Chara promises Eakins he’ll mentor Marincin in Sochi
Oilers defenceman will play with Bruins star for Slovakia
BUFFA LO, N.Y. — The visitors’ locker-room at First Niagara Center is a long, spacious rectangle, but Martin Marincin, the Edmonton Oilers’ six-foot-four, 188-pound string bean defenceman, was housed in a stall about threequarters the size of the others, squeezed into a corner of the room beside a door.
This sort of cramped accommodation is assigned to rookies, typically, and the 21-year-old Slovak is certainly that, albeit a gifted one.
But he’s also an Olympian for his country, along with the likes of Boston Bruins superstar Zdeno Chara, who will carry the flag for Slovakia in the opening ceremony at the Sochi Games, not to mention his country’s medal hopes in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Marincin, who turns 22 on Feb. 18, met Chara for the first time on Saturday in Boston after the Bruins had spanked the Oilers 4-0.
Marincin and the six-footnine, 255-pound Chara chatted for 10-15 minutes after the one-sided game, with Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins handling the introductions.
“I was calling in a favour,” Eakins said. “I’ve got to know Chara over the years. I saw him at a very early age with the New York Islanders. I was there at training camp the one year (1999) and saw him starting to put in the work. He was obsessed with it.
“He has turned into, for me, one of the top players in the game, a guy of extremely high character, great work ethic, very humble. I had talked to Marty about his Olympic experience and the importance of his asking Chara a lot of questions.”
Eakins asked Chara to help his young defenceman out at the Olympics and he was happy to oblige.
“He said he’d spend lots of time with him,” Eakins said. “Zdeno even texted me later, after we were on the plane, reiterating what he had promised.
“Chara wasn’t quite as light as Marincin is now. But if Marty takes that level of commitment that Chara has with his body, then that will speed the process of him being a very good player in this league.”
Being a hockey player, Marincin wasn’t about to say he was star-struck meeting his hockey hero. He didn’t have to.
“That was a great meet for me, to meet Zdeno Chara,” Marincin said.“He is a big guy for me, I really like him. We just talked about Sochi and how his season is going.”
The other centrepiece for Slovakia will be Marian Hossa, the Blackhawks sniper. Had Marincin met him yet?
“Just on the ice in Chicago,” he said.
From the sounds of things, it’s off the ice where Eakins believes Chara can be of most help to Marincin’s development, serving as a mentor on everything to do with being an NHL defenceman. Not to mention introducing him around the Slovak locker-room in Sochi.
“That’s a good idol (to have), I like that,” Eakins said. “That’s the full package for me — a guy who can play the game any way you want.
“You want to play the hard game, let’s go. You want to play the skill game, you need me to play 40 minutes tonight? He’s good with it.
“I’m excited that Marincin is going to get to have not only the Olympic experience that’s out of this world. But then to have a guy like that mentoring him for a few weeks is going to be excellent.”
Asked which was the bigger dream for him — making the NHL or competing at the Olympics, Marincin said: “Both. The NHL is big for me and the Olympics is big. I am young, so that is great for me.”
Amazingly enough, Marincin will realize both of his dreams as an NHL rookie, which sounds like a lot of information for a youngster to process in a short time frame.
“Well, yeah,” Eakins said. “But it’s better than having none.
“He should be like a sponge right now, sucking it all in while, at the same time, enjoying the experience and being very proud of it, as well.”
As for Marincin’s game in the 19 NHL games he has experienced so far, Eakins was largely positive.
‘He’s one of our (defencemen) back there who has the ability to make a play,” Eakins said. “Even last night (Saturday in Boston), he had some looks that were very close to developing into something really special.
“Boy, if we could have turned those into chances, it would have been great. You can see his progress, you can see where he can go. The next step for him is going to be his body, his mass and his strength.”
Eakins acknowledged there have been times when Marincin’s lack of strength has “caught up to him.”
Chara will leave for Sochi, Russia, this week, missing the Bruins’ final two preOlympic break games so he can be in place to lead his fellow athletes into the opening ceremony.
Marincin will be on duty for the Oilers tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, as well as Thursday and Friday night against the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, respectively, before heading overseas to compete at the Winter Olympics.
Presumably, the Slovakian team will make sure he has a full-sized locker-room stall.