CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. — Pittsburgh Penguins winger Andrei Kuzmenko returned to the team Friday, more than a week after learning his father had been killed in a bear attack while on a fishing trip with friends in southern Siberia.
Mr. Kuzmenko was 62 years old, which factored into the one small footnote Friday. Kuzmenko has changed his number from 10 to 62. Not only is the new number to honor his father’s age, but his mother was also born in 1962. Therefore, the number has taken on significance for Kuzmenko, whereas No. 10 was not significant.
Admirably, Kuzmenko made a three-minute statement to the media in the Penguins’ dressing room, acknowledging that hockey is a public endeavor and that he understood the media side of the profession, but his English is limited. He did not take questions, nor did the small group of Pittsburgh media, including Pittsburgh Hockey Now, have any to ask.
He ended his small gathering with a laugh, “Now back to reality.”
Upon learning of the incident, Kuzmenko practiced with the team that morning in order to be with his teammates, then flew back to Russia to attend to family matters.
Here is the full transcription of Kuzmenko’s statement. PHN has made some grammar edits for clarity, but kept it as original as possible. Given the circumstances, some of his meanings may not be clear, but in the original words, the sentiment remains.
“Hi everyone. Okay, I want to say this because I respect your job, and I understand this is hockey; it’s a little bit of media work, and I try to be honest in my life, and I don’t want you to know the false stories about these things. I want to be true. I’ll say this one time about everything.
“My father went permit fishing with friends. He stayed in the water, and the bear was behind him and attacked. And my father in the water fought the bear. In one hour and 10 minutes, (my father) was still alive. And after two days, the big shock. This is permit fishing. Everything is good. I want the truth and happiness. (Inaudible) In Moscow.
“And the next things about support. I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me, and I want to say thank you to the hockey world because I see a lot of messages and all the words. This is a lot of information. Everyone understands what happened because this is news, and the word traveled. And thank you to Russia. There are a lot of people who supported me. Thank you to everyone who supported me and for all the messages I see on Instagram. But sorry, I can’t answer everyone, and I want to say thank you.
“And last thing about my number, my usual number is 96. I can’t use it, and I understand No. 10, but it’s not important to me. In my life, I like the big things, and now I understand this is my mother’s birthday year, 62, and my father was 62 years old when he died, and today we have 26 years. I want to take the 6 and 2 numbers. And this part is probably done.
“Next, about hockey. I’m happy to get back to Pittsburgh. I’m happy. I missed everyone, and now I go back to reality (he laughed), back to my job, and let’s keep working. I miss hockey. It’s really– after my last season when I had two injuries–I want to play. I had good preparation for the season, and I want to play and help my team, and we had a great start after the first game. I think it will be good this season because I believe in this team. I’m probably done. Thanks so much.”
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