Dominik Mašín during training within the summer camp of the hockey national team
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
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“I’m looking forward to it, it’s the first match in the national team. I was hoping to get a chance when I came back. It’s great that after those years in America the coach chose me and I can look at the national team. I know practically all the boys, we I was really looking forward to the start of the first match and I will finally play for the national team, “said Mašín, who has been working overseas since the 2014/15 season, in an online interview today.
After two years in the junior OHL, he spent four seasons in the Syracuse Crunch team in the AHL, but he did not see an opportunity among the elite in the NHL and his contract with Tampa, the last Stanley Cup winner, expired. “I’m definitely sorry, but I’ve been on the farm for quite some time and I wanted a change. I believe I took a good step at the right time, which may help me more towards the NHL. I won’t be buried there in the AHL, maybe I’ll they will notice more like this, “he said.
The defender Mašín sealed the victory of Khabarovsk with the first goal in the KHL
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He admitted that his decisions were also influenced by the current difficult times and the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which significantly disrupted the NHL. “I certainly took that into account. But I wanted to try something new anyway, because even though I had a good season and they kept telling me that the chance would come, it never came. Tampa went to the cup all the time and had a lot of defenders with one-way contracts … I just wanted a change, “said Mašín.
Moving to Europe did not cause him a problem. “We have the same pitch in Khabarovsk as in America. Hockey is not as hard, but a bit more technical. It doesn’t fly on the ice there as in America. So far, it’s quite convenient for me,” he compared.
“I still try to play my hockey, especially well backwards, but also to support the attack. In Tampa they mainly wanted backwards, but now I also play power play and I get a lot of time on the ice. I have an average of about 23 minutes per match, which is great,” he praised. Mašín, who scored 15 goals in 15 matches.
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Czech defender Michal Jordán.
In addition, the team is part of a smaller Czech colony. The colors of Amur are also defended by brothers Hynek and Tomáš Zohornová or Michal Jordán. “The boys helped me a lot, especially from the beginning. They all made sure I found accommodation, advised restaurants on where to eat, translated a lot of things that I didn’t understand from the coach, for example. It was definitely great that I wasn’t alone.”
Help was also useful in Russian. “I had it in elementary school for two years, so I read something in Cyrillic, although sometimes I don’t know what it means. One coach assistant speaks English, so sometimes I consult with him something, but I ask the boys more. I’ve been playing with Michal for a while now. “So I ask him or the Zohorn boys what the coach said. I try to speak a little Russian in the cabin, the others speak English to me, somehow we manage it,” said Mašín.
In Khabarovsk, he is also satisfied in terms of personal life. “I live a few meters from the stadium, there is an opportunity to have a very good meal and so far I really like it there. It’s a slightly different mentality than in America, but I’m getting used to it,” Mašín said.
“I was quite surprised at how it all works there. The difference is in those flights. We have it far, we always play four matches at home and four outdoors. On a farm overseas there was some way around and it was until five or six o’clock, here we are for example, they flew to St. Petersburg for over eleven hours.
But he also found his way in this regard. “I’m trying to keep the Moscow time. Not completely, but a little yes. I go to sleep longer and get up later. We have trainings in the afternoon, so I get up, have food and go to training,” said Mašín.
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