Chat's From The Bench

The date was January 17th. By luck of the draw my once a year business meeting in Davenport Iowa (Quad City area) was held when the Thunder were playing in Quad City. Naturally the first thing I asked my boss on my first ever business trip was if our meetings would last past 6pm. He assured me they wouldn't and I ventured in the snow to the I-Wireless Center. This was my first encounter watching Adam Russo between the pipes. There were 1,303 (announced) Mallards fans there, and 1 Thunder fan. The game that I watched featured us peppering the aforementioned Russo with 45 shots in the game including 18 in the final frame in a 3-2 Thunder win. The one thing I left remembering was how athletic he was. Fast forward now to October 14th, 2011. The first Thunder exhibition game couldn't come soon enough. His name was announced wrong in the starting lineups, but yet he stole the show. After three appearances for the Thunder, goaltender Adam Russo is now 3-0 (2-0 regular season). And if that wasn't good enough all are of the shootout win variety! I had the opportunity to speak to him at the post game party at Twin Peaks last Saturday night. A very personable guy, Adam stopped to talk for several minutes before needing to meet up with his wife. I had the opportunity to finish up that conversation and asked him a few questions for the blog and wanted to take the time to share them with you in a segment I hope to do on a regular basis called "Chat's from the bench".


1. So far, what's your opinion on Wichita, the arena, and fans? Do you have any favorite spots?

So far, me and my wife feel really welcome here Wichita. The city is great, the fans and the organization have been amazing already and we hope we can be here for a while! We have been out and about pretty much everywhere in the city and it seems like a great spot to play! The arena is amazing and the fans are phenomenal already! So all in all, I am very very happy! :)

2. Who influenced you most with your career?

My parent's influenced me the most and then my grandfather and grandmother are a close second. I should honestly just say my family. I have an amazing family that has loved me and encouraged me in everything I have done from the day I was born and I will never be able to thank them enough for everything.

3. Who was your favorite player growing up?

I would have to say Patrick Roy. Growing up in Montreal, I loved the Habs and they were the team that I always wanted to play for. I got to go to their rookie camp my second year junior which was pretty awesome and to be honest, I think I will always be a Habs fan at heart, win or lose!

4. Do you have any superstitions or rituals?

I have honestly learned not to be. I had some crazy one's in junior like either KFC or kraft dinner, and washing my car on game days, but to be honest, now I try to keep it to a minimum. I listen to my music before the games when I'm at the rink, I shoot the puck end to end before warmup and I do the same stretching routine but that's really about it. I guess the crazy part of me as a goalie is being pretty loose!

5. Can you tell me about your goalie school?

Absolutely! I have been coaching goalies during the summer for 12 years now, and I have had a goalie school with my ex goalie coach from Midget AAA in Ottawa, Ontario for that long. Recently I moved to BC, the western part of Canada and I opened my own business, A.R. Action-Reaction Goaltending, which I have been going with for 2 summers now. I recently partnered up with Jack O'Halloran, an ex-goalie from the Leafs, who is very well established out west and we have turned in to a good partnership and are becoming bigger and bigger now. I am actually going to be running camps all year here for goalies in Wichita at the minor hockey levels. I'm in the middle of putting it all together.

6. If you weren't playing hockey what would you be doing?

To be honest, question 5 pretty much answers this question. I would still be in hockey and most definitely in coaching. I love teaching and being involved with kids and seeing them get better and knowing that I might have had something to do with it. I like seeing people succeed and I like being able to help them on those good paths.

7. What was it like playing for Italy in the World Championships?

It was amazing. I got to play in 3 World Championships and I was involved in 4. Most memorable for me was playing team Canada in game 1 of the World's in Germany in 2010. Playing guys like Corey Perry, Steve Stamkos, Tyler Myers, Rene Bourque, Ryan Smyth just to name a few, was just amazing.... Aaaannnnd I have a pretty good memory of robbing Stamkos on one of his signature one timers from the slot. Just an awesome memory, and I still watch it on my youtube video from time to time. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IozLrOnA0o8) if you wanna check it out! Hahaha!

8. How is international play different from North American play?

International is just a lot more open, the ice is obviously a lot bigger and there is less hitting. Europe is definitely a "smaller guys" game, as a forward, but it was a great life experience though.

9. What is your most memorable game played in?

Hahahah! I'm going to have to go back to question 7, that game against team Canada would have to be at the top of my list!!

10. What made you decide to play in Wichita this year?

Funny story, and maybe I shouldn't say it but, last year I was talking to guys on this team and I know Tetsy pretty well and after the games against Wichita last season, I had said to Tetsy "I'd love to come play for an organization like this and in front of people like this" and then coach Kevin passed by both times and said, "so are you coming to play for me next year, (joking obviously) and I would just continue to answer him, "make the trade sir, make the trade" and funny enough, here I am! I don't regret making that comment at all because honestly, the boys are great in the room, coaches are great, fans are amazing, building is awesome and the city is great too. Now all we have to do is bring home a championship and it will all be complete.


I asked Adam if there was anything he wanted to say in closing and he provided this.

"I hope I can help this team win and continue to win for a long time. I also want to just say thanks to all the people that continue to come out to the games and support us! You guys are incredibly important and I hope you all know that! The noise you make just fuels the fires in our bums to keep us going!!"

My sincere thanks to Adam for being the first person to sit down with me and answer a few questions.

Until next time.