CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

I’ve been asked about other interviews that I did with Pavel Bure.

I talked with him on various occasions, but there was one interview that stands out.

It was when he was 25-years-old and still with the Canucks.

How have you found dealing with fame?

“It was difficult the first couple of years, yeah. But everything was probably too much. Trying to speak English, with different life style. Everything was different.  A brand new everything.

Fame, you know…I don’t think you can choose to be famous (laughs) or not, it just happens to you.

You can’t say, ‘Give me fame!’ It’s going to happen tomorrow.

‘I don’t want fame.’ It’s not up to you.

You know, there’s some good parts about it and bad parts about it. It’s always 50 50. You know, it’s normal for human beings, they’re never satisfied, no matter what, they’re never satisfied. I’ve read a lot of books about kings and queens.

Sometimes the queen would say, ‘I don’t want to be the queen, I just want to be normal girl.’ You know she could go and do whatever she wants.

The normal girl would look at the queen riding by in the carriage and say, ‘Oh, I want to be the queen.’ (Laughs).

That’s why I was always thinking about that when I was reading those books. Queen wants to be normal girl and normal girl wants to be Queen. I think if they changed, they wouldn’t like it again. There’s some good parts about it and bad parts about it.  Same thing in our life right now. No matter what you do. No matter who you are, there are some good things about it being in this position and some bad things about it.”

How do you deal with all of the rumours?

“Mafia. lots of things. I think it’s up to them. They can write whatever they want, but people have to realize what’s true and what’s not. I know most of the people know what’s going on they know rumours and stuff like that.

If they would come to me and ask me that I would say, ‘No.’ But, they don’t ask me, they just go and write.

It bothers me a little bit but not as much as it used to. You know, it’s out of may hands. What can I do? I don’t want to just go there and yell and scream, ‘No it’s not true!’

It’s not up to me. If they want to say it, they can say it. It’s free press. They can write whatever they want. It’s out of my hands.

I think they write everything that’s possible plus one hundred per cent more. Stuff I didn’t even know about myself. Not everyday, but quite often I’ll open the newspaper and read something new about myself that I’ve never even heard about (laughs).

I was even thinking of starting to collect rumours about myself that were not true. Anything’s possible in this world. You name it. I was the bad guy, good guy, everything.”

How have you dealt with injury?

“Injuries a big part of hockey. You just look around the league, how many guys have been injured badly, like knees, backs, concussions. Basicly we’re taking a chance every time we step on the ice and you know lots of people don’t understand that. They think it’s just a game. A game is when you play outside your house – when you play for fun, it’s a game. But the level we’re playing, we put our health in serious danger. Look at Brett Lindros. He’s 22 and he had to retire because he had too many concussions. How many guys at the NHL level had to retire because it was a danger for their health?  Some people don’t understand that we take a chance every time we go out there. Look at [Paul] Coffey got hit by [Eric] Lindros. It was scary when you see a guy lying there unconscious on the ice. You don’t know if he’s dead or what. It can happen to anybody. But, I guess from our point of view you just don’t think about it. You know at the back of your head, you know it can happen to anyone, any time, any game. You don’t think about it. I guess, you just go and play.”

What other goals do you have besides playing hockey?

“That’s probably what I’m looking for right now, for another goal. I’m not talking about hockey, Stanley Cup and stuff like that. Now I’m starting to think about life in general because I know I can’t play hockey all my life. It could be over any day. You have another injury and you’re out. So maybe right now, I’m starting to look for another goal in my life. What would I like to do? And to tell you the truth, I haven’t found it yet. I’m still waiting for what I want to do.”

What advice do you have for young players wanting to play in the NHL?

“There’s lots of advice…my advice would be the next couple of years are going to be hard, but you just have to stay calm. Don’t get frustrated. It’s really hard when you come here and you have 82 games, plus if you come to Vancouver, you have to travel lots. It’s really hard. It’s hard on your body and it’s hard on your mind. It’s pretty hard.”

Are you happy?

“If I would say about my general life, I’ll be 26. I would say I’m really happy because you know I reached that point where I want to be and even 100 times more. I didn’t dream to be where I am right now. I’m really happy….”