What happens when national pride mixes with hockey passion… in Russia?
A “We Are the World“-style music video performed by members past and present of the storied Russian national men’s hockey team.
Programming alert: You can listen to Leafs vs. Bruins Saturday on Sportsnet 590 the Fan beginning at 7 p.m ET.
Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Radulov, Ilya Nikulin and Nikolai Kulemin filmed this gem in support of Russian pop star Irina Allegrova’s “Shaybu, Shaybu,” a gleefully cheesy hockey anthem.
“Shaybu! Sahybu!” — the hook you’ll be singing to yourself after watching this glorious slab of YouTubery — means “Puck! Puck!” It is a basic Russian chant used to encourage the home team to, y’know, go get the puck.
Kulemin, also a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, told our Chris Johnston that the song was recorded during the 2012 world championships in Helsinki. He hopes it gets heavy rotation in Sochi come February.
“It’s a Russian hockey anthem,” said Kulemin.
Malkin, Ovie and the crew actually sang the words while being filmed.
“We just had fun with it,” Kulemin said.
UPDATE: When asked for comment on the Russia’s Olympic enthusiasm, Team Canada’s Jonathan Toews had this response.
Russian Machine Never Breaks translated the chorus:
Shaybu, shaybu
The victory is ours
Shaybu, shaybu
Guys, we’re with you
And if we need it a lot, we’ll score again
Shaybu, shaybu
Russia is behind us