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Roman Cervenka joined the KHL in 2010 to play alongside with Jaromir Jagr in Avangard. However, he never made it a secret it was just a temporary stop for him on his journey to the NHL. Here&rsquo;s a translated interview with Cervenka from his early KHL days in 2010.
Maria Mikhalenko of Sports.Ru originally talked to Cervenka, while Jaromir Jagr volunteered to be the translator. Well, sort of&hellip;

Jaromir Jagr: Do you understand what Cervenka says? Let me be your translator. Roman can&rsquo;t do a thing without me, he can&rsquo;t even talk. Haven&rsquo;t he told you? It&rsquo;s a rule in our team.
Maria Mikhalenko: No, he hasn&rsquo;t mentioned it.
JJ: I brought him to Omsk and I told his parent that he&rsquo;s my responsibility. They asked me to take care of him. They also told me to keep an eye on the girls he speaks to.
Roman Cervenka: I&rsquo;m not telling you anything until Jardo (Jagr&rsquo;s nickname) is here.
JJ: Bring on the questions.
MM: Roman, would you describe yourself as a two-way forward?
RC: Actually, I have always played center. (Jagr adds&#8230;) But he was never lucky there.
Here in Russia centers are supposed to skate back and help their defensemen. We don&rsquo;t do this in Czech Republic. I didn&rsquo;t play defense over there. I like it better here because I play on the left wing and there&rsquo;s no problem.
MM: As a center, are you fond of Pavel Datsyuk?
RC: Yes. This forward has it all &ndash; he&rsquo;s a great skater and he&rsquo;s got terrific hands. Datsyuk is a very smart player. I think he&rsquo;s probably my favorite player.
MM: When Datsyuk was young, he wasn&rsquo;t considered as a player with bright future ahead of him. Did you go through something similar? 
RC: Yes. I think it was 5 years ago&hellip;(Jagr adds) He&rsquo;s not like Datsyuk. Roman was always good. At least, he thought he was. His coaches thought otherwise.
MM: Could you name them? 
JJ: If Roman tells you a name, you would know the person, anyway. That was one dumb coach back in Czech Republic, I&rsquo;ll tell you that much! When Cervenka was younger, nobody believed in him.
RC: I wasn&rsquo;t practicing too much back then. But I realized I had to work harder and I started to play better.
MM: Why did you start playing hockey in the first place?
RC: My parents got me into this. My dad and uncle both played hockey. My mom is a big hockey fan. My favorite memory from childhood is that I scored 9 goals in one game. (Jagr adds) Ha, it&rsquo;s nothing. I scored 12 once.
MM: Roman, did the coach trust you the World Juniors back in 2005?
RC: Yes, I had a lot of ice-time. I was playing in a second-tier league in Czech Republic at that time. Alois Hadamczik, Team Czech Republic&rsquo;s current coach, was the head-coach of the junior team then. We played a hard-fought bronze medal game against Team USA and we won. (Jagr adds) As if anybody&rsquo;s interested that you won a bronze medal at the World Juniors 5 years ago. Roman has no fans. Nobody likes him. He&rsquo;s a bad person. This is the way he was born.
MM: Roman, did you hear that?
JJ: He knows it&rsquo;s true.
MM: Do you remember any Russian players from that tournament?
RC: Only Ovechkin and Malkin. These two were the best.
(Jagr adds&#8230;) You don&rsquo;t look at one player specifically. You just sort of feel how he plays. You don&rsquo;t even want to look at the guy but you understand who&rsquo;s good and who&rsquo;s not. However, Roman didn&rsquo;t play all that much. He&rsquo;s a bad player. He had time to look at all the players. I don&rsquo;t even know when I played against who. Hockey players are different from girls. Girls are like this &ndash; they see a beautiful girl and they try to be just like here. Good players don&rsquo;t do this. They don&rsquo;t look at other good players. They are concerned only with themselves.
MM: Roman, you&rsquo;re in the Top-30 list in the KHL in penalty minutes. Did the referees let you get away with stuff more often in Czech Republic?
RC: There&rsquo;s no difference between officiating in Russia and Czech Republic. I don&rsquo;t even feel like I get a lot of penalties here. It looks like it because once I got a major penalty.
MM: Did you hesitate a lot about going to Russia?
RC: I was only afraid of the local girls. I was told they all want to get married as soon as possible. Is this true?
MM: I don&rsquo;t know. Personally, I don&rsquo;t want to yet.
RC: I wasn&rsquo;t afraid of moving to Russia. I was well-informed about the country. My good buddy Jakub Klepis has played here for a few seasons now. I knew where I was going.
MM: [Blues prospect] Jori Lehtera once mentioned that there are more beautiful girls in Russia than in Finland.
RC: It&rsquo;s true. Czech girls and Russian girls are both Slavic. They are known for their beauty.
(Jagr adds&#8230;) When it comes to girls he&rsquo;s all in for their character. Roman doesn&rsquo;t care how his darling looks like, he cares about her personality. She may be ugly but if she has a beautiful personality, Roman melts right away. This is what he cares about the most. I don&rsquo;t.
MM: Roman, Jardo has just said something remotely good about you for the first time.
RC: That&rsquo;s because he didn&rsquo;t lie for the first time.
MM: What had Jagr told you about the country before you came here?
JJ: I told him about you. But nothing good. Although, we may change our perception.
MM: First days in the league our usually the toughest for foreigners. Nobody talks to them.
RC: Honestly, sometimes it even helps. There&rsquo;s no reason to open up in front of people you don&rsquo;t know. This is the way it should be. I can&rsquo;t really say anything about Russians, because I only know a few. But the ones I talk to are really nice people.
I didn&rsquo;t expect so many hockey fans in Omsk. It was a surprise for me but a good one. I&rsquo;m glad about it. I do my best so that the fans would be pleased with the way I play. Although, as of now they don&rsquo;t know anything about me. Not even what kind of a hockey player I am.
MM: Why couldn&rsquo;t you find such chemistry with Jagr at the recent Olympics?
RC: We almost had no time to work on our chemistry before the tournament. In Avangard we went through the pre-season camp together, we practiced a lot and it all paid off in the end.
MM: Some people say that you&rsquo;d rather pass to Jagr than shoot.
RC: I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s true. I just had to get used to the way Jagr plays.
MM: If it wasn&rsquo;t for Jagr, you would have played for Avangard?
RC: In all likelihood, no. I had a dream as a kid and I still have it &ndash; I want to play in the NHL. When I was presented with an opportunity to play with Jagr, I embraced it. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m wasting time here. On the contrary, I&rsquo;m gaining the necessary experience. However, I feel positive that one day I will play in the NHL.

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Roman Cervenka joined the KHL in 2010 to play alongside with Jaromir Jagr in Avangard. However, he never made it a secret it was just a temporary stop for him on his journey to the NHL. Here&rsquo;s a translated interview with Cervenka from his early KHL days in 2010.
Maria Mikhalenko of Sports.Ru originally talked to Cervenka, while Jaromir Jagr volunteered to be the translator. Well, sort of&hellip;

Jaromir Jagr: Do you understand what Cervenka says? Let me be your translator. Roman can&rsquo;t do a thing without me, he can&rsquo;t even talk. Haven&rsquo;t he told you? It&rsquo;s a rule in our team.
Maria Mikhalenko: No, he hasn&rsquo;t mentioned it.
JJ: I brought him to Omsk and I told his parent that he&rsquo;s my responsibility. They asked me to take care of him. They also told me to keep an eye on the girls he speaks to.
Roman Cervenka: I&rsquo;m not telling you anything until Jardo (Jagr&rsquo;s nickname) is here.
JJ: Bring on the questions.
MM: Roman, would you describe yourself as a two-way forward?
RC: Actually, I have always played center. (Jagr adds...) But he was never lucky there.
Here in Russia centers are supposed to skate back and help their defensemen. We don&rsquo;t do this in Czech Republic. I didn&rsquo;t play defense over there. I like it better here because I play on the left wing and there&rsquo;s no problem.
MM: As a center, are you fond of Pavel Datsyuk?
RC: Yes. This forward has it all &ndash; he&rsquo;s a great skater and he&rsquo;s got terrific hands. Datsyuk is a very smart player. I think he&rsquo;s probably my favorite player.
MM: When Datsyuk was young, he wasn&rsquo;t considered as a player with bright future ahead of him. Did you go through something similar? 
RC: Yes. I think it was 5 years ago&hellip;(Jagr adds) He&rsquo;s not like Datsyuk. Roman was always good. At least, he thought he was. His coaches thought otherwise.
MM: Could you name them? 
JJ: If Roman tells you a name, you would know the person, anyway. That was one dumb coach back in Czech Republic, I&rsquo;ll tell you that much! When Cervenka was younger, nobody believed in him.
RC: I wasn&rsquo;t practicing too much back then. But I realized I had to work harder and I started to play better.
MM: Why did you start playing hockey in the first place?
RC: My parents got me into this. My dad and uncle both played hockey. My mom is a big hockey fan. My favorite memory from childhood is that I scored 9 goals in one game. (Jagr adds) Ha, it&rsquo;s nothing. I scored 12 once.
MM: Roman, did the coach trust you the World Juniors back in 2005?
RC: Yes, I had a lot of ice-time. I was playing in a second-tier league in Czech Republic at that time. Alois Hadamczik, Team Czech Republic&rsquo;s current coach, was the head-coach of the junior team then. We played a hard-fought bronze medal game against Team USA and we won. (Jagr adds) As if anybody&rsquo;s interested that you won a bronze medal at the World Juniors 5 years ago. Roman has no fans. Nobody likes him. He&rsquo;s a bad person. This is the way he was born.
MM: Roman, did you hear that?
JJ: He knows it&rsquo;s true.
MM: Do you remember any Russian players from that tournament?
RC: Only Ovechkin and Malkin. These two were the best.
(Jagr adds...) You don&rsquo;t look at one player specifically. You just sort of feel how he plays. You don&rsquo;t even want to look at the guy but you understand who&rsquo;s good and who&rsquo;s not. However, Roman didn&rsquo;t play all that much. He&rsquo;s a bad player. He had time to look at all the players. I don&rsquo;t even know when I played against who. Hockey players are different from girls. Girls are like this &ndash; they see a beautiful girl and they try to be just like here. Good players don&rsquo;t do this. They don&rsquo;t look at other good players. They are concerned only with themselves.
MM: Roman, you&rsquo;re in the Top-30 list in the KHL in penalty minutes. Did the referees let you get away with stuff more often in Czech Republic?
RC: There&rsquo;s no difference between officiating in Russia and Czech Republic. I don&rsquo;t even feel like I get a lot of penalties here. It looks like it because once I got a major penalty.
MM: Did you hesitate a lot about going to Russia?
RC: I was only afraid of the local girls. I was told they all want to get married as soon as possible. Is this true?
MM: I don&rsquo;t know. Personally, I don&rsquo;t want to yet.
RC: I wasn&rsquo;t afraid of moving to Russia. I was well-informed about the country. My good buddy Jakub Klepis has played here for a few seasons now. I knew where I was going.
MM: [Blues prospect] Jori Lehtera once mentioned that there are more beautiful girls in Russia than in Finland.
RC: It&rsquo;s true. Czech girls and Russian girls are both Slavic. They are known for their beauty.
(Jagr adds...) When it comes to girls he&rsquo;s all in for their character. Roman doesn&rsquo;t care how his darling looks like, he cares about her personality. She may be ugly but if she has a beautiful personality, Roman melts right away. This is what he cares about the most. I don&rsquo;t.
MM: Roman, Jardo has just said something remotely good about you for the first time.
RC: That&rsquo;s because he didn&rsquo;t lie for the first time.
MM: What had Jagr told you about the country before you came here?
JJ: I told him about you. But nothing good. Although, we may change our perception.
MM: First days in the league our usually the toughest for foreigners. Nobody talks to them.
RC: Honestly, sometimes it even helps. There&rsquo;s no reason to open up in front of people you don&rsquo;t know. This is the way it should be. I can&rsquo;t really say anything about Russians, because I only know a few. But the ones I talk to are really nice people.
I didn&rsquo;t expect so many hockey fans in Omsk. It was a surprise for me but a good one. I&rsquo;m glad about it. I do my best so that the fans would be pleased with the way I play. Although, as of now they don&rsquo;t know anything about me. Not even what kind of a hockey player I am.
MM: Why couldn&rsquo;t you find such chemistry with Jagr at the recent Olympics?
RC: We almost had no time to work on our chemistry before the tournament. In Avangard we went through the pre-season camp together, we practiced a lot and it all paid off in the end.
MM: Some people say that you&rsquo;d rather pass to Jagr than shoot.
RC: I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s true. I just had to get used to the way Jagr plays.
MM: If it wasn&rsquo;t for Jagr, you would have played for Avangard?
RC: In all likelihood, no. I had a dream as a kid and I still have it &ndash; I want to play in the NHL. When I was presented with an opportunity to play with Jagr, I embraced it. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m wasting time here. On the contrary, I&rsquo;m gaining the necessary experience. However, I feel positive that one day I will play in the NHL.

“When Cervenka Was Younger, Nobody Believed in Him”

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