21 ноября 1992 года. 
Language a barrier for Europeans // The Gazette

NEW YORK - For many European hockey players, stickhandling around the language and customs of their North American workplace is as much a challenge as getting past a burly defenceman.

As an increasing number of players cross the Atlantic to play in the NHL, they must get used to a new and often puzzling society.

Adapting is easier for natives of Sweden or Finland, who are already comfortable with the English language. But it is more difficult for players from Czechoslovakia and Russia.

"What we found worked best was placing (the players) with American families, where they were shown how we ate, how we did the laundry, how we asked to pass the ketchup," Ellyn Levine, owner of the English Learning Centre in Boston, said during a recent telephone interview.

The Bruins uncharacteristically drafted a large number of European players last June.

Five of them were sent to Levine in August for a month-long orientation program that included four hours a day of English instruction. The players were then sent separately to selected households, where they became part of the family.

All five players are now playing for Providence, R.I., Boston's farm team in the American Hockey League. Their hockey schedule has reduced the time they have to study English.

"But I hear they're all doing OK," remarked Levine, whose next student is expected to be Dmitri Kvartalnov, Boston's top pick in the 1992 draft and their leading goal scorer this season. Kvartalnov did not join the others last summer because he was late signing his contract.

"When they finished the program, they could understand most of what was being said and they could speak some English, although not always in complete sentences," Levine said.

The Winnipeg Jets have four players from the former Soviet Union on a roster that is such a mix the team has been nicknamed United Nations.

Before the season, Evgeny Davydov, Alexei Zhamnov, Sergei Bautin and Igor Ulanov had daily English sessions with a private tutor. The players and their wives are to receive in-season instruction at the team's offices. 

18 декабря 1992 года. 
The Jets' Airport Adventure // San Francisco Chronicle

Three members of the Winnipeg Jets stopped for pizza and ended up racing the rest of the NHL team through the air to Chicago. And won.

The Jets, en route to last night's game against the Blackhawks, were waiting for a connecting flight in Minneapolis on Wednesday when captain Troy Murray joined rookies Alexei Zhamnov and Sergei Bautin in the line at the airport Pizza Hut.

Next thing they knew, their flight had left without them.

Murray is a former Blackhawk and he knew if the trio got a quick flight to another Chicago airport, they could beat the team.

The plan worked.

The stragglers started out 10 minutes behind the team flight but while the Jets were fighting traffic on the bus ride from the downtown Midway Airport, the trio breezed in from O'Hare International and beat their teammates by 20 minutes.

"I knew the traffic was better from O'Hare," Murray said.