NHL ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 6, 2000

Pavel Bure

Valeri Bure

PAVEL BURE: After third goal?

PAVEL BURE: It is kind of funny situation because after second period we were talking in the dressing room, I said, "If we have 2 on 1, just go to the off post, I will give you a pass, and shoot it right away." But he tried to get me the fourth goal; that is why he gave it back to me.

PAVEL BURE: Well, obviously it is a great honor for me to be MVP of All-Star Game. It was just special night for me. I was playing with my brother. He set up two goals for me. He was on my line and he helped me to get MVP, so it is just a special night.

VALERI BURE: Well, baby is still in. Hasn't come out yet. What about my brother? You know, I don't think I can say that much about him. He is a very electrifying player, brings a lot of fans out of their seats. I am his biggest fan sometimes when I am watching, I am doing a lot of standing. So today was one of those nights when I could actually play on the same line and it is actually pretty easy to play with him. Every time you give him the puck, it is 99% it is a goal. So just try to give him the puck and go to the net, make it easier on me. He doesn't make that many mistakes. He always puts it in.

VALERI BURE: You know, younger brother never listen to older one. (LAUGHTER). But, you know, I think it would be super special -- it is -- it doesn't get any better, he got MVP, three goals, it is nice if he got a fourth one, so it would be fun.

PAVEL BURE: It meant a lot for me to be around those guys. I felt like I was a part of the hockey history when you see those legends like Wayne, Mario and Gordie. Just shooting this -- I don't think it was just a commercial. It was something bigger. It was something -- something that specific, a little movie would probably make history. It is like changing generations and it meant a lot to me. Second question, yeah, we used to play with my brother. We had frozen lake near our building and sometimes instead of going to school, we would go play hockey.

PAVEL BURE: Well, usually she comes to North America a few times during the season, comes to Calgary or goes to Montreal, Vancouver or Miami now. It was a special night for us because my mom, our mom, just flew in for a few days for three, four days from Moscow. It is a pretty long trip, but she came here and it just feels great to see your mom when you are getting something special. I am really happy she could make it.

PAVEL BURE: Tattiana.

VALERI BURE: I don't know. We played just a little bit at the Olympic Games. We didn't really have a good shot at it. But that is the last time we probably were on the same ice together. Before that I think it was at the Red Army Club, he was player for Red Army. I was just getting to that level at 16 and we had a chance to play on the same team.

PAVEL BURE: It is hard to talk about yourself, but I was around the great players like Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Jagr, and those guys won MVP few times, they are leading the League in points, and obviously they are really big superstars right now and that is the guys who supposed to promote the game and be the leaders not just the clubs but the NHL.

PAVEL BURE: Oh, yeah, definitely.

PAVEL BURE: Well, first of all, I am not a businessman. In our days you have to kind of mix business plus hockey. I don't think anybody did more things for hockey than Wayne. He brought the hockey in the south of United States, to Calgary, to everywhere and he is still great, and so I think it is going to be really hard to compare our generation to guys like Wayne Gretzky.

PAVEL BURE: Always nice to see your teammates doing so well. Roy Whitney was playing really great. He got a goal, great setup. Kozlov was on our line, so he helped us a lot too. So it was great.