Within minutes of his first appearance, the legends’ defence seemed to
magically vanish into thin air, allowing Mr Putin through to deftly slot the
puck into the back of the net and equalise.
Mr Putin then made an assist for a fellow hockey lover, well known Russian
saxophonist Igor Butman, to make the score 5:4. The legends then equalised
themselves.
The referee then decreed that the match be decided by penalties and Mr Putin
had the decisive shot, flicked the puck past the mountainous goaltender –
who somehow avoided getting in the way of the softly-struck shot – and his
team had won.
The crowd roared, including Mr Berlusconi, who as pro-Kremlin NTV television
pointed out was accompanied by a “blond female translator”.
Mr Putin, who proudly touts his prowess in tough-guy sports like judo, took up
ice hockey only recently. He takes coaching from top ex-players and is
believed to often play well after midnight.
He once compared his skills to a “cow on ice”. Mr Putin has said
that when the first protests against his rule broke out in December, he was
playing ice hockey.
Source: AFP
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