KOVALEV: I DIDN’T DESERVE A CALL-UP

One of NHL leading Russian players Alexey Kovalev gave an interview.


In September the Olympic champion-1992, the country’s champion-1991 and 1992 and Stanley Cup winner-1994 Alexey Kovalev was invited to the pre-Olympic preparation camp, but few people expected to see the 36-year-old veteran in Russia’s “23-men squad”, which was unveiled last Friday.

Alexey scored only seven goals in 35 matches in Ottawa and admitted in an interview to Sport Express, that he didn’t deserve a spot in Olympic roster.

"First of all coaches rarely change the winning roster, and it would be preferable to take players, who won gold medals at the previous World Championships", said Kovalev.

"And secondly this season is not very successful for me, so there is no sense in taking the forward with so low efficiency to the Olympic Games".

"In general the 23-list didn’t surprise me, as Bykov capped those players, who worked with him earlier".

"The Olympic Games will be held in the middle of the season, and players won’t have any time to get used to each other like at the Soviet Times. In this situation it’s better to cap players, who know each other well".

"I always support Russian team and believe that we will win the gold in Vancouver. I really think that our squad is very good. We proved during the last two years that we can win, so I will support our national team as hard as I can".

"Many people believe that Canada is our main competitor and it’s wrong, because many countries have very strong and dangerous teams nowadays".

"It’s impossible to name the main challenger in the competitions, when coaches have an opportunity to take the strongest players".

"The atmosphere at the Olympics is the main special thing about this tournament. Hockey players often play against each other, while this time we will unite. And winning the Olympic is so unforgettable feeling!"

"I am player, but no a coach, so I can’t advise something to Bykov. Russian team’s coaches know everything without my advice, as they have rich experience of winning the World Championships and Olympic games".

KALYUZHNY: WE ARE MORE SELF-CONFIDENT NOW

Dynamo Moscow man Alexey Kalyuzhny scored the winning goal to lead his club to victory over CSKA.


"This victory became the eighth consecutive one for Dynamo", said the club’s vice-captain Alexey Kalyuzhny. "Of course this fact makes us more self-confident, because we lacked it at the beginning of the season".

"Now we play more calmly and even despite we were behind in this game, we managed to snatch victory".

"Both teams played very cautiously during two periods, since nobody wanted to be the first to concede goals".

"We played against CSKA with difficulty this season and suffered two losses, but I can’t say that we were too angry, we just wanted to win".

"I don’t think that my partners Komarov and Umark wanted to disable Parshin. Denis is one of CSKA leaders, and it’s natural when players challenge leaders more than others".

RUSSIA’S 23-MEN SQUAD

The coaching staff of the Russian hockey team named preliminary 23-men roster for the Olympic Games.

Preliminary list includes three goalkeepers and 20 in-field players, 14 players represent NHL, while nine men play in KHL. The 40-year-old Sergey Fyodorov is the oldest player in the roster, while the youngest is Semyon Varlamov, who is 21.

The 23-men lists includes these players:

Goalkeepers – Evgeniya Nabokov (San Jose), Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenics), Semyon Varlamov (Washington);

Defensemen – Andrey Markov (Montreal), Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars), Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev), Konstatin Korneev (CSKA), Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton), Fyodor Tyutin (Columbus), Sergey Gonchar (Pittsburg), Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa);

Forwards – Sergey Zinovyev, Alexandr Radulov, Viktor Kozlov (all – Salavat Yulaev), Alexey Morozov, Danis Zaripov (both – Ak Bars), Ilya Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov (both – Atlanta), Alexandr Ovechkin, Alexandr Semin (both – Washington), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Evgeniy Malkin (Pittsburg), Sergey Fyodorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

Coaches have right to correct the list until 15 February, but only in case of players’ injuries.

SIMAKOV SUSPENDED FOR TWO YEARS

Former forward of HC CSKA Alexey Simakov has picked two-year suspension in the Kontinental Hockey League structure.


Yesterday the Control and Disciplinary Committee of KHL tried the case of the former forward of CSKA Alexey Simakov and his former club. As the result the forward has been suspended for two years in KHL.

The chairman of KHL Control and Disciplinary Committee Vladimir Saraev commented on reasons of the player’s suspension.

"Conflict of Simakov with the club began when the player had status of CSKA player", explained Saraev. "Simakov was not satisfied that sum of his contract had been reduced in accordance with procedure of redraft".

"CSKA did everything possible to help Simakov continue playing hockey, for example the club didn’t use their right to dismiss the player for his absences".

"We thought that this conflict had been settled after Simakov moved to the other club. And suddenly after two months of playing in Avtomobilist he presented his claim to CSKA again".

"Simakov wanted CSKA to pay off the debt, that is illegal attempt to earn money. The player parted with CSKA in accordance to the rules and he had no right to demand anything from his former team".

"Forward’s desire to ignore regulations was the main reason of his suspension. While making this decision, we took into consideration circumstances of this case".

"Firstly this player violated regulations, secondly we have been trying to settle this conflict since July, while Simakov didn’t want to make compromise".

"And finally we are aware of player’s absences as well as abuse of player’s rights from the side of Simakov and his agents".

KUDASHOV: OUR TASK WAS TO REACH PLAYOFFS

HC MVD captain Alexey Kudashov talks about his club’s successful streak in the Kontinental Hockey League.


HC MVD’s performance became the main surprise of KHL regular season. The club, which didn’t reach playoffs a year ago, now goes on the second place in the Western Conference leaving behind such grands as Lokomotiv, Dynamo Moscow and Atlant.

Captain of the club Alexey Kudashov, who became the most valuable acquisition of HC MVD this season, talks.

"If I say that we had planned to be on the second place in our Conference I would lie of course".

"We created the team, which is not going to be at the bottom of the standings, and we had clear task to reach playoffs. Our work during pre-season period let us count on positive results".

"It was some kind of a challenge. We were not shocked by our current position, as we didn’t want to go high from the very beginning. We just come out to the ice with the task to earn points".

"We will try to win every match in playoffs. HC MVD will have advantage since nobody sets the task to win the title. All players will try to show themselves".

FINLAND WIN CHANNEL ONE CUP, RUSSIA IS ONLY THE SECOND

Russian hockey team defeated Czech Republic in penalty shootout to take the second place at the Channel One Cup in Moscow, while Finland won the trophy.

Russia ended their streak of five straight titles at home Channel One Cup after Finland beat Olympic champion Sweden 4-3 in penalty shootout.

President of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak summarized results of the tournament.

"The last match against Czech Republic was really fantastic", said Tretyak. "It’s a pity that we didn’t win it in regular time, however nerve-strain was absolutely unbelievable".

"When our trio defended our goal against five Czech players, I was so happy and proud for our fighters. I even want to make a video and send it to Canada for our youth team, so that they will see how they need to fight".

"I agree that Russia has problems in defense, and it’s clear that our defenseman often make wrong decisions. I also lay claims to our forwards, who created a lot of scoring chances but didn’t convert them into goals".

"I don’t want to blame players, since several players are weaker than other Russian internationals’ by their individual qualities".

"Fyodorov, Radulov and Saprykin won the World Championship, but failed to demonstrate all their best skills at Channel One Cup. As for these players, I think that they were a little tired".

"The coaches’ task of determining the Olympic roster has become more complicated, but on the other hand it became easier, since now we see which players are better prepared. Coaches have enough information to think about, they need to watch the games again and analyze them".

"Level of hockey will be higher at the Olympic Games and players will be much stronger too. Czech guys forgave us this time when they didn’t score on powerplay, but nobody will do it in Vancouver. Our main target for today is to determine the squad".

"I can’t make any predictions until December 24. To my mind now it’s better just to sit down and analyze all players’ performance at Moscow tournament".

"I think that we should take three links of NHL players to Vancouver. By the way Czech Republic coaches said that they would take 18 in-field players to Vancouver out of 20, that means that only two players, who took part in Channel Cup One, will go to the Olympics".

"Of course we won’t do without NHL players and fortunately many of them shake off their injuries and return to action".

KURRI: I LIKE THE ROLE OF DARK HORSE

General manager of Finnish hockey team Jari Kurri gave an interview after his team won the Channel One Cup.

"I am not ready to say that Moscow competition was the last chance for our players to earn a place in Olympic squad", said Jari Kurri. "They should prove their right to be included to the national team’s roster for the Olympic Games during the whole season".

"Now it’s still unclear how many players, who took part in Channel One Cup, will go to Vancouver".

"We are to face difficult choice, because players from NHL and Europe claim to equal number of places in the team’s roster. We will think it over again and discuss, since we have two weeks before announcing the squad".

"I would prefer to keep names of candidates in secret until the very end. Players shouldn’t relax regardless their former achievements".

"Performance during the regular season (in Finnish league or KHL) is important, but they pass through the main test in the national team".

"Pessonen and Ramo didn’t play at Channel One Cup through injury problems, while Kukkonen was absent because of family circumstances. But it doesn’t mean that they lost chances to go to Vancouver, since we had enough opportunities to watch them in action".

"More Finnish players now play in KHL and we can watch their display in detail, while they can make progress in the high-class championship and earn money there".

"I don’t see anything strange in extending the contract with the national team’s head coach Jukka Jalonnen ahead of the Olympic Games and the World Championships. We are satisfied with his work, as the team demonstrates high-quality hockey and makes progress under his reigns. It seems to me that our trust will positively affect his work".

"Finland won silver medals at the previous Olympic Games and we would like to improve this result. It’s clear that Canada and Russia are the main favorites, and they are followed by Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and America".

"On the other hand any team is able to surprise everyone and we will try to do it in Vancouver".

"Nobody expects winning the gold from us, so I even like our role of dark horse. Canada will play at home, and everybody understands that the hosts will be pressed by the home public. Russia won two previous World Championship and is eager to take the Olympic gold, while we are in shadow".

PLYUSCHEV UNVEILED THE SQUAD

The head coach of the Russian youth hockey team Vladimir Plyuschev announced the team’s roster for the World Championships in Canada.

Vladimir Plyuschev will take 22-men squad to Canada:

Goalkeepers – Igor Bobkov, Alexandr Pechursky;

Defensemen – Nikita Zaitsev, Dmitriy Kostromitin, Dmitry Orlov, Nikita Pivtsakin, Alexandr Tarasov, Maxim Chudinov, Kirill Youryev;

Forwards – Magomed Gimbadov, Pavel Dedunov, Maxim Kitsin, Evgeniy Kuznetsov, Vyacheslav Kulemin, Kirill Petrov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeniy Timkin, Maxim Trunev, Pyotr Khokhryakov, Nikita Filatov.

Goalkeeper Ramis Sadikov, forwards Alexandr Burmistrov, Ivan Telegin and Dmitriy Kugryshev wil join the team in Canada.

The team will hold one trial match against Latvia (21 December) ahead of the World Championships kick-off.

TRETYAK: I AM THANKFUL TO BYKOV

There publish interview with president of the Russian Hockey Union Vladislav Tretyak, which is an extract from Igor Rabiner’s book "Hockey madness: from Nagano to Vancouver".


New book of the journalist Igor Rabiner named "Hockey madness: from Nagano to Vancouver" will be published soon. This book is devoted to three Olympic hockey tournaments, where the author worked as Sport Express special correspondent.

Today there's an extract of the interview with the president of the Russian Hockey Union Vladislav Tretyak, as you can read the full version of this conversation in the book.

"We had two candidatures for the post of the Russian national team head coach - Bilyaletdinov and Bykov", said Tretyak. "I respect Bilyaletdinov very much, as he is one of the best Russian coaches, but Zinetula was more oriented on his work in Ak Bars".

"He was honest while saying that he needs to pay more attention to his club and that he wouldn’t be able to work at several Euro Hockey Tour competitions, while the national team needs a constant coach, who is concentrated on the team’s problems. That is why I decided to see Bykov at this post, it was my personal decision".

"First of all I played with him and I perfectly know him. Secondly he got playing and coaching experience in Switzerland, and thirdly he showed himself as a good coach in CSKA. I asked him and he told me that he would be ready to head the national team with his assistant Igor Zakharkin".

"I mentioned that his tandem with Zakharkin is very effective and my intuition didn’t deceive me. I am thankful to Bykov, who managed to restore Russia’s former glory".

"He lived in Europe and it helps him find common language with our players from NHL. Bykov always knows how to talk with them".

"We set the task to seal the first place at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. However I suppose that any place on the podium at the Olympics is good for the team in any case. Olympic medals of any value deserve our supporters’ respect".

"Though I would repeat that it’s necessary to aim for the first place. We want to achieve maximum result, but I won’t consider the second or the third place as a failure".

PLYUSCHEV SET TO WIN THE GOLD IN CANADA

Head coach of Russian youth hockey team Vladimir Plyuschev talks about preparation for the World Championships.

The national team’s youngsters are now preparing in Novogorsk for the World Championships, which will kick off on 26 December in Canada. The head coach Vladimir Plyuschev shared his views on the team’s readiness.

"Hockey has changed considerably during several past years", said Plyuschev. "Our players always try to keep the puck in hope to score, but Canadians won’t let us do it and that is why it’s necessary to reorganize our tactics".

"We will make the final decision on goalkeepers later. We will take only two of them to Canada on 19 December, while in general we will take 22 players".

"One goalkeeper Sadikov and four in-field players will join us there, The final roster will be announced after the trial match against Latvia in the North America. It’s a pity that we didn’t have the full squad in Novogorsk".

23 players took part in the training session yesterday. CSKA forwards Filatov and Kulemin arrived to the training base in the afternoon.

"We lack only those players, who play in Canada – Burmistrov, Telegin, Ostapchuk, Kugryshev", mentioned Plyuschev. "Only Kostromitin joined us from the North America".

"The Russian Hockey Federation holds talks with AHL clubs of Voynov and Grachev".

"This situation surprises me a lot because I can’t understand how they can deprive people of an opportunity to participate in prestigious tournament".

"I understand situation of Kulikov, who has regular practice in Florida in NHL, but I have no idea about problems of other players. I face these things for the first time in my coaching career".

"I said at the meeting of federation’s executive committee in August that we set the task to win the gold in Canada, though I know it will be difficult to do it. Sweden and America could also compete for the first place, and I think that we shouldn’t underestimate Finland and Czech Republic".

FETISOV SIGNED CONTRACT WITH CSKA

CSKA president Vyacheslav Fetisov signed a provisional contract with the Moscow club.


The 51-year-old hockey legend passed his medical and signed a contract with CSKA until the end of the season. He has already been a part of the CSKA in the KHL game against SKA.

"To my mind it’s very important that our young players will get a unique opportunity to play with legend of the world hockey", said CSKA head coach Sergey Nemchinov.

"His contract will run until the end of the season so we will want Fetisov in other matches too".

BRODEUR: RUSSIANS OWE ME SOMETHING

The best goalkeeper of Canada of the last fifteen years, potential first-choice of the Maple Leaves at the Olympics-2010, Martin Brodeur gave an interview.

New Jersey Devils 3-0 victory over Buffalo became the 103rd shutout for the 37-year old goalkeeper and thus he repeated the NHL record of Terry Sawchuk.

"It is not right that my era is starting," said the Canadian goalkeeper." My era is going to an end.

"Just look around and you will see how many young excellent goalkeepers there are in ice hockey!"

"I agree that European keepers are dominating at the moment. Russians, Czechs, Finns, Swedes – all are here! I can say that a Franco-Canadian goalkeeper is an endangered species, laughs the star of New Jersey."

"From my Russian counterparts I like the play of Nabokov and Khabibulin."

"The whole country is living only with anticipations of the Olympic Games. And you know that they expect nothing else but golden medals."

"I am not going to say buzzwords and promises I want to notice that we are to have very interesting matches with wonderful opponents."

"Our main rivals in Vancouver will be Russians, the current Olympic champions Swedes and I think the US national team. After all they have such a strong goalkeeper as Miller and such a notable forward like Zach Parise from our New Jersey."

"Every team at the Olympics will have its best players but the Russians owe me something. After all we lost to them in the quarterfinals in Turin."

"I am sure if our teams meet in Vancouver it will be a spectacular fixture."

"My record of 103 shutouts makes me proud – for nobody is trying to approach these figures now."

"But this record is not my personal but the achievement of the team, of all those defenders playing with me for all these years. 103 – is a big figure but I hope to increase it."

Way to go, Slava!

Former Red Wings defenseman and Russian hero Slava Fetisov is making a comeback in a Kontinental Hockey League game this evening. He's gonna play for CSKA Moscow tonight against first-place SKA.

That's the same age Gordie Howe was when he last played in the NHL, in 1979-80 with the Hartford Whalers. Cheli, who's with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, is a mere 47.

And Slava's still a double-threat: He's listed on the CSKA roster as a defenseman and team president.

For the record, he's just a temp on the defense. President Fetisov is filling in because the team has injury problems.

"We urgently need one more defender," coach Sergei Nemchinov said. "Fetisov practices constantly and has agreed to help the team."

Fetisov played for CSKA for a decade, starting in 1978, before jumping to the NHL. He retired in 1998 at age 40.

And the way Wings injuries are mounting up, maybe they should keep his number handy, too.
------------------------------------

There're some of today's comments on this story from all over the World down here:


- That's so cool! Most men are happy when they can digest red meat at 51!

- That's cool! In his prime, he was as good of a D as Bourque or Lidstrom.

- He won’t be the same as he use to be in the 80's and 90's but I'm happy he's playing again.

- That’s the great news. One of the greatest player ever on the ice. Fill a little envy to Russians.

- Would love to be able to watch the game. I doubt he could still throw it at the pace of todays game and his age considered, but man it would be nice to watch him throw another one of his patented hip checks out there again. Nobody I have ever watched could do it better than Fetisov used to in his time.

- Awesome! Fetisov helped a lot of russian players settle here in the U.S. and was the go to guy who could "correct" russian mafia threats to players and their families. Classy dude. Go Fetisov!

- WOW what a great story, Fetisov is an iron defenseman and, despite being a Bruins fan, I loved watching him play with the Red Wings.
Good luck, Slava, I'll try and catch some of your games on the KHL official site (KHL.ru), which shows next-day online broadcasts of some truly great hockey. Plus, it's the only way you'll see some all time greats like Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Yashin.

PLYUSCHEV’S TEAM GATHERED IN NOVOGORSK

The Russian youth hockey team began preparations for the World Championship, which will kick off in Canada on December 26.


These players began preparations for the competition in Novogorsk:

Goalkeepers – Igor Bobkov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Alexandr Zalivin (Dynamo M); Alexey Trifonov (Lada);

Defencemen – Dmitriy Orlov (Metallurg Novokuznetsk); Maxim Chudinov (Severstal); Nikita Zaiitsev (Sibir); Nikita Pivtsakin (Avangard); Konstantin Plaksin (Traktor); Alexandr Tarasov (HC MVD); Kirill Youryev (Lada);

Forwards – Vladimir Tarasenko (Sibir), Pavel Dedunov, Sergey Plotnikov (both – Amur); Maxim Kitsin (Metallurg Novokuznetsk), Maxim Trunev (Severstal), Evgeniy Kuznetsov, Egor Dugin (both – Traktor), Evgeniy Timkin (Avangard), Kirill Petrov (Ak Bars), Magomed Gimbatov (SKA), Pyotr Khokhryakov (Neftekhimik)

According to the head coach Vladimir Plyuschev defenders Anton Klimentiev and Dmitriy Kostromitin will join the team on Wednesday, while CSKA forward Nikita Filatov will come at the end of the week.

Goalkeeper Ramis Burmistrov, forwards Ivan Telegin, Alexandr Burmistrov and Sergey Ostapchuk will join the team in Canada.

UMARK LEADS DYNAMO AGAINST AK BARS

The main hero of the match between Dynamo and Ak Bars Linus Umark answered questions.


"I played awfully in the first and second periods and it’s better to forget about them", said Umark.

"I had to go to the match by metro and it didn’t let me catch necessary playing rhythm since the beginning".

Dynamo Swedish players became the main heroes of yesterday match between Moscow and Kazan teams, despite they missed a lot of scoring opportunities in the opening two periods. But after the break the Swedish stars levelled the score and managed to grab the victory thus making this match the best one for Dynamo this season.

TIKHONOV RETURNS TO SEVERSTAL

Yesterday Phoenics former forward Viktor Tikhonov decided to continue his career in Severstal.


The 21-year-old Viktor Tikhonov returned to Russia.

"I came from Phoenics several days ago", said Viktor. "My father and I thought which KHL team would be better for me and we were surprised that my former club Severstal still has rights for me".

"So far as I know I move to Severstal on a loan, since I have running contract with Phoenics".

General director of Severstal Anatoliy Tenitsky commented on Tikhonov’s move.

"We are glad that question of Viktor’s comeback to the team has been finally solves", said Tenitsky.

"He will hold the first training with us on Friday and maybe will take part in the match against SKA".

GUSTAFSSON: COUNTDOWN TO VANCOUVER OLYMPICS

The head coach of reigning Olympic champions and one of Russia’s main competitors at the coming Vancouver Games Swedish national team Bengt-Ake Gustafsson gaves an interview.

"I won’t be original if I say that determining of the team’s Olympic roster by December 23 will be our main concern at this time", said the coach. "I begin every day by watching NHL news. Moreover it’s time to prepare for the Moscow stage of Euro Hockey Tour, which will differ much from the previous three seasons".

"I am going to give three or maximum five places in the squad to players from European clubs, but two more links from the roster, who will play in Moscow, will be candidates to the national team’s squad for the Olympic Games".

"New rules allow us make changes in the list of players until the start of the Olympics so we should keep in mind at least ten players who don’t enter the 23-men roster".

"In Moscow we will see who would be able to replace NHL players in case of injuries. Moreover I seriously think to cap one non-NHL goalkeeper for Vancouver Games".

"I like statistics and mood of Henrik Lundqvist from Rangers, who is likely to be our number one goalkeeper. Supporters and hockey experts are sure that Russia and Canada will have the strongest goalkeepers in Vancouver and maybe it’s really so".

"But situation in our team is not worse, since three goalkeepers can’t play at one time. Henrik is cool-headed, experienced and has constant practice in his club".

"Peter Forsberg plays much better now than at the Carjala Cup in November, so if he keeps the same playing rhythm we will think about inviting him to Vancouver".

"Player with his experienced, mastership and two Olympic gold medals will surely help us. It’s not necessary to pay attention to performances during the season".

"Russian veteran Sergey Fyodorov also doesn’t score three goals every match, but nobody puts into doubt his usefulness to the national team".

TORESEN JOINS WEINHANDL AND HOSSA ATOP

Three assists in the match against Sibir allowed Salavat Yulaev newcomer Patrick Toresen catch up with KHL top foreign scorers Matthias Weinhandl and Marcel Hossa.

"It’s very pleasant that I became one of the league’s top scorers", said Toresen. "But I wouldn’t have achieved this result without help of my partners Alexandr Radulov and Sergey Zinovyev".

"However I should admit that personal statistics have never been number one task for me".

"I knew that KHL is very strong hockey league and that Salavat is very powerful club, which will go among leaders. I knew that it would be difficult to play there, and frankly speaking I didn’t expect that I would be the second top scorer of my club".

"I am happy that I earned more points that Jaromir Jagr, my favorite player".

"My partners are candidates to the Russian national team’s squad for the Olympics and I think that there will be several favorites in Vancouver, including Russia. This team has very strong squad, several stars from NHL and many good players from KHL".

"It’s hard to compare hockey in NHL and KHL, but I think that several Russian clubs including Salavat could fight as equals in NHL".

"Before my move to Russia I couldn’t assess level of KHL teams, but now I can say that Salavat Yulaev, SKA and 5-6 other clubs will fight for the Gagarin Cup trophy".

LARIONOV: FETISOV UNDERTOOD REASONS OF MY QUIT

Igor Larionov explains why he decided to leave SKA last summer and talks about his plans for future.


In summer Larionov sensationally left the post of SKA sporting director and rejected Fetisov’s offer to become general manager of CSKA. After that he returned to America and seems to withdraw from KHL active life though he still enters the league’s board of directors.

"I didn’t extend my contract with SKA through several reasons", explained Larionov. "But mainly because my point of view on the team’s formation is different from opinion of the club’s managers".

"I decided that it’s better to leave the team in this situation. Finally everyone can have his own vision of the team’s formation".

"The whole problem is that I saw the club as a business project, as I suppose that it was the main purpose of creation of the KHL. It’s wrong that owners of companies, who invest money in hockey, get nothing in exchange".

"Any team is build not for one or even two years, as it’s very serious and long process. I saw examples of Vancouver, San Jose and Detroit how to build the structure of the professional club set to achieve success in future".

"My friend Vyacheslav Fetisov offered me to become the CSKA general manager, but I refused, because I am not ready to move to Russia permanently. My son studies at school and plays hockey in Detroit.

"We moved to Detroit, because California is not the best place for the growth for hockey player. The main youth hockey is concentrated in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo and Saint Louis. And we had to fly from Los-Angeles to these cities during school year".

"It would be very interesting to work with Fetisov, as CSKA hasn’t won anything serious during twenty years since Slava, our partners and I left the club".

"It means that it’s necessary to change principles of work inside the team. Fetisov understood reasons of my refusal, while I gave him advice on strategy of CSKA’s revival".

"I won’t appear in my home team in the near future, because I want to spend two or three years for another hockey project. I am going to build company, which will deal with young players, provide them with consultation and other services".

KHL: SPARTAK BEAT DYNAMO IN SOKOLNIKI

HC Spartak outplayed their Moscow rivals Dynamo in the Kontinental Hockey League match yesterday.

Spartak – Dynamo Moscow 4:2 (2:1, 1:1, 1:0)

Best players: Knyazev (S); Radivoevic (S); Hudler (D)

"I want to apologize in front of our supporters for this match", said Dynamo head coach Andrey Khomutov. "It was the worse game for us this season and we will try to find out reasons of our crisis".

YAKUTSENYA SET NEW KHL RECORD

Neftekhimik forward Maxim Yakutsenya shares his feelings after he scored five goals in the match with Lada on Monday.


Maxim Yakutsenya needed only 14 minutes and 59 seconds to score five goals in one match, which a new record of the Russian hockey.

"I have already read in mass media that I became the second player to score five goals in one game after Morozov", said Yakutsenya. "It’s pleasant to find my name in this company".

"My team managed to do everything we wanted in the match with Lada. We caught our playing rhythm and scored nine goals".

"Lada is still very uncomfortable opponent even despite all their problems. We made sure of this fact several days ago, when we played in Togliatti and managed to get back from 1-3 behind and win only in overtime".

"Unlike previous years when Neftekhimik had the task to reach playoffs, this season we will try to advance as high as possible in the regular season. And then we will do our best to advance further in Gagarin Cup fight".

SUSHINSKY: I HOPE I WILL PLAY IN VANCOUVER

SKA forward Maxim Sushinsky earned 5 (2+3) points in latest two games of the regular season to head the KHL top scorers’ list with 38 points overall.


"I didn’t think about reasons of my so successful performance, as everything goes well for both my club and me", said Sushinsky. "I am in good form, I have wonderful partners so it helps us achieve high results".

"I often mention time when everything goes not well for me, and I don’t pay special attention to positive moments".

"My leadership in the top scorers’ list is mainly achievement of my partners. I haven’t achieved the same results during last two years and it happened because I didn’t have partners of so high level before".

"After the break connected with the Euro Hockey tour SKA began showing the same hockey, which we played at the start of the season. We had a negative series of games in November, as our match schedule was very challenging. But after the break we caught our usual playing rhythm and became even better".

"We need to continue showing hockey which we show now, and plus it’s necessary to improve in several components of the game".

"I prepare and hope that my own hockey and figures of my effectiveness will help Russian national team’s coaches make the final decision according to the side’s roster for the Olympic games".

"This season helped me understand that it’s early to finish my playing career. When your team wins, when you understand your partners without words, you want to play hockey more. It helps me improve myself and find something new in my game".

FILATOV: NEW ICON OF THE RUSSIAN HOCKEY

HC CSKA forward Nikita Filatov was voted the best rookie of the week by the Kontinental Hockey League.


The Russian youngster Nikita Filatov, age 19, stands best chances to become a new icon of the Russian hockey. The Russian national team’s squad for the Sochi-2014 Olympics will be made by such rising stars, and of course KHL clubs will follow CSKA’s example and will trust their youngsters more.

Having returned to CSKA from NHL Filatov made fantastic debut – 9 points in 5 games!

"When I came back to Russia I didn’t think about records and awards, as I just missed hockey, more playing time and good partners", Nikita told Sport Express. "Now I have everything I want and it’s great that I am very effective and helpful to my team".

"My partner Albert Leschev is a great player. Before going to the ice we agree with him how we should play in particular situation and it works out and it’s fantastic".

"Now I don’t think about the next season at all. I am satisfied with my current job, my clubmates and playing time. I don’t think about my return to NHL too".

"Of course I would like to have more time for rest between the matches, but I don’t feel tiredness".

"Russian youth team’s head coach Vladimir Plyuschev didn’t contact me, but if I get invitation to the national side I will surely come there and help. My dream is to become the world champion and I will have enough strength to put it into reality".

"Filatov’s performance didn’t surprise me at all, admitted CSKA head coach Sergey Nemchinov. We hoped that Nikita would score in our club and we trusted him. He played brilliantly in Columbus when coaches let him play".

"Hockey in NHL is an absolutely different game, with less space on the ice and more powerful hockey. But Nikita wanted to leave Russia, he grew up in the North America and learnt a lot there. Comparing with the last youth World championship he made progress".

"He is young and he has very important advantage as he can return to full fitness quicker than others, even when we have very fierce match schedule".

"Nikita is very talented player, but he is not Kovalchuk or Ovechkin. He is Filatov with his own unique tricks".

"If he goes to the youth Word championship, his absence would be a big loss for us, but we understand that he can help our national team".

DYNAMO FORWARDS DISMISED TO RESERVES

Forwards of HC Dynamo Moscow Oleg Saprykin and Vadim Epachintsev have been sent to reserves.


Ahead of the season’s kick-off the Moscow club managers counted that both newcomers would become leaders of the team, however their performance is far from ideal.

Dynamos coaching staff was not satisfied with hockey showed by Saprykin and Epachintsev in the match against Dynamo Minsk.

"Oleg and Vadim played awfully in Minsk and I decided to watch other forwards in action", said Dynamo head coach Andrey Khomutov. "I don’t consider their dismissal to reserves as educational measure, since we are trying to find our optimal lineup".

"All players should get a chance to show themselves".

TRETYAK: I AM IMPRESSED BY VARLAMOV AND OVECHKIN

The president of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak speaks about his visit to the North America.


The outstanding Russian hockey player Vladislav Tretyak visited the match between Montreal and Washington Capitals to watch candidates to the national Olympic team in action. Despite reserved place in the press box, Tretyak decided to watch the game at the VIP box.

"I arrived to the North America two days ago", said Tretyak. "I was in Toronto where I took part in the charity dinner with the fans. We gathered money for children and veterans of Saratov region".

"I am not going to visit other cities, because I will return to Moscow tomorrow. I will come to America for the second time in December, as I want to visit Chicago, Pittsburgh, Phoenics and Miami to meet our foreigners".

"I had a meeting with Andrey Markov and we talked about process of his rehabilitation. Andrey is in good mood, he is getting prepared for getting back to the ice".

"Of course it’s difficult process for him, as he hadn’t training for two months, but I told him that we believe in him and count on his services".

"And after this match I want to talk to Ovechkin and Varlamov, as for it’s very important to watch how Semyon plays. I would like to know about their mood. We have enough time before the Olympics, but they should feel that we keep an eye on them and support them".

"After the final whistle the general manager of the Russian national team was in perfect mood, as Washington sealed 4-3 victory in shootout series".

"Varlamov is a real hero, as he played so confidently in shootout series, said Tretyak. I am impressed by Ovechkin’s performance too, however it seems to me that he gets little playing practice, because coaching staff takes care of his after his injury".

"Canadian coaches said that they would unveil the roster for the Olympic Games on December 31, but we want to do it later, since we have a lot of players who want to play in Vancouver".

"Preliminary squad of the Russian team is very strong and we would like to prolong rivalry between candidates to the final roster. If we announce the squad now, many players, who will stay out of this list, will level down standards and lose motivation, so we will keep intrigue until the very end".

"NHL wants to announce the final roster beforehand, because they want to do advertising, while we don’t need it. We have already made our choice according NHL players, but we need to choose candidates from KHL. We keep an eye on everyone, as we want to give a chance to all players, who are included to the preliminary squad".

MILOS RIHA: all teams are set against us...

The head coach of HC Spartak Milos Riha shares his feelings.

Spartak is waiting for two Moscow derbies this week. They've clinched convincing victory over Dynamo at Luzhniki where they haven’t won in regular time during 13 years. And today Spartak will welcome another old-time enemy CSKA.

"Spartak doesn’t show stable hockey this season, as we can lose to weaker clubs and defeat our main competitors in perfect manner", said Riha. "The main reason of it is that all teams are set against us like against their match hockey grands".

"For example Amur Khabarovsk demonstrated their best hockey against us and then lose three straight games, or we could also recall Dynamo Minsk, which suffered series of losses after their victory over Spartak".

"I really got an offer from Dynamo Moscow after Kotov’s dismissal and it was pleasant to hear about their interest in me. However if I signed a contract with Spartak, I will work there until the end and I won’t change the team".

BYKOV UNVEILS THE SQUAD FOR THE FIRST CHANNEL CUP

Yesterday the Russian hockey team’s coaches unveiled preliminary roster of team for the third stage of Euro Hockey Tour – the First Channel Cup.


Russia’s preliminary squad for the First Channel Cup, which will be held in Moscow on December 17-20, includes these players:

Goalkeepers – Vasiliy Koshechkin, Ilya Proskuryakov (both – Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Stanislav Galimov (Ak Bars), Georgiy Gelashvili (Lokomotiv), Alexandr Eremenko (Salavat Yulaev);

Defencemen – Dmitriy Kalinin, Vitaliy Proshkin, Oleg Tverdovsky (all – Salavat Yulaev), Vitaliy Vishnevsky, Alexandr Guskov (both – Lokomotiv); Konstantin Korneev, Denis Kulyash (both – CSKA), Vitaliy Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Denis Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars);

Forwards – Sergey Zinovyev, Viktor Kozlov, Alexandr Radulov (all – Salavat Yulaev), Danis Zaripov, Alexey Morozov, Alexey Tereschenko (all – Ak Bars), Alexandr Galimov, Alexey Mikhnov, Gennadiy Churilov (all – Lokomotiv), Maxim Rybin, Maxim Sushinsky (both – SKA), Anton Kuryanov (Avangard), Sergey Mozyakin (Atlant), Oleg Saprykin (Dynamo Moscow), Pyotr Schastlivy (CSKA), Sergey Fyodorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

FILATOV HELPED CSKA WIN IN MAGNITOGORSK

CSKA newcomer Nikita Filatov led his club to the second consecutive away victory by scoring twice against Metallurg Magnitogorsk.


The 19-year-old former forward of Columbus collected three goals for CSKA after his return to the Moscow club.

"Let’s see what will happen in Ekaterinburg because that away match will be very tough", said Filatov. "I don’t know about my teammates, but I am getting tired since away matches are very exhausting".

"I wouldn’t say that Metallurg played awfully, as we just had perfect mindset for the game. Our competitors also created scoring chances, but they didn’t convert them into goals. Maybe it was not their best day".

"CSKA hasn’t won in Magnitogorsk during 15 years and of course it’s pleasant that I helped my team end this unsuccessful series , but this game is over and we need to prepare for the next one".

FILATOV: CSKA IS MY HOME TEAM

One of the most outstanding newcomers of the ongoing KHL season Nikita Filatov fired in the winning goal and added two assists for CSKA in the match against Traktor in his debut match for the Army club.


"I didn’t expect something like that to happen in my debut match for CSKA after my comeback to the team", said Filatov to journalists after the game. "I wanted to play as good as possible, but I didn’t dream about scoring in my first match for CSKA".

"Several clubs were interested in me, but I didn’t even think about playing in the other team besides CSKA, as it was the best variants for me".

"Moscow is my native city and CSKA is my home team, where I had been playing for 12 years. I knew that it would be easier to adapt there and I was sure that I would play well in this club".

"I feel like I have been playing there from the start of the season. In general I don’t see anything strange in it, because I know my team-mates well".

OVECHKIN: TWO WEEKS LASTED FOR ETERNITY

The leader of Washington Alexandr Ovechkin joined the team after injury and scored his fifteenth goal this season still on top of the scorers’ race.


The main event of late in NHL is of course returning of the best player of the League in the last two years, Russian Alexandr Ovechkin or rather the conspiracy that accompanied his return.

For even at the morning training both Ovechkin and the coach of the Capitals were not sure about Alexandr’s participation in the match against Rangers.

"It turned out a good coming back," said the Russian player after the match that they won 4:2. "It is very pleasant to score as early as in the first period. This added self-confidence."

"But actually I want to pick out our tough guy Bradley. We entered the ice sleepy after the three days of rest and only his fight woke us up and we started moving more actively. And he also scored a very beautiful goal."

"I feel wonderful! I could not way any longer for the moment to play. Two weeks for rehabilitation lasted for eternity."

"Moreover my return happened at the most popular arena of the world. I like playing there very much for the supporters create such an excellent hockey atmosphere. I am happy we managed to win, for we have not done so for quite a while."

"So I feel splendid and I think that my injury is in the past. I was careful at the beginning but when I realized that nothing hurts I started to play at my full strength."

SUSHINSKY: SPARTAK IS UNCOMFORTABLE RIVAL

SKA captain Maxim Sushinsky commented on his club’s loss to Spartak.

"I think that Spartak is very uncomfortable opponent not only for us, but for other teams too", said SKA captain Maxim Sushinsky. "Absence of Cajanek is a great loss for us, as he always undertakes great deal of work".

"We conceded a silly goal and it was the beginning of our misfortunes. We were not at our peak physical form and it was hard to play when the score was equal and we could nothing with it".

"Our opponents played perfectly during almost the whole match, while we were far from our best form".

KHL BRIEFS

Mattias Weinhandl, the Swedish scoring leader of the KHL has agreed to extend his contract with Dynamo Moscow for one more season. Weinhandl leads to KHL with 29 points (13+16) in 24 games.


Ak Bars Kazan has signed Finnish goaltender, Petri Vehanen (32) to a two-year contract. Vehanen will replace Mikael Tellqvist which had a less than successful season with the KHL champion. Vehanen has previously played in Russia for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in 2006-07.

CSKA Moscow has agreed with Columbus Blue Jackets to loan Russian top prospect, Nikita Filatov for the rest of the season.

Lada Togliatti's financial crisis has led to the departure of goaltender Basil Koshechkin to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Several other players, including Slovak national team player Roman Kukumberg, have threathened to leave the team unless they receive their salaries.

Marcel Hossa: Maybe Dynamo Riga really became a different team after KHL break

Dynamo Riga forward Marcel Hossa heads the list of KHL top scorers with 17 goals.

Marcel Hossa scored two goals in the games against Ak Bars and Neftekhimik each to head the KHL top scorers’ list.

"Maybe Dynamo Riga really became a different team after KHL break", said Hossa to Sport Express.

"To my mind all our players understood during November break that it couldn't last the same way anymore. We discussed our problems and ways to improve our results".

"Actually, these talks united us as a team. When we played in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, we felt for the first time that results of this work won’t be lost".

"And of course our coach Supler and his assistants changed many things during our trainings. We have been working on correcting our mistakes during these ten days".

"Players became more self-confident, though frankly speaking it was seen that we were a little bit nervous at the opening minutes of the match with Ak Bars".

"However after that we understood that we succeeded in many components of the game, and played the best match of this season. Victory in Kazan was very important not only from our position in the standings, it also helped us psychologically. And our main target now is to keep the same mindset".

"Rumours about Julius Supler’s dismissal urged us forward. I suppose the previous season was successful for us and all players know that Supler can create warn and friendly atmosphere in the team. Nobody wanted to lose this wonderful coach".

"I was worried about these rumours and I tried not to think about them, however I didn’t manage to distract from these negative thoughts. Fortunately, we support our head coach by our good performance and victories".

"I began my career in NHL when I was very young and I turned to be not very strong for their hockey".

"It often happens that player is considered to be a star in his home country, but when he comes to the North America, he doesn’t impress with goals there. It happens not because level of hockey is much higher in NHL, as many players prefer European style. And I think that I found my best team in Riga".

"Maybe I will return to NHL some day, but I will do it only if I feel that I really can play hockey there".

SALAVAT YULAEV HEAD KHL STANDINGS

The coach of Salavat Yulaev Igor Zakharkin commented on his club’s match against Metallurg Magnitogorsk.


On Saturday Salavat Yulaev defeated Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3:2 and headed the KHL regular season standings.

"We made timid start of the match, as players were not self-confident", said Zakharkin. "Then we saw that our team is well-prepared functionally and we improved in every period while playing against very strong opponent".

"Players are technically prepared too and we have enough room for psychological improvement to take part in so-called derbies".

"In general all candidates to the national team played as we had expected, but I don’t want to comment on each of them. Games with leaders will help us analyze their capabilities".

VELICHKIN: WE NEED TO FORGET ABOUT THIS LOSS

Yesterday Barys sensationally crushed leader of the KHL regular season Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7:1.

Barys – Metallurg Magnitogorsk 7:1 (3:0, 2:0, 2:1)

Leader of the championship suffered the most crushing defeat in the season, while the goalkeeper Proskuryakov was replaced for the first time. The only one positive moment for Metallurg was comeback of Czech forward Jan Marek after he shook off his injury.

General director of Metallurg Magnitogorsk Gennadiy Velichkin commented on his club’s sensational loss to Barys.


"It was a tough day", said Velichkin after his club suffered 1-7 loss to Barys. "All coaches, players and managers were disappointed by this defeat".

"All teams face such moments in their history and we just need to overcome it. Even unbeatable Soviet national team suffered losses to weaker opponents".

"Our players did their best, but the hosts were better prepared and wanted to win more than Metallurg".

"Of course we have no right for such defeats and thanks God that match has already gone down in history. We need to forget about it and prepare for the next games".

SMITH: I AM HAPPY TO WORK WITH YASHIN

SKA head coach Barry Smith comments on the first match of his team after KHL break.

SKA outplayed Vityaz Chekhov 4:1 and the head coach of the St. Petersburg club expressed his point of view on the game.

"I liked both quality of hockey and character of my players", said Barry Smith at post-match press conference. "I was afraid that team would lose our peak form during nine days of break, but I was mistaken. We played wonderfully in the first period".

"Our opponents improved in the second period. Unfortunately our victory was darkened by injuries of two players. I hope that these injuries are not serious".

"One of our leaders Konstantin Gorovikov had flu and there was no sense in letting him play for the national team at Euro Hockey Tour in Helsinki. His teammate Zubov missed this competition because of injury and was not ready to play a week ago. I can only thank him that he recovered so quickly and played on high level against Vityaz".

"Alexey Yashin was not included to list of candidates to the national team, but he is not the person who will complain on it. He is professional player and he is always fighting as hard as he can. If coaches don’t want to see him in their team, it’s their right, but I have a different point of view on it. I am happy to work with this great player".

ZHAMNOV:we stake on young players of our hockey school

General manager of HC Vityaz Alexey Zhamnov gave an interview.


The former outstanding centerforward and Olympic champion Alexey Zhamnov started his interview with epidemic of injuries of Russian NHL players. Vityaz general manager expressed his concern about injuries of Russia’s leaders Gonchar – Markov, Kovalchuk – Malkin – Ovechkin.

"Injuries are always impossible to predict", said Zhamnov. "You can be 100% ready and pick an injury, like it happened with me in 2006 when I was eager to play at the Olympic Games in Turin and got injured".

"Alexandr Ovechkin always takes risk on the ice ahead of the Olympics. On one hand of course star players should be careful before this important tournament, but on the other hand it’s his playing style".

"He can realize all his potential only playing in risky hockey. Alexandr have become the Most Valuable Player of the league during two consecutive years and it means that he is absolutely right".

"There is no sense in comparing Vityaz new head coach Mike Krushelnyski with Russian specialists, because everybody has weak and strong sides".

"I can say that Mike is a very friendly person, he always supports players even if they make mistakes. To my mind not all Russian coaches can boast the same patience".

"Mike already speaks Russian with our players, that is very important".

"We have a plan of our development for future. We understand our current financial situation and so we stake on young players of our hockey school".

"No doubt that we need to trust decision of the Russian side’s coaching staff concerning formation of the squad for the Olympic Games, as they are responsible for their choice".

"Yashin and Zherdev have not been included to the 50-men list of candidates to the national side. Personally I would prefer Yashin, since he is ideal form in SKA now".

"Zherdev is a real professional, who deserves playing at the Olympics. Though I agree that he hasn’t adapted in Atlanta yet".

New York times hockey blog gives a look on KHL landscape

If you think the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators have been buffeted by hard times, consider Lada Togliatti of the K.H.L. The club, from the southeastern city on the Volga, has been on financial life support the entire season because its main sponsor, the Russian automaking giant AvtoVaz, is near bankruptcy. Now Lada’s players, whose paychecks are overdue for a second straight month, have threatened to stop playing until they get their wages... (Good piece of true info. Look here for full story)

TVERDOVSKY READY TO PLAY AGAIN

Salavat Yulaev defenceman Oleg Tverdovsky gave an interview after he missed Karjala Cup matches because of swine flu.


The first signs of swine flu have been discovered on the place to Finland, and the player was isolated from the team when Russian side landed in Helsinki. Tverdovsky had to be in the hotel during the whole competition.

Yesterday Tverdovsky arrived to Ufa.

"I am absolutely healthy now", said Tverdovsky. "And in general I wasn’t seriously ill, because swine flu doesn’t differ from a common flu at all. Though I know that someone managed to make a tragedy out of my illness".

"Most likely I will resume trainings on Tuesday, but before that I will need to talk to the club’s doctor and pass medical tests. I want to say that I recovered several days ago and I think that I could have played in Finland".

"However attitude to my illness of some people didn’t let me play in Helsinki. Everybody decided not to take risk, while I felt badly only during several days. Now there are no symptoms of swine flu".

"Everyone is afraid for their families and themselves because of swine flu nowadays. But I want to underline one more time that nothing serious happened to me".

"We decided to isolate me from the team in order not to take risk. I spent the whole tournament in my hotel room".

"Unfortunately I didn’t manage to watch games of the Russian team, because Karjala Cup matches were not broadcasted in the hotel. However I knew everything about my team. I am very happy that my partners won all games and won the competition".

"Now everything will depend on decision of our coaches, since I haven’t trained for a week. I would return to the ice on Thursday with great pleasure, when we will welcome Traktor at home".

BORSCHEVSKY TO HEAD ATLANT

Nikolay Borschevsky took on coaching job in HC Atlant.

Nikolay Borschevsky has been appointed to the post of Atlant head coach.

"I got an offer from Atlant several days ago when I came to the match in Mytischi with Lokomotiv", said Borschevsky. "However I couldn’t agree at once, because I had running contract with farm club of Yaroslavl team".

"We agreed that I should return to Yaroslavl to meet with the club’s president Yuriy Yakovlev and inform Atlant about my decision after that".

"Yakovlev understood my situation and I am thankful to him for it".

"I watched Atlant’s match against Avangard. The team showed their fighting spirit and won in shootout series".

KASATONOV WOULD BE GLAD TO WORK IN KHL

Krylya Sovetov head coach Alexey Kasatonov would be glad if his club joins Kontinental Hockey League.


"Krylya Sovetov is the new team for me and we needed time to get used to each other", said Kasatonov.

"We were occupied by selection plans until the last moment of pre-season preparations. The club took part in two prestigious tournaments at the end of August and beginning of September. Of course it was hard to play against KHL clubs, but anyway we received valuable experience".

"If I get an invitation from KHL club, I will think about it, as my club’s managers promised to let me go".

"As for possibility of Krylya Sovetov’s joining KHL, it’s better to ask the club’s management. Of course I would be happy if we play with the country’s strongest teams".

MOROZOV: KARJALA CUP – CANDIDATE SHOW FOR OLYMPICS

The captain of the Russian ice hockey national team Alexey Morozov gave an interview to Sport Express.

"There is much talk now that I have a guaranteed place in the national team," said the forward of Ak Bars. "And people say so not only about me."

"But managers speak now the following way that we must show good display in the coming matches and earn a place in the roster."

"I think that our coaches do not just say that they will take only those to Vancouver who are in better form now and thus can bring more benefit to the team and they are not going to count with past merits."

"Almost everybody who is going to Finland for the Karjala Cup is in the list highly probable to go to the Olympics. So I hope that since I am to go to Finland I have great chances to participate in the Winter Olympics-2010."

"In the last matches Ak Bars and I look better than at the beginning of the season. We are approaching the optimal conditions."

"The team looked well before the break in the championship having won two games on the road. And in both times we outplayed our rivals rather masterfully and that I can only be happy about this."

"I am also delighted with my own achievements. Against Sibir I scored four goals. A poker is a rare achievement in the career of a player."

"When it was not so smooth in Ak Bars the coaches decided to rotate the squad and Danis Zaripov and I were playing without Alexey Tereschenko. Though we are to play together in the national team and I hope we will perform well."

"Of course it is better to play with those guys you know well for it is easy to understand each other and thus achieve results. But it is the question for the coaching staff to decide who will be on the ice."

"I understand perfectly well that the two nearest stages - in Finland and in Moscow – are very responsible."

"A lot is spoken about it especially in the press. There the chances of candidates to go to Vancouver will be studied carefully. Every player with self-respect wants to go to the Olympics and that why the coming tournaments are not journeys for me."

BYKOV: ATTACK - BEST FORM OF DEFENCE

Seven-match winning series of Salavat Yulaev became the main news of the previous week of KHL championship and the team head coach Vyacheslav Bykov talked to Sport Express.

The club’s head coach Vyacheslav Bykov and Sport Express correspondent Igor Larin agreed that this interview would concern only Salavat Yulaev and KHL, but also spoke about the national team’s matters ahead of the coming Euro Hockey Tour tournament Karjala Cup.

"I cannot say that beginning of the championship was very easy for us", said Bykov. "Players got used to the new system and maybe coaches underwent adaptation process too".

"As the result we had several unstable games at the start of the season, but I am glad that process of adaptation was not long".

"We scored 86 goals in 22 matches leaving far behind CSKA with their 73 goals and it goes beyond doubt that this statistics makes me very happy. You know that we always tried to develop traditions of Soviet attacking hockey. Attack is often the best way of defence and in this respect our fans should be satisfied with our hockey".

"Salavat Yulaev crushed Atlant and Severstal to provoke dismissal of their head coaches. Frankly speaking I regret that our victories affected these teams this way. I have no right to comment actions of their managers, but these dismissals in KHL look artificial".

"I am sure that it’s impossible to assess the specialist’s work by the short period of the championship".

"Salavat Yulaev treated the KHL match schedule normally. To my mind level of rivalry in our Eastern Conference is higher than in Western Conference, because Metallurg, Avangard and Ak Bars are very strong opponents".

"I don’t know why but mass media, hockey experts and fans pay more interest to Slavat Yulaev, however it’s not right at all! Just look at fantastic work undertaken by Dynamo in summer or star-roster of SKA".

"Maybe the break in the championship, connected with the Euro Tour competition in Finland, is not useful for me as the coach of Ufa club. On the other hand we played 22 matches, players worked very effectively and deserved a short break".

"I want to underline that my work in the club won’t stop after our move to the national team’s matters, as our assistants Sergey Gersonsky and Vener Safin will fulfill all our plans while we are absent".

"Like the whole team goalkeeper Alexandr Eremenko entered the season uneasily. Unfortunately he picked an injury and we had to replace him by Georgiy Gelashvili".

"I think that it’s great that he is eager to win a place in Russian national team’s roster for the Olympics. Big number of ambitious players in our squad will make rivalry among our players fiercer".

OVECHKIN: WE SEEM HEXED

The leader of Washington and the Russian national team Alexandr Ovechkin got injured on Sunday in the match against Columbus.

"I can say nothing about the injury," commented on Alex after the match. "I cannot even discuss the moment I was hurt for I do not want to disclose what injury do I have exactly."

"I can mention only that the matter concerns the upper part of my body."

"I do not know how serious it is but I hope that is a day-to-day. I am going to do an x-ray and that will clear the matter up."

"I cannot understand what is going on. The players of the national team keep on getting injured. Probably a girl has hexed us."

The medical showed that the injury of Ovechkin is not serious but he will definitely miss out on the next match of his team.

KHL NAMES BEST PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Kontinental Hockey League has announced the best players of the previous week of regular championship.


Andrey Mezin from Dynamo Minsk has been voted the best goalkeeper of the previous week of the KHL season. The goalie sealed three victories in three games, conceded three goals and parried 96,3% of shots on goal.

Dmitriy Kalinin from Salavat Yulaev became the best defenceman as he scored two goals and added three assists in three matches. Stanislav Chistov from Metallurg Magnitogorsk scored three goals and made three assists to become the best forward of the week.

The 19-year-old forward of Avtomobilist Anatoliy Nikontsev has been voted the best rookie of the week. He scored two goals in two games.

EURO HOCKEY TOUR

click the pic to see Official stats

Now there's a break for Karjala Cup 2009 - Helsinki(FIN), 05-08 november 2009.

Fixtures:

05.11.2009
18:30 Russia - Finland
19:30 Sweden - Czech Republic @ Jönköping Kinnarps Arena (SWE)

07.11.2009
13:00 Sweden - Russia
16:30 Finland - Czech Republic

08.11.2009
13:00 Czech Republic - Russia
16:30 Finland - Sweden

Russian roster:

Goalies:
Alexander Eremenko (Salavat)
Vasili Koshetshkin (Lada)
Georgi Gelashvili (Lokomotiv)

Defenders:
Vitali Proshkin (Salavat)
Oleg Tverdovsky (Salavat)
Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat)
Konstantin Kornejev (CSKA)
Denis Kulyash (CSKA)
Vitali Vishnevsky (Lokomotiv)
Aleksander Guskov (Lokomotiv)
Ilja Nikulin (Ak Bars)
Vitali Atyushov (Magnitogorsk)
Sergei Zubov (SKA)

Forwards:
Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat)
Alexander Radulov (Salavat)
Alexander Perezhogin (Salavat)
Viktor Kozlov (Salavat)
Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars)
Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars)
Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars)
Maxim Sushinsky (SKA)
Konstantin Gorovikov (SKA)
Oleg Saprykin (Dynamo Moscow)
Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant)
Anton Kuryanov (Avangard)
Alexander Galimov (Lokomotiv)
Petr Schastlivy (CSKA)
Kirill Knyazev (Spartak)

Traktor vs HC MVD

HC MVD Moscow Oblast (Nickname - Miliciaman or Mushora [musə'ra]) is part of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. So the pic above is quite appropriate for the case. Here in Russia most people hate them as militia is fu.. shit which uses its power for damned purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality.
Well to attemt to bring this back towards some kind of hockey focus I have to say that it's not Mushora but Traktor who must be feeling absolutely sick at the moment and it's going to be a tall order to pick themselves up from the heartache of Thursday evening. 1:6 from Loko is a bitter pill to swallow:

Last matches Traktor:
Date Home - Away Score
10.29. Traktor - Lokomotiv   1:6 (1:4,0:2,0:0)
10.27. Traktor - Spartak M   3:3 (0:1,2:0,1:2, 0:0)
10.25. Traktor - Neftekhimik 4:6 (1:1,1:3,2:2)
10.22. Lada T  - Traktor     3:2 (2:0,1:0,0:2)
10.20. Ak Bars - Traktor     3:2 (0:0,0:0,2:2, 1:0)

Today they face one more tough assignment against conquerors from the west. MVD are riding high at the moment after a decent run from the season start. They have snatched some distinguished records due to their agressive style of play, which also includes a 4-2 victory over recent Traktor offenders Loko. Yeah, I should say MVD is quite an experienced squad led by Head coach Oleg Znarok (Latvia nation team manager at the same time), goaler Alexei Kudashov, defenders Filip Novak, Martin Strbak and forward Matt Ellison.

Head-to-head:
Date    Home - Away  Score
12.26.08 HC MVD - Traktor 4:2 (0:1,3:0,1:1)
12.12.08 Traktor - HC MVD 2:6 (1:1,1:2,0:3)
11.30.08 HC MVD - Traktor 5:2 (0:0,1:2,4:0)
10.14.08 Traktor - HC MVD 3:1 (1:0,1:0,1:1)
02.23.08 HC MVD - Traktor 5:2 (1:0,2:1,2:1)
12.02.07 Traktor - HC MVD 2:5 (0:0,2:2,0:3)
09.20.07 HC MVD - Traktor 1:2 (0:1,1:1,0:0)
02.21.07 Traktor - HC MVD 2:1 (0:0,0:1,1:0, 1:0)
11.01.06 Traktor - HC MVD 4:7 (2:4,1:0,1:3)
09.12.06 HC MVD - Traktor 3:2 (1:0,1:2,1:0)

I'd say it would be difficult for Traktor to argue with the MVD today. They just provide a different dynamic and the best strategy for this game would be to back MVD with (0) at 2.200..


result: 0:7 (0:2,0:2,0:3)

SIBIR SACKS SEMYONOV

"WTF!" - he think.

Vladimir Semyonov was sacked from the post of Sibir head coach on Thursday, 29 Oct 2009 to become the sixth dismissed specialist during month and a half in KHL championship.

"I can only guess who initiated my dismissal", said Semyonov. "General manager Alexandr Kantsurov told me about the club’s decision. The club’s management was not satisfied with the team’s results".

"Maybe we could have sealed three or four points more than we did, however the team began improving in latest matches".

"Frankly speaking I didn’t want to believe that I would be dismissed".

"This decision has been made because of absence of necessary result", said Sibir general manager Alexandr Kantsurov.

"The team’s result was unsatisfactory after 19 matches".

"We have several candidates to the post of new head coach, who will be set to squeeze to playoffs. I think we stand good chances for that".

Another day in the KHL, another two head coaches get kicked

Yesterday led to resignation of two more head coaches in the KHL. This brings the turnover of coaches up to six, or 25%, and we're still only 1/3 into the season.

Last night, Atlant's CEO Andrei Berebko and sports director Ravil Iskhakov last night announced that Fedor Kanareikin has resigned as headcoach and his assistant Valeri Bragin would assume the post. The announcement followed Atlant's 0-6 defeat to Salavat on Monday. The resignation of Kanareikin, who has coached Atlant for two years, does not come as a surprise. Atlant has struggled ever since the pre-season, and the expensive team reinforcements with Zherdev, Novotny, Gerber and Semin hasn't had any effect. The team has lost six of its nine latest games and firing Kanareikin seemed to be the only option left. Kanareikin became the head coach of Atlant on 4 January 2008. During his time as head coach, Atlant won 71 games and lost 33.

Meanwhile, Sibir Novosibirsk also kicked their head coach, Vladimir Semoyonov. Sibir has 20 points in 19 games and is well outside the playoff-zone. Sibir's fans have wanted to get rid of Semenov for a long time, and in the end the patience of Sibir's management simply fizzled out. Sibir will now be looking for a new coach. There's not a whole lot of options left, but in the meantime Andrei Tarasenko will act as a working head coach.

Meanwhile. There will be more coaches to go in the coming weeks. Dinamo Riga's Julius Šupler could very well be the next in line.

One coach that is relatively safe is Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, the coach of KHL Champion, Ak Bars. Ak Bars is in deep crisis and is off to its worst start ever in the RSL/KHL. After yesterday's 2-5 loss to Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Ak Bars dropped out of the playoff zone and is now ranked 17th in a combined KHL table. Bilyaletdinov, however, still has a tremendous amount of reputation in stock, and Ak Bars would probably rather prefer to kick the whole squad of players before they kick Bilyaletdinov. Swedish goaltender, Mikael Tellqvist could very well become the next player to be released from the team. The speculation about Tellqvist has been going on for some time--ever since the preseason actually. It didn't take long before Tellqvist lost his position as starting goaltender, a position that went to the young and promising, Stanislav Galimov, but since Galimov has also struggled recently, Ak Bars is looking for a replacement for Tellqvist. Here, Ak Bars has zoomed in on Lukko Rauma's Petri Vehanen. Vehanen has had tremendous success in the Finnish SM-Liiga with a GAA of 1.45 and SVS% of 94.9 in 13 games for table leader, Lukko. Vehanen's agent, Krister Kaukinen has confirmed that something is in the making.

Taken from internationalhockey

Dynamo Minsk fired Hanlon

Dynamo Minsk management, after lost KHL game against Amur Khabarovsk (1:4), has decided to fire all coaches including Dynamo Minsk head coach Glen Hanlon (at pic), informing Belarus hockey page.

The new head coach to Belarus team could be Alexander Andrievskiy, who coached Gomel team in Belarus Extraliga.

Belarus hockey federation’s president Vladimir Naumov introduced about this decision at press conference after the game: “Dynamo Minsk doesn’t has character and I see that these coaches can’t give a character to this team. I can see that Dynamo Minsk can play much better. We have offered contract to coach Andrievskiy and tomorrow we will have a team meeting and then we will make a decision for future.”

Glen Hanlon is the third head coach in Kontinental hockey league who has been fired in this season.

"Spartak is fast team"

One of the leaders of SKA Saint-Petersburg Alexey Yashin talks about lost games to Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Yashin also talks about victory against HK MVD Moscow region and tomorrow’s game versus principal opponent Spartak Moscow.

“It’s great that we won MVD. But now we will have very hard game versus Spartak Moscow. This game is tomorrow, that’s why we need to think about Spartak right now. Usually we are trying to dispose on every game. Without any reference from result we are trying to play our game as good as possible. Last game we won. That was great game for Rober Esche, he didn’t let any goal. I think because of him we could win MVD.

Your road games started in Vilnius, Lithuania. How it was physical to resist these road games?

It’s always very hard. But these road games is a part from calendar, all teams have one calendar. That’s way we need to get maximum from road games.

After lost game against Dynamo Moscow your teammates told that SKA lost this game, not Dynamo won. But what happened in Yaroslavl?

Maybe Lokomotiv Yaroslavl had a little bit more luck. We shot a goal to ourselves, we hadn’t our game. We made chances but we didn’t use them. This result is not fair. But there are always such games. No doubt that it was a good game for Lokomotiv also. In any case it is the past, but we need to prepare to future and next games. I hope that we will win the next game against Spartak Moscow.

Game against Dynamo Moscow was principal for your line mate Petr Cajanek (last year Cajanek played in Dynamo). Game against Lokomotiv was principal also for you?

For me the main thing is three points in table. It is no matter against what team you play; the main thing is to get points. I played in Lokomotiv Yaroslavl last two years and I have very good memories about this time. Yaroslavl is a hockey town. I want to thank to Yaroslavl about these two seasons. Now I’m in SKA Saint-Petersburg and I need to do all what I can for SKA. We will fight for gold medals.

Did you like Lokomotiv in this game?

My opinion is that they played great defensively. But they had some mistakes also. It seems that there we can see class of the team, when it plays great without mistakes.

You want to see game without mistakes for SKA. How it is working no in your team?

It depends from the game. I think that we need to be better. There is very many points which we could make better. I think that these games in regular season are for correcting mistakes and finding our game.

Your line with Cajanek and Sushinskiy plays great hockey. Do you like to play tohether?

I like to play with Cajanek and Sushinskiy very much, because these guys are very talented. They feel the situation and partners. That is the main reason why we understand each other. I hope that we will continue to play this way. Sometimes it is better, but sometimes it is worse. But the main thing is that everyone knows what he needs to do. We work together and talk together. It is a real pleasure to play together with Cajanek and Sushinskiy.

And if someone from your line has bad day that means that others have the same. Like in game against Dynamo Moscow?

It’s always so. But it is good that in our team we have other good lines also. Every line can score a winning goal. All strong teams have not only one good line, but plenty of them. I think that it is the main reason why we play so good in this season. Everyone from our team can win the game, goalies also. I hope that we will continue to win in KHL.

Barry Smith before the start of the KHL season said that he hopes to the great start. Did SKA make maximum points in the beginning?

It is very hard to say. It isn’t about physical condition. It is coincidence of many elements. Sure there is many points where we need to work hard, and we have some reserve. It is very hard to say how we play right now, it is our maximum or not. I think that potential for SKA Saint-Petersburg is great. Our game will be better and better.

SKA game versus Spartak is principal, what we need to wait from this game?

I think that this game will be very interesting. Spartak Moscow is very fast skating team and they are playing very good in area close to the net. For us it is very important to play good defensively.

Your friend and defender of your team Darius Kasparaitis now is in USA. Have you called with him? Very many fans are waiting for news about him…

I understand. But I don’t know how much can I speak. It would be great if he would be here, in the team. He is very important player for SKA mood. I hope that he will return on ice very fast.


Taken from khl-news