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I see bruins added himself to the email list, and some violent violet person....

More articles in the AHL On-The-Beat Archive

By Michael McHugh

Younger than all but two other players in the entire AHL, Roman Voloshenko ranks second in the league with 17 goals.

The U.S. is a whole new world for Aeros rookie sensation Roman Voloshenko.

Less than five months ago, he came to the U.S. from Moscow, Russia, with hopes of playing in the NHL. For, now, he is spending his time in Houston, Texas, pursuing his dreams and new horizons.

Voloshenko, a native of Brest, Belarus, arrived in the U.S. with his eyes wide open. "Moscow is very different," he said. "Everything here is different."

Having only been in the U.S. since August, Voloshenko has had to make a lot of adjustments, especially with the culture and the language. Having a very limited vocabulary, he has quickly picked up the language, with the help of teammates and neighbors Bill Kinkel and Clayton Stoner.

"When I see something, and I do not know what it is, I just point and they tell me," said the 19-year-old Voloshenko, who leads the Aeros and all American Hockey League rookies in goals (17). "They've taught me a lot."

Off the ice, Voloshenko enjoys soaking up the Texas culture. His mother, Marina, came to stay with him in October, and became chief cook for her son, Kinkel and Stoner. Favorite dishes include pasta, chicken and cheese. Marina even cooked a turkey on Thanksgiving. "I do not know this holiday," he said, "but we had a 'Russian-style' turkey."

Together Marina and Roman have discovered the joys of shopping at the famed Galleria mall in Houston. "It is big!" Voloshenko said. "My mother does not speak any English, so I have to translate for her. There is nothing like it in Russia."

Voloshenko began skating at the age of 5 and played on the Russian national team as a teenager. He was selected by Minnesota in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Voloshenko's appeal has made him a favorite with the fans. He has an ever present smile, and truly enjoys his time at and away from the rink. On opening night, he scored a hat trick, then scored four times in one game two weeks later. When asked what he thought made him successful, he replied, "My partners on the line. They are very good and help me," he said, referring to linemates Erik Westrum and team captain Kirby Law.

Aeros head coach Rob Daum is impressed with the young talent. "He's been leading our team in goals, which is not an easy thing to do," said Daum. "He's been a streaky type of scorer. He'll score in bunches, then other nights, nothing happens for him, so he has to work on his consistency in his game.

"But he plays with two very good players (Westrum and Law), and the three of them work well together. They have an excellent chemistry and I think that's been a big part of Roman's maturing."

Maturing? He has definitely overcome a lot of obstacles while here, but he still enjoys the typical teenage obsessions. Video games, like NFL football, are a favorite. His team is the Philadelphia Eagles, where he is the quarterback, and currently has himself a record of 10-1. Not bad. He would love to be able to attend a Houston Texans football game, but his schedule, and theirs, has not worked out. Voloshenko has been given permission from the Minnesota Wild to play in the World Junior Championships, and he is expected to leave this weekend for Vancouver for his second straight year representing Russia.

Another new obsession is cable TV, which he just had installed. He loves American TV, especially the music and sports channels. He enjoys listening to 50 Cent, rock and techno music.

There are things in Moscow that he does miss. In January, Voloshenko hopes that his girlfriend, Masha, will be able to come from a visit. "She works in Moscow and doesn't have a lot of free time," he said.

For now, he is making the adjustments just fine, and he is enjoying every minute in the AHL.

"He's done incredibly well," said Daum. "He's adjusting well and has very good communications skills, considering the circumstances of his arrival. He's an outgoing happy guy for lack of a better word. He's enjoying life and he's doing his best to fit in to the culture that he's come to, and to our team and everything else. I have nothing but positive things to say about his play on the ice and his ability to adjust to all the things he's facing."

As for fitting in with his teammates, Clayton Stoner added, "He's a good guy, a lot of fun, and speaks great English for only being here a short time. He's one of my better friends on the team."

"It's all good," said Voloshenko with a smile. "It's just all good."

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I hope I get to see him soon, Sportsnet doesn't carry a lot of AHL teams beside the three Canadian ones.

He was a very streaky player during his time here in Ottawa, and that is one aspect that has not changed about his game.

He does seem more alert however, and willing to go into the corners. He's very quick, though he needs to work on his patience with the puck and his decision making. He received the puck once, faked a pass before backing out of the offense blue line, forcing his teammates to evaculate the zone. He doesn't shoot near enough, but I think his accuracy has improved.

My original point was wanting to see Voloshenko, and I miss watching Sully dangle. O'Sullivan's really had a good last 10 or so games, shooting and scoring consistently.

NHL- I saw Vitaly Kolesnik. I wouldn't have known he was European trained if I didn't know he just came to North America. In junior hockey, the distinction is quite obvious, but the majority of players are assimilated and their styles controlled when they enter the NHL, so it's disappointing to some extent from that perspective.

The ADT Challenge was pretty bad this year. The Russians were awful. Some notable individual players were Sergei Ogorodnikov, who I was very happy to see. Drafted by the Islanders in 04, few have seen him play.

He's a average sized forward with better than average puck handling abilities (for a Russian?), good skating though his stride could be wider to give him better balance. I can see him as a 2nd or 3rd liner in the NHL, but I think his talents would be wasted in North America.

Sergei has the rare ability, like many great hockey players, to slow the game down to his pace and give himself ample time to deal or shoot the puck. The North American game is about control, controlling talent by physical intimidation. Ogoronikov was very feisty and he was captain, so he defended his teammates. But ultimately, he's a player that needs time and space to play to his precise and fluid passing game, hockey in North America is too frenzied for his style.

Igor Makarov was very very fun to watch. There's some hype surrounding himself, but I don't want to make any comparisons. The name alone is enough to draw some attention (though he isn't related to Sergei) .He's a very finesse forward. It's not that he plays with an edge by any means, but he's very easy to spot on the ice. I think it's the creativeness that really shows. All the Russians used their linemates well, but Igor has a very distinct style of forming plays; sharp vision in threading passes through defense pairs and in getting shots through sticks and holes. I think the biggest component of his dynamic play is his skating, he displayed not just speed but his excellent lateral movement from side to side in dodging defensemen.

I didn't know what to expect from Vitaly Anikeenko at all. He was the most physical of the Russian defensemen, though that isn't saying much... Overall, their dismal defensive coverage is something I would rather forget about.

Ivan Kasutin, is expected along with Anton Khudobin to be Russia's WJC goalies. Kasutin was pretty interesting. Though Russian, he was Finnish trained and it was very obvious in fact from his poise and knowledge of how to handle certain situations with confidence. Russia's lack of goalie trainers usually shows in their goalies' restlessness or lack the ability to hide their weak traits. Kasutin was quick on his feet, good with his glove, with well timed lateral slides. There was definitely a distinction between his game and those of OHL goalies. I can't exactly narrow it down, but I think to a large extent it's was his positioning.

Russian hockey, from the very beginning, was heavily based on lateral passing and drop passes. I think it's because of this that their goalies play so differently. Kasutin moves very well across his crease, he doesn't stay at the top of the blue paint like NA goalies or shuffle around at the top of his crease. His motions were steady, and very smooth. He didn't shuffle, or try to cover as much of the net as possible. Unlike Canadian goalies who are always thinking of blocking a shot or taking up the net, Kasutin played by anticipation and was very active with his glove.

I did a pretty poor job of explaining that, but it's all the little things that are so distinguishable and distinctive. You don't see it so much in the NHL because everything is so intermingled, but in junior, it's quite fun too see something new.


	Name December 30, 2005 03:02 PM PST Hi Guess who i am?