J. Lichty

May 12th, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^

who was posing as a 14 year old russian refugee.  I actually went to hockey camp with her in Brainerd in the mid-eighties.  Shortly after camp, the story broke that she was not really 14, and not really russian, but was a mentally ill 21 year old Massacheusettes native.

Here is a story on the hoax.  http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19840724&id=28kRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=--4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7050,4044151

J. Lichty

May 12th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^

She was a complete novelty act.  not a great hockey player by any stretch, but certainly good for the 14 year old russian girl we thought her to be.  This was before the Gorbachev and although we had some russian jewish immigrants and Yaakov Smirnov what a country bits, at that time the only time we saw russian hockey players is when they toured the NHL and during the Olympics.  This is pre-Makharov, Larianov, Fetisov.  The Soviet Union was still the evil empire of Red Dawn, so this girl was a huge curiosity - and none of us knew that she wasnt Russian.

J. Lichty

May 12th, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^

and when she did, yes she had an accent.  Most people had only heard russian accents from Ivan Drago in Rocky IV at that point, so there was not a whole lot of analysis going on.

Cripes she fooled a family she lived with for a month.

Ty Butterfield

May 12th, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^

This story is weird and also kind of sad. I know sometimes people say stuff like "man, I wish I could go back to high school", though they are just joking. This guy, not so much. The coach even took him in and thought he was doing the right thing. Since every show on TV that is about high school has 25 year olds playing high school sophomores, I guess it is at least plausible that the coach thought this kid was in high school.

Md23Rewls

May 12th, 2010 at 7:27 PM ^

I had a decent high school hockey career, but was always disappointed that I had my growth spurt after I graduated. With Mr. Joseph as my inspiration I would like to offer my services to any high school team in need of a goalie. I think I could pass for 16 with diligent shaving.