Andrei Kostitsyn
The Belarus forward signed a three-year contract last summer with the Habs and flew to Hamilton where he is playing for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs.
" It was difficult for me to get adapted at the beginning of the season, but I feel much better now," commented Kostitsyn when Hockey’s Future met him in his hotel in Grand Forks, N.D. at the beginning of the tournament.
Living alone, in a foreign country situated close to 10,000 kilometers away from his family and friends is not easy for a 19-year-old kid. The young Belarus player told to HF that he was really getting bored at first in Hamilton.
" My family tried coming in Hamilton but their visa request was declined," shrugged a very disappointed young man.
The life is simple for him in Hamilton. " I have no distraction, all my time is spent on training, playing games and learning English.
" But off the ice, I feel better now and on the ice, the coach gave me more ice time lately in Hamilton and I hope that I will perform better after the WJC," commented Kostitsyn.
" He is really coming to his own lately with Hamilton," confirmed Montreal head scout Trevor Timmins in the Ralph Engelstad Arena during the WJC.
" The coach [Doug Jarvis] is stressing for Andrei to learn the defensive part of the game which he has in the first part of the season. You can see the difference here at the WJC, he is a lot better on the defensive side than he was last season," observed Timmins.
Coming to the WJC, the Montreal 2003 tenth overall selection was undoubtedly the team’s top prospect.
Kostitsyn has now the distinction of having played five times at the World Juniors. He expressed to HF how much he was proud to represent again his country at the WJC.
According to Timmins, the Montreal Canadiens accepted to release Kostitsyn for the WJC for several factors, including the fact that Belarus asked permission for him to play for them.
" There was also the fact that Andrei had the chance to play with his brother [Siarhei] and with his own peers," underlined Timmins.
" Before making our decision, we also considered the fact that Andrei could play with players of his own age group and maybe give him a chance to get some more confidence to his offensive game which, you know, is his game," said Timmins.
Playing with a weak team, Kostitsyn didn’t accumulate a lot of points during the tournament. An observer told HF that he felt the Belarus player lacked intensity on some occasions.
Nevertheless, Kostitsyn played very well and was the best player on his team. He had his best moment while Belarus amazed the U.S. team winning 5-3. That night, he was the incontestable Belarus leader on the ice. With one goal and two assists, he was named the best player of the game for his team.
After that game, the Belarus coach Mikhail Zakharov had this amazing comment to say to HF after the press conference, " Andrei is a top class hockey player. If he could manage to be in a good shape, he could be a better hockey player, better than Alexander Ovechkin."
When asked to elaborate on that, Zakharov said, " I assure you that two years ago, at the Under-18 World Championships in Yaroslav, Andrei was better than Ovechkin. He was the second best scorer of the tournament," recalled the Belarus coach.
During this tournament, Kostitsyn suffered a shoulder injury after a questionable hit by a Slovak player while he was completing a break away. He missed the
