Grange blog: What\'s the Russian word for crickets?

Does anyone know what the Russian word for crickets is?

I know what it sounds like. It sounds like the crowd of Russians gathered in so-called 'Bosco Bar\' in downtown Vancouver for another chapter in the Canada-Russia hockey series.

We know how it ended: Canada came out and treated one of the most talented teams anyone can remember like they were Germany or something.

And so the crowd at Bosco Bar - actually Joey Burrard, an upscale resto-lounge in downtown Vancouver bought out by Bosco Sport (the Russian Nike, and the official supplier to the Russian Olympic team here) for 10 days - quickly shifted from positive, brash even, to something else.

Consider Dimi Smirnoff - yes his real name, he swears - and his pre-game predictions.

\"Russia will win,\" he said, in a manner so calmly assured that you felt like he had to be right. \"I will tell you why.\"

\"If you look at the Russian and Canadian interviews before the game, the Canadian players were talking about this game as a test, something they had to get through. And the Russian players, they\'re attitude was 'we\'re champions, we\'re going to make it happen.\' \"

Okay.

And then this happened. He quoted Yoda.

\"It\'s like Yoda said,\" said Smirnoff. \"You either do it or you don\'t. There\'s no trying. And the Russians are like, 'let\'s go kick some ass, let\'s have some fun.\'

This position was inarguable until the game started. Canada was tight, earnest, pushing a boulder up a hill. Think Sidney Crosby.

Russia was loose, daring, explosive. Think Ovechkin.

But when the Canadian tidal wave came the Russian resolved faltered, ever so slightly.

And as the game began to flow - and flow primarily the Canadian\'s way - the Russian crowd would make a sound that sounded an awful lot like 'Shoooot\' as one player or another would do too much dangling in the offensive zone; clearly a universal sound of fan frustration.

The setting was not your typical sports bar. This is not the Ivanhoe. The tables are slabs of oak, The big screen TVs are framed like art. There are chandeliers.

And the Russians are not quite your average hockey fans. I\'m not sure they\'re big hockey fans as much as they\'re fans of the motherland.

They applaud politely when the puck\'s dropped, for example, reminding me a little of what you see when the cake comes out at a birthday party - a joyful expresssion of anticipation.

When they wanted to rev it up it was \"Rus-si-ya, Rus-si-ya.\" - though they had little cause to break that out.

But there are commonalities.

Russians like to eat chicken wings when they watch hockey.

Difference: They wash it down with vodka.

\"A lot of vodka,\" said Keiko Voss, 23, a bartender who is now on night five of serving the all-Russian crowd at Bosco Bar. \"A lot of vodka. Mostly in straight shots they drink like water. They put us to shame.\"

And they like caviar too. \"Caviar in Vancouver? We\'ve definitely set a record,\" said Britt Innes, a restaurant spokeswoman.

More common ground? We love to watch Alexander Ovechkin; they love to watch Alexander Ovechkin.

\"Let\'s put it this way,\" said Smirnoff. \"I have friends who are not hockey fans at all, but they will go to YouTube and look up Ovechkin\'s top-10 goals and send me the link. Even if you don\'t like hockey when you see talent, you know it and want to see it.\"

Not last night. There were no YouTube moments for Ovechkin or anyone else in a Russian uniform.

The Canadians were coming, with no signs of letting up.

The Bosco Bar had a plan B, however. In the house, ready to get the party started, win or lose, was Peter Nalitch and Friends, the house band directly from Moscow.

Big stars, I asked?

\"Middle stars, on our way to being big stars,\" said Kostya Shvetson, who plays guitar. \"But we\'re very cool.\"

The atmosphere at Bosco Bar wouldn\'t hinge on whether Russian won or not.

\"If Canada wins the gold medal it would be okay,\" said Smirnoff. \"If not us, Canada. It would be exciting to see your country celebrate a victory, you would celebrate for five years.\"

And if that\'s not enough, there\'s the vodka.

Sometimes you drink to remember, after all. And sometimes you drink to forget.
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