and attacking, and scoring. I think I could score a lot of goals in America.

Do you have any preferences on where you want to go, SMJHL or SHL?

I have no preferences. Perhaps bigger cities than smaller ones, but there are no SHL teams in small towns. For the SMJHL, whichever team will allow me to develop the best, of course.

Where do you think you'll go in the SHL or SMJHL drafts?

A high pick, of course. It is unbecoming to brag, but I know how good I am. I am very comfortable with backing myself in this way.

You were born in Azerbaijan, which means you're eligible to play on any IIHF team you like. Will you nominate for an IIHF nation, and if so, which one?

I feel no attachment to any particular nation. I was born in Azerbaijan, but I am not ethnic Azerbaijani, and there is no Azerbaijani IIHF team anyway. If a national team wanted me to play for them, I would have to ask what attachment I have to that nation- and if I don't have one, and I won't, I will need to ask what is in the arrangement for me. I may be playing hockey instead of following my family, but I still know enough about business to not simply join an IIHF team for the sake of joining one.

Other than yourself and the Caspians, who do you think is the best player and best team in the ИXHL?

I have a lot of respect for Flor Borisov, who plays for Sochi. His puck control and accuracy are unbelievable, and it is always difficult to beat this side. But the best side right now would be Novosibirsk, and I do not need to exclude my own team to say that. They will be truly tough to beat this finals.

Those of you who have seen you usually talk about how unbelievably quick you are on the ice. What part of your game do you think is underrated?

I think being the fastest player on the ice is unhelpful if I do not know where the puck is going to be. I always know, and I must always know. Otherwise, I would be going very quickly in the wrong direction.

Do you think you will be the fastest player in the SHL or SMJHL?

Maybe. Most great talents of my age are very fast, and there are some players at that level who are also already very fast. Plus, it may not matter anyway; defensemen in the SHL have adapted to facing faster opposition, and I will need more than just speed to score. But by itself, the fastest player? Very possible.

I'm at the end of all the important questions for this interview, but if you don't mind, I'd like to cover some general interest points. Favourite movie?

Margin Call. But watch The Big Short first, so you can understand it.

Sushi or Mexican?

I've never tried Mexican, therefore, Sushi.

If you had a million dollars, what would you do?

I already have several million dollars, and I still don't know. Ha!

What song would be your goal song?

Better, by Jack Garratt.

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

...Preposterous.

Finally, if you could go on a holiday right now, where would you go?

I would go to northern Italy. Milan, Venice, the Alps, of course. I would never run out of towns and places to wander through there, and they appreciate good food and good cars.

Well, it's been fascinating learning about you, Sanzhar. I look forward to seeing you over in the SMJHL very soon!

Thank you.