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TheHockeyist · 05-21-2019, 03:48 AM

It has become clear that Igor Volkov of the Minnesota Chiefs has failed to properly introduce himself, leading some people to speculate incredibly random and strange things about him. Igor would like to clear some of these misconceptions up.

Igor is a relatively big and strong guy, 193 centimeters tall and 97 kilograms (officially) - converted to Americameters, it's 6'4" and 214 pounds. He was born and educated in rural northwestern Russia, learning English in school. His native language is Russian, but he can comfortably converse in English, which has improved a lot since he moved to the United States.

He remembers his days of playing ice hockey. When the temperature was cold enough, he'd play outside. Otherwise, he'd move to an indoor rink. He still has contact with a few of his old teammates back in Russia, including Anatoly (Igor calls him Tolik), perhaps his best friend. He doesn't say too much about Tolik, though. He remembers an incident where Tolik shouted (translated) "Igoryan! You are such a fool! You tripped me and now you made us lose the game!". He still feels very bad about this to this day, although will still gladly take others out on the ice.

It seems that tripping is one of his favorite tactics to use against an opponent, especially in informal games. Igor has been known to interfere with other players quite often to prevent them from scoring. Once, he admitted to untying another player's skates when he was training for the SMJHL. He doesn't know how he did it, but he still grins whenever he retells the story to his teammates.

Igor thinks of himself as a more aggressive type of guy, although you might not see this when he's on the ice. He tries to keep himself under control in the SMJHL and SHL (due to his coach threatening him - "if there's one more incident of this..."). Most incidents that have occurred so far were probably due to temporary uncontrolled anger. He's trying to calm down more.

Igor was a heavy drinker (usually to the point of almost blacking out), but has tried to lighten up more to keep his body in shape for hockey and not cut his career short.

As for his spare time, Igor loves hiking (though not much for camping). He'd gladly take you through the Russian forests of his homeland. He's also an avid astronomer and can name most of the constellations, including several minor ones that are often overlooked. He owns way too many astronomy textbooks and references (perhaps one of the first things you will see if you enter his home). His favorite planet in the solar system is Neptune for whatever reason.

Igor is a bit embarrassed to admit that although he enjoys untying player's skates, he doesn't know how to tie his own skates at all. When hiking or playing hockey or just going somewhere in his regular sneakers, he often ends up leaving his laces tucked in or untied. He has to ask if someone can tie his laces for him every time, and he is too terrified of them untying. It's an irrational fear for him, that he will never get through one day without having his laces untie again. Often in hockey games, Igor occasionally glances down at his laces, wondering if they will remain tied at the end of third period. He might be a bit too paranoid about this.

Igor is proud to move forward with Minnesota for next season, and likes playing on both the Russian national team and with the North American league. In the future, he hopes to move forward with joining Edmonton, unless he prefers Minnesota more. That is still undecided at this point.

Igor hopes you will enjoy his presence in the league for this upcoming season.