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Cougar imports feeling more at home

There wasn't much that struck fear into the heart of Roman Vopat during his tenure as an NHL forward.
Slovakian Cougars
The Prince George Cougars' European connection has been bolstered this season by the addition of assistant coach Roman Vopat. Vopat, centre, a native of the Czech Republic and former NHL forward, is helping Slovakian natives David Soltes, left, and Martin Bobos, right, adapt to a new language and North American lifestyle while playing in the WHL for the Cougars.

There wasn't much that struck fear into the heart of Roman Vopat during his tenure as an NHL forward.

He gained a reputation as a tough scrapping centre who would back down from nobody and along that path dropped the gloves with the likes of Jarome Iginla, Dale Hunter and Chris Pronger. 

Vopat had already been drafted by the St. Louis Blues in 1994 when he arrived in Canada from the Czech Republic to join the Moose Jaw Warriors as an 18-year-old import centre. But still he faced one major obstacle in his path to the pros. He was a stranger in a strange land.

"It was scary, because I didn't speak any English, none whatsoever," said Vopat, 38, hired in September as an assistant coach of the Prince George Cougars.

"I came to the country, you don't know the language, you don't know the people, you don't know the culture, so it was difficult for me to adjust. But I had great teammates and a great coach [Al Tuer] and that made the transformation from European hockey to North American hockey a lot easier for me. If you want to fit in and play pro hockey you need to come overseas and play North American hockey and the Western Hockey League is the best junior hockey league in the world."

That was the lure that drew forward David Soltes and defenceman Martin Bobos to Prince George from Slovakia two summers ago. Having grown up together as teammates in Kosice, Slovakia, they knew each other well, but neither spoke English. It was like landing on a different planet.  

They'd never played on the smaller North American rinks. The 72-game schedule was nearly twice as many games as they'd ever encountered in a season in Slovakia. And they'd never spent so much time traveling huge distances to reach WHL stops in Brandon, Man., and Portland Ore., sometimes living out of a suitcase for more than a week at a time.

Like Vopat, Soltes and Bobos had both graduated high school before they played their first WHL games last year as 18-year-olds. Away from the ice, culture shock was unavoidable. But they know they're at home in a hockey rink.

"The transformation was easier on me because I preferred North American-style hockey – I wasn't a dangler or playmaker, I liked the physical style," said Vopat. "For David or Martin it's been a little more difficult because they're not that type of player."

At six-foot-six, 240 pounds, Bobos is one of the biggest players in the league. Now in his second WHL season he's better able to utilize his size to keep the net area clear. He's increased his footspeed to keep pace with attacking forwards and has been catching them more often with crushing hits into the boards. With one assist in 15 games, Bobos is also getting more point shots through in search of his first WHL goal.

"I had to learn how to play a physical style because in Europe you're playing on a bigger ice surface and if you have five hits in a game, that's a physical game," said Bobos. "Here it's very small ice, there's physical contact all the time every shift, plus there's fights. In Europe there are barely any fights." 

This season the Cougars have more competition for ice time on the blueline and Bobos has been a healthy scratch a few times. For that reason he feels his own play has regressed compared to last season. But he's watched enough of his blueline partners – Sam Ruopp, Tate Olson and Joseph Carvalho – to see the good that comes with being physical and has picked up that part of his game considerably.

The five-foot-11, 200-pound Soltes has top-six forward skills and has eight goals and 11 points in 21 games. He's an above-average skater with a blistering shot and has proven his worth as a power-play pointman, racking up four points in man-advantage situations.

"I prefer the smaller ice surface because it's faster and that made my adjustment to the league easier than it was for Marty," said Soltes. "My offensive game is alright but I have to work on my defensive zone coverage, there's always room for improvement in that area."

Soltes found out Tuesday he's been invited to play for Slovakia at the world junior tournament over the Christmas break. He'll return to Slovakia on Dec. 11 to meet up with his teammates, then head to Peterborough, Ont., for a pre-tournament game. Slovakia is grouped with Canada, Finland, the United States and Germany. Slovakia's first game is against Canada on Dec. 26. Bobos has plans to go home for Christmas during the Cougars' break, Dec. 18-26.

Vopat joined the Cougars in September after a brief stint as head coach of the junior B Kimberley Dynamiters. The addition of Vopat has been a godsend for Bobos and Soltes. They no longer leave team meetings scratching their heads wondering what message the coaching staff was trying to deliver.

"The language barrier was the hardest thing for me," said Bobos. "[Before Vopat was hired] I didn't understand the coach and what he wanted from me and I didn't understand what the players wanted from me. Now I don't have any excuse for not understanding anything."

Although they are both attending English classes they haven't taken Vopat up on his suggestion to speed up the process.

"I told them to get a girlfriend here and they'll learn English in two weeks," laughed Vopat. "They have girlfriends in Slovakia but not here. I think their biggest problem is they're shy, so they're afraid to make mistakes and it's the same thing on the ice."

Bobos lives with billet parents Janice and Byron Roberts, while Soltes is billeted with Darlene and Ken Goss. Living in Prince George gave Bobos a chance to hunt wild game, one of his favourite pastimes in Slovakia. Soltes said he misses Slovakian food, especially halusky (potato and cheese dumplings).

Both like the direction the Cougars are heading under the new ownership group. They like the coaching staff and the improvements the organization has made, like the new dressing room and weight room, and are excited about the atmosphere at CN Centre on game nights. Attendance has picked up and the Cougars are averaging more than 1,000 more fans per game over last season. That kind of support for junior hockey in Slovakia is unheard of, where crowds average less than 200 for most games and teams play 45-game schedules. 

"The fans in Prince George are very good to us, they're very supportive of the team and with the New Ice Age it's way better than last year," said Bobos.

In the absence of strong junior leagues, the only option for the top teenaged players in Slovakia not already playing in North America are the senior leagues. If they want to be pros they have to play with men and it's a steep learning curve.

"We would be playing senior league with older guys if we were there, and I'd be playing on the third or fourth line," said Soltes. "I wouldn't be playing 15 minutes a game, it would be more like five or 10 minutes a game."

Soltes and Bobos were teammates for six years before they joined the Cougars and this season they've had each other to lean on, as well as Vopat, to get through through the tough times. Bobos was on his own for most of last year when Soltes suffered a season-ending knee injury and returned to Kosice for surgery after just 15 games.

"I like to help them out, because when I was young I made a lot of mistakes and I don't want them making the same mistakes I did," said Vopat. "When you're young and talented it doesn't guarantee you a spot in junior or pro hockey. You still need to work hard and that's what they need to learn. There's a lot of money to be made in the NHL and it's all up to them if they want to make the money playing the game of if they want to pursue some other career.

"They've got all the tools. They just need to get a toolbox and put everything together."