BEHIND THE SCENES / THRASHERS MASSAGE THERAPIST: Today: Inar Treiguts

He is the massage therapist for your Atlanta Thrashers, the guy in charge of relaxing the muscles of NHL players. A native of Latvia, he’s been with the team from its inception in 1999. He works long hours before games, after games and during intermissions. If you want to know what he’s doing while the Zamboni driver’s smoothing the ice, you have to get the behind-the-scenes story that Treiguts shared with the AJC’s Darryl Maxie.

Q. When we think of massages, we think of being too tense, relieving stress. But what do NHL players have to be tense about that they need a massage therapist?

A. If you think about massage, you think of spas, candles, hot oils. Mine is more working with athletes. In hockey, the kind of injuries most guys have involve the lower back, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, the lower body. The whole purpose is to get the body ready, the muscles ready. … Sometimes I use percussion. … I use massage lotions, my elbows and forearms. I don’t get too crazy. Little wooden pokers and rollers, I don’t use those.

Q. But you do go all Sheila E. with your hands on the lower backs of Thrashers?

A. If you want to say that. I’m like a drummer beating the drums at a fast pace. I incorporate that into the massage.

Q. You’ve also used your tongue, I hear. Maybe I should clarify. You’ve helped translate for Ilya Kovalchuk , who’s from Russia, correct?

A. I don’t want to say I was his interpreter, but I’ve helped translate what he said. Now he doesn’t need me for that anymore. They all speak pretty good English, but they don’t all have all the American skills. Like how to use checking and debit cards. Basic survival skills.

Q. Does your background as an athlete help you treat players?

A. I only play beach volleyball, but thanks for calling me an athlete. I think of myself as a weekend warrior. I played college volleyball at the Sports Education Academy in Latvia. But these guys, this is a different level.

Q. It’s kind of funny that, when you go on vacation, one of the things you do is treat yourself to a massage. So you really give the masseur expert direction?

A. I never talk to the massage therapist. I’m on the table. I don’t think I should tell him how to do it. It’s his massage. I don’t want to intimidate him. I might say, work my back or work my legs, but I wouldn’t say work my glutes, work my rhomboids because then he would get a hint that I’m a massage therapist.

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