FETISOV INTERVIEWS LAMORIELLO, RICHTER & SALA

Legendary Soviet defenseman Slava Fetisov interviewed several notable members of the hockey community as well as National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala during his eponymous television program “Фетисов.” The episode on health, ecology and sport featured Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello, New York Ranger and 1994 Stanley Cup winner Mike Richter, fellow 1994 NYR teammate Stéphane Matteau, and Jokerit Helsinki GM Jari Kurri. I was able to obtain Fetisov’s interviews with Lamoriello, Richter and Sala below (the responses have been translated into Russian). I’ve provided a few quotes from the conversations in English. The show aired on the Russian channel Звезда (May 3, 2020).

“It’s a quiet time. I look at it as an opportunity to do the things that I haven’t had the time to do before…and I FaceTime with the grandchildren! So that has been the most positive thing.”

“Slava, you and I went through a lot in a similar situation but a different area. We went through it in sports — we went through barriers and we found a way, so I know that [a solution] exists...we must stand up and share information, share our understanding, because we are all on one team - together.”

This pandemic has made us recognize that we are all linked. We can’t do this alone…we have to work together, one way or another.

These artificial bounds that we have because of borders, they don’t serve us when we’re talking about the coronavirus. They don’t serve us when we’re talking about global warming. We have one home, and it’s the earth. We have to figure out how to share these resources with seven billion people…we are only as strong as the weakest link. That is a political issue more than a scientific issue. 

This pandemic is probably the best wakeup call we’ve ever had…nature is sending us a very clear message saying, ‘Listen, if you just keep some space, look at all the things that I could give you.’