After hanging around the forums for a little while with not much to say, I've decided that I'm going to take it upon myself to start using my English degree and sports-writing background here at LG. My goal is to do a short interview with each of the owners in the league. If this is received well, I would like to start interviewing GMs, league admins, and players of the league. The first interview that I was able to secure was with Colorado Avalanche owner, o kovalsnipe o. I decided that I wanted to start at the top of the power rankings with my first interview to be able to get into the head of top owner in LG so far this season. Below is how it unfolded: UPSWyatt: Thanks for taking the time out to answer some of my questions, Kovalsnipe. o kovalsnipe o: No problem, thank you for asking to interview me. Wyatt: Can you give me a little bit of your background on yourself. When did you start playing EASHL/OTP? Do you have any experience playing on 'top clubs? Koval: Well I've played the NHL series since 96 still have it for SNES so started playing club around 09. I've been on teams that have been ranked top 100 but never took it to seriously. I just enjoy playing with guys that love and know the game of hockey. Wyatt: What is your experience with the LGHL? Have you held any previous management spots? Koval: Never signed up here but dirtymike always talked very highly of it. During the decay of EHL me and him thought it be a good idea to come here since the site was great with all the features. So we made the LEAP. Wyatt: Would you say that you have a rival owner in the LGHL? If so, who and why? Koval: Kastor! We battled for two seasons in EHL both seasons were owners in the east. He always had a good team and we had some good series against each other! Wyatt: What was your draft strategy going into the season? Koval: Didn't really have one honestly.Me and wally knew who most of the guys were and it being a snake draft took what we thought was the best for the team with our picks. Wyatt: A lot of people were talking about Rico (tcx7) before the draft and said he may have been a risky pick due to his past flakiness in the league. Did this concern you at all? Koval: Well I did have him in EHL for a season and he did leave me during it to be management in VHL. I asked him if he would leave and he said no it was all i needed to hear. I've played with Rico for some time now and he is a great guy and player; glad to have him on the roster. Wyatt: Whom do you think your best acquisition in the draft was? Koval: Hmm, I like everyone but if I'm going with late round picks id have 3 guys i am very happy with. Acid thrasher plays D and G and both really well, massxhysteria guy is a solid goalie and got him real late, and sawchuk aka nike v93v great goalie but can play anywhere and good. All three are great players and great guys. Wyatt: The Avalanche started 7-1 this season. To what do you contribute the team's fast start? Koval: Great partner in Wally and I feel we did really well in the draft putting this team together. We have a solid group of guys who know how to play but it all starts with our goaltenders out. I feel we have great depth at FWD and some good solid D-men. The two goalies i have with Nike v93v and MassxHysteria have been solid so far. Wyatt: Was there any one (or more) people that you targeted in the draft that may have been taken right before you were going to draft them? Koval: There were a few I really wanted but I am happy with the guys i grabbed. If you start questioning your picks then you shouldn't have made them. But top to bottom I'm happy with who we have. Wyatt: You have been quoted as saying J Bidd is bad. Can you go more in-depth with that quote? Koval: Well there is a reason he didn't go number 1 like snipefest but that's all I'm going to say (winks and sticks his tongue out at me seductively). (Note: I prodded deeper into this answer and wasn't able to get anything else out of him.) Wyatt: I won't ask you to comment on your conference. But, who do you think will be representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup this season? Koval: I really don't want to comment cause I'm going to piss off someone so I'll say the team that wins their playoff games! Wyatt: Probably a good move there. Alright, just a couple more questions for you and we'll be done. What advice would you give to players hoping to be management in the future? Koval: If you don't have time and patience don't do it! Wyatt: Some good advice there. Seems like there are always people that tend to get in over their head. I have one last question for you, and I want you to think about this hard. If you had to pick one Backstreet Boys song to describe your team, what would you choose? Koval: (Breaks out in a laughing fit) I'll go Everybody! 'Cause it takes everyone to be N*Sync to win games. Yeah, best answer, I know! (Ed. note: No one at the interview even cracked a smile after Kovalsnipe answered. Sometimes we are our own biggest fans.) Wyatt: Well, Kovalsnipe, I appreciate the time you gave me to interview you today. I wish your team the best of luck this season and I hope that you are able to keep Rico's ego in check. Koval: (no response) With every interview that I complete, the process will definitely get better and I feel the content itself will improve. Right now I'm in a trial and error process of finding what works best. Again, this is all meant to be fun. I just want to provide a service to the league. If you have any ideas for future questions to ask or things you would like to know, please PM me and I'll incorporate these into my interviews.
nicely done wyatt. great start with this series of articles. koval is a solid dude and player, and he couldn't be paired up with a better dude, wally. as always best of luck to you both, and hope our series continues to be as good as it has started.
For the record, these actually are interviews that I am conducting. I'm not just constructing these posts without any point of reference.
