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His General Info:
POSITION: Defense
NHL TEAM: Colorado Avalanche
JERSEY: #11...well, was on the Pens
SHOOTS: Left
HEIGHT: 5'11
WEIGHT: 209lbs.
BIRTHDATE: October 16th, 1972
BIRTHPLACE: Elektrenai, Lithuania
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Kaspar Article, it's cute, read it, laugh...it's all fun:
This was written last year, during the playoffs!!!
Kasparaitis: Well beyond hockey's norm
By CAM COLE
National Post
PITTSBURGH
Here is your definitive Darius Kasparaitis moment.
At the 1992 world junior hockey championship in Fussen, Germany, the team from the Commonwealth of Independent States -- Russia, the satellites, the Baltics, everybody under one roof but no longer
Soviet -- had just lost badly to the Czechs in the round robin. The players from the losing side filed quietly from the bench to console their goaltender, Ildar Muhametov, tapping him on the pads with their sticks, patting him on the head. "It's OK ... get 'em next time ... not your fault" -- you know, the stuff teams say even when they don't think the goalie held up his end of the deal.
Kasparaitis, never a conformist, took the shortest distance between two points and arrived in ill humour. He skated into the middle of the scrum, hauled off and popped his goalie right on the nose,
knocking him to the ice.
"Yes, it happened," he admitted yesterday, leaning against a locker in the Pittsburgh Penguins' dressing room at Mellon Arena, looking
not at all displeased that someone had brought it up.
"Right hook," he said, smiling.
"I was mad because the Czech team was bad that year, and they still beat us 5-1. So, I snapped. I got fined for it, but it was worth it. That goalie didn't play any more after that, and [Nikolai] Khabibulin was the backup, and he played unbelievable the rest of the tournament."
For the record, that was the year Canada finished sixth with Eric Lindros on the team. The CIS, a team without a country, a flag, or an
anthem, rallied to win the gold medal. And the tournament's outstanding defenceman?
"Me," Kasparaitis grinned. Yup. The mad Lithuanian.
The Penguins' Martin Straka played on that Czech team. When he overheard the story yesterday, he looked at Kasparaitis and said, "You punched your own goalie?"
But really, there is little about Kasparaitis they wouldn't believe. The 28-year-old fireplug with the long, blond locks, who leads with
his heart and his face, not necessarily in that order, may just be the quirkiest player, and the most mercurial combination of passion, mischief and a fall-down-laughing sense of humour in the game.
Not one to pick his spots, and about as subtle as a baseball bat between the eyes, the 5-foot-10 Kasparaitis will take on any opponent, no matter how large. He hounded Mario Lemieux to distraction in the New York Islanders' 1993 playoff upset of the defending-champion Penguins. Last season, he contributed to the case history of Lindros concussions. In between, he has committed acts of
aggression nefarious enough to have Don Cherry in high dudgeon more than once -- and he even scored the overtime winner in Game 7 a week ago, eliminating the Buffalo Sabres.
So when the Penguins issued a press release yesterday declaring Kasparaitis out "indefinitely" with two broken bones in his foot -- he fractured the two little toes on his left foot blocking a Petr Sykora shot in the first period of Game 2, a 4-2 Pens victory in New Jersey -- there weren't a lot of teammates lining up to predict that he'll actually miss a game.
"Indefinitely, sure," Kasparaitis said. "Until tomorrow, maybe."
"I don't know," said Jaromir Jagr, in an unusually chatty mood yesterday. "Have you seen his foot? He could never get that into a skate. Unless maybe some kind of XXL skate, size 75 or something."
Kasparaitis took the shot on the foot with seven minutes left in the first period of Game 2, finished the shift, went to the dressing room, was diagnosed with the broken bones, and jammed the skate back on his foot before the swelling got too big. He didn't miss a shift in the second or third periods.
Jagr said he didn't know at the time that Kasparaitis had a broken foot, but now it all makes sense.
"He played better!" Jagr said. "I knew something was going on."
The Penguins claim not to have known the story about Kasparaitis and the Russian goalie, but it could explain rookie Johan Hedberg's sterling play in the net.
As for the other team, so far none of the Devils has taken a swing at Martin Brodeur, but the same old questions about his play in the series have arisen once more, as they did against the Maple Leafs and Curtis Joseph.
Only it's one thing to be outplayed by Cujo, and another to have a guy in a Manitoba Moose mask stealing your thunder.
"It's just a matter of making the save at the right time," Brodeur said. "[Tuesday] night it didn't happen for me. But you hope you make a difference, and I think over time I will make a difference.
"But hey, it could be worse," he said, smiling. "At least they're talking about me."
Devils coach Larry Robinson, asked how Brodeur is playing compared to this time last year, sounded a little unsure how to respond.
"I think he has played ... as well," Robinson said, stumbling over the words. "You can't fault the goaltender -- I almost said 'fart' the goaltender -- just because you lose a hockey game."
Anyway, Brodeur said, he's not going to get all bothered by the criticism, which he perceives as coming from New York Ranger writers covering the series. He still enjoys the heat.
"It's a fun thing to do. You're a hero, or a zero. It's a pressure you have to be able to handle, and I like it," he said.
Asked to compare his own play to last spring, he said: "The same. It's 1-1 in the Eastern Conference final. That's where my game is."
"Last time I checked," said Robinson, "we were tied."
In other words, not time to panic yet. Not time to yank Brodeur in favour of John Vanbiesbrouck. Not time to juggle all the lines yet, or change the defence pairings, or start celebrating because the grating presence of Darius Kasparaitis might be missing for a game.
"Knowing him," said Robinson. "he'll probably play anyway. He's a tough kid."
On the morning of Game 2, 36 hours after Bobby Holik had driven Kasparaitis over the boards and onto the floor of the Devils' bench, the Pittsburgh defenceman ran into Robinson in the hallway outside
the New Jersey dressing room and broke into a huge grin.
"Hey coach," he said. "Save a spot for me."
Tonight? Don't bet against him. The Penguins already look thin enough on defence, with works-in-progress like Andrew Ference and Ian Moran and Hans Jonsson back there. ***~~~***Jessica Add-in***~~~***last time I checked our defence was pretty chunky...none of them are thin...nice and big...with muscles***~~~***Jessica Add-in***~~~***
Kasparaitis said he rushed back from the trainer's room in Game 2 because he couldn't stand the idea of leaving the other five out there to do it alone.
"If I can get the boot on, I will play. A normal person couldn't do it, but hockey players are not normal. Any player would try to get the boot on. It's not like you can't. You just have to want to do it."
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Small....but it's Kaspar...I have more pics on the next page! |
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Milestones of the Man we love:
Darius played 5 seasons for Dynamo, Moscow.
In the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, The New York Islanders made a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in order to select kaspar
Kaspar was selected in the first round and was fifth overall
Darius was traded from the New York Islanders on November 17th 1996 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Darius' first NHL goal and point was on October 6th, 1992
He became the first Lithuanian to play in the Russian League in over 30 years in 1989'90.
He was named the best defenseman at the 1992 IIHF World Junior Championship in Fussen, Germany.
He made his Soviet National League debut at 16 years old
He was a member of back to back championship teams with Moscow Dynamo in 1990'91 and 1991'92.
Darius, and his wife Irina, are working to build a rink in his home country and donated equipment to them.
Won a Gold metal with the Commonwealth of Independant States Team.
Won 2 Silver Metals with Russia in Olympics
During Kaspar's first penguin game, he scored his first penguin goal, the beginning of a wonderful Penguin Career- Nov. 19th 1997.
Sept. 29th, 2000- Kaspar came to Providence, Rhode Island, to play a Pre-Season with Pitsburgh Against Boston...I got to meet him...mainly touch him and tell him he was awesome and that my door was always open...
These are just some of his milestones, he most likely has more, but that would involve me doing more research and since I have a life sometimes, I can't find time to do a full research, so please try to survive with what I have!
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The Classic Kaspar pickles!!! A main reason to travel over to Pittsburgh!!!! |
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