By Andrey Smirnov
The Ministry of Sports and Tourism believes that the King Crab, which is going to become a ‘hockey expert with extra-sensory powers’, will become one of the major sights of the forthcoming world event, so the animal has been moved to its own personal hall and a special aquarium, designed as an ice hockey rink, at Minsk’s Open Ocean Oceanography Centre.
Numerous guests have attended the centre to congratulate the decapod on the house-warming and to assess its foretelling and tourist potential. According to the Oceanography Centre’s Director, Alexey Azarov, Petrovich first needs time to adapt to his new surroundings and then will undergo a specially developed programme, which will be tested during the Sochi Olympics. However, the technology of determining the results of the hockey matches in May is yet to be announced, while the Minsk ‘oracle’ currently keeps mum.
“It’s not important whether it’s a sea crab, or some other animal that takes on the role of Nostradamus,” notes Cheslav Shulga, Belarus’ Deputy Minister for Sports and Tourism. “We believe that such a promotion of the forthcoming world forum through such active forms will only bring benefits. Petrovich will quite probably become an alternative mascot of the hockey event, and visitors to the Belarusian capital would like to see it. We only welcome this.”
The Oceanography Centre also plans to set up an ‘oyster bar’ for the beginning of the Ice Hockey World Championship, offering Sakhalin and Vladivostok oysters to its visitors.
