{"id":250235,"date":"2025-10-25T06:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T06:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/250235\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T06:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T06:49:10","slug":"aliaksei-protas-crouches-down-for-his-intermission-interviews-with-al-koken-does-it-hurt-a-little-bit-but-for-him-i-can-do-that-i-can-sacrifice-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/250235\/","title":{"rendered":"Aliaksei Protas crouches down for his intermission interviews with Al Koken. Does it hurt? \u2018A little bit, but for him I can do that. I can sacrifice myself.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

With great power comes great responsibility<\/a> and apparently the same holds true for immense height.<\/p>\n

Aliaksei Protas is one of the tallest players in the NHL at 6-foot-6. When he\u2019s on skates, the Belarusian forward stands even taller, rising to nearly 7 feet tall. Protas\u2019s size can be game-changing on the ice, but it can also create awkward moments off of it, such as filming intermission interviews in a cramped hallway with Monumental Sports Network\u2019s Al Koken.<\/p>\n

Koken is not blessed with Protas\u2019s Giant genes, resulting in what appears to be a massive height difference when the two speak on television.<\/p>\n

So, last January, Protas began crouching during the interviews, putting his head around the same level as Koken\u2019s. It first began on January 24, 2025, after Protas scored his 20th goal of the season against the Seattle Kraken.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can stand, brother,\u201d Koken told Protas in the interview, initially appearing to take the gesture as a rib. Koken subtly put a shoulder into the winger\u2019s side, encouraging him to stand back up.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t stop. And Protas employed the squatting strategy for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s continued to do so during the 2025-26 campaign as well, and Koken has come to both surrender to the practice and appreciate the gesture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s becoming a bit now,\u201d Alex Landestoy pointed out during the postgame show on October 14 after the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in overtime. \u201cDid Al Koken grow? Did Protas shrink? This is a fun bit that you guys have, and Protas just doesn\u2019t stop doing it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight, and he does it with a smile on his face,\u201d Koken said. \u201cHe does it obviously to help me look a little bit bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cListen, I\u2019m 5-foot-10. That\u2019s not exactly short. So it goes to show you how big that boy is.\u201d<\/p>\n

When speaking to Protas at a recent practice, the thoughtful \u201cmade in a laboratory\u201d<\/a> star explained that not only was he worried about how Koken looked next to him, but he also noticed how it created problems for the rest of the crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, I\u2019m trying to make it easier for the camera guy,\u201d Protas told RMNB. \u201cSo I\u2019m kind of closer to Al, and I try to respect him, to get closer to him, so he feels more comfortable. I\u2019m trying my best for him, you know? He\u2019s a great guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a normal human, doing a squat for a minute straight while balancing with tiny knives on the bottom of their shoes would be excruciatingly painful and difficult \u2014 especially after exercising at their highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, no,\u201d Protas said.<\/p>\n

But does it hurt to do so for that long?<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit, but for him I can do that,\u201d Protas said. \u201cI can sacrifice myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Big Pro has come to do his interviews with Koken at eye level, his brother Ilya \u2014 \u201cLittle Pro\u201d \u2014 has yet to learn the trick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he passes that on to his brother Ilya because there\u2019s no doubt in my mind I will be doing the same [Capitals intermission interviews] with an equally 6-foot-6 Ilya Protas,\u201d Koken said. \u201cI hope brother passes the word on. \u2018If you talk to me, you gotta crouch down.’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With great power comes great responsibility and apparently the same holds true for immense height. Aliaksei Protas is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-250235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}