Blue White Illustrated

sharing a bit of their Russian culture with their teammates, too, from food – Pavly- chev will get upset if you knock pasta and ketchup without trying it first – to pregame traditions. Before every game, Smirnov and Pavly- chev yell at each other in front of the team – in Russian. Folkes joins in, too, mumbling incoherently because he has no idea what he's saying. Pavlychev and Smirnov say Folkes wants to be Russian, like them, but only they understand what's being said, and they aren't about to give it away. "Probably a bad translation," Smirnov said, smiling. Smirnov and Pavlychev had played against one another while in Russia, but in Wilkes-Barre they became fast friends. Living with an American family and at- tending an American school, Pavlychev and Smirnov had little choice but to start learning English. Naturally, they did it to- gether. Tutored by Smirnov's sister, they would speak Russian to each other and try to include English with it. Whenever one of them learned a new word, they would use it in conversation as much as possible. Eventually, they became con- versational. Now, their English is spot- less. "There was a lot of making fun of each other," Pavlychev said. "We never really took a whole lot of offense to it. It was like, you laugh at each other, and you learn something from it." They were two 14-year-old kids in a new country, there for the same purpose. They knew they would get more attention from NHL scouts in the United States than they would in Russia. The friendship was natural. "When there are a couple guys from your country who have been going through the same thing you're going through at age 14, you kind of bond to- gether and help each other," Smirnov said. "If we were by ourselves, I don't know if it would have been as enjoyable or as possible, but with Nikita and other guys it's definitely been a lot of fun." One of those other guys is Ivan Provorov, who played on that Wilkes- Barre team and is now a star defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers. Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky re- members a visit the three of them took to Penn State together, not long after the program was launched. "They looked a lot different back then," Gadowsky said. "That was a long time ago." Gadowsky said he recruited Smirnov and Pavlychev together, looking to land both, as he eventually did. But the two Russians, playing on different USHL teams, were not set on attending the same school. Pavlychev visited on his own a few times, including once before Pegula Ice Arena was even built. He was the first to commit, which left Smirnov with some- thing to think about. Smirnov asked his sister to visit Penn State two weeks later and fell in love with the school. "I also remembered that Nikita was committed here, so it was definitely a huge factor why I wanted to come here," Smirnov said. All they've done since arriving is com- bine for 85 goals and 98 assists. Pavlychev has spent four years excelling at defensive hockey and filling into his body. The scoring has come later as he's earned more power-play time and taken advantage of it. Smirnov started with an electric 47- point freshman season, and his team- mates and coaches credit him for learning how to play two-way hockey in the years that followed. There's been plenty of change, but their bond hasn't budged. "They came in best friends and they're leaving best friends," fellow senior James Gobetz said. There was an emotional aspect to be dealt with as Penn State's season dwin- dled, Pavlychev admitted. He was ap- proaching his final games in a Nittany Lion sweater, his final games as an amat- uer, and – possibly – his final games with Smirnov as his teammate. They both hope that's not the case. Chasing their hockey dreams together in the United States, they've dreamed about suiting up for Russian national teams to- gether. Who knows? Maybe they'll even end up in the same NHL organization. That's out of their control. What they can determine is how close they stay de- spite their circumstances, and, well, there isn't much question about that. "It's not the end of our relationship," Smirnov said. "It's not goodbye, it's see you later." ■ It's become increasingly difficult for Penn State to fill empty boxes on the program's checklist. There simply aren't as many uncompleted tasks as there used to be, and the ones that do remain are challenging indeed. But on Feb. 28, the Nittany Lions were once again able to break out their pens. Despite being inactive that week- end, Penn State claimed the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time in program history, as Ohio State and Minnesota both suffered series losses. Those results guaranteed that Penn State would be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten playoffs and the recipient of a first-round bye. Penn State compiled a 12-8-4 con- ference record, its best mark ever. The Lions struggled for much of the sea- son's second half but put themselves in position to win the conference by rebounding with a crucial five-point weekend against a red-hot Minnesota team in late February. Penn State was set to open the Big Ten tourament March 14 at Pegula Ice Arena with a semifinal matchup against the fourth-seeded Gophers, winners of a best-of-three quarterfi- nal series against Notre Dame. –D.E. Lions claim regular-season crown

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