JAGR WILL STAY IN OMSK

Czech forward Jaromir Jagr has extended his contract with HC Avangard.


Yesterday Avangard general manager Anatoliy Bardin announced extension of Jagr’s contract with the club at special press conference.

"We will unveil all details of the contract ahead of kick-off of new season", he said. "We agreed with Jagr that we would make joint announcement".

"I would say only that terms of the new contract have been reviewed to reduction side, but it’s common practice for us".

"There couldn’t be other decision, because Avangard’s loss in play-off first round was a real catastrophe for us".

Moreover Avangard will part with Canadian forward Eric Perrin, goalkeeper Evgeniy Tsaregorodtsev and forward Jakub Klepis.

BYKOV WORRIED FOR RADULOV

The head coach of the Russian hockey team Vyacheslav Bykov commented on recent news of his team ahead of the Swedish Games match against Finland.


Yesterday Russian team made for Helsinki, where they will come up against Finland in Swedish Games clash today.

Russia’s coaches didn’t take one of the main KHL stars – Salavat Yulaev forward Alexandr Radulov – because of ankle injury. Meanwhile he is said to miss not only Euro Hockey Tour games in Sweden, but the World Championship in Germany too.

"I won’t hide that the national team’s coaching staff is worried about situation with Radulov’s injury", Vyacheslav Bykov said to sport press. "Unfortunately nobody is secured from injures, and we are concerned about all our players’ form".

"Our doctors are taking care of Radulov, and he is advised to have rest for minimum four days. But his mindset and his desire to help us and doctors’ predictions lets us count that situation will be improved by the start of the World championship on 7 May".

Several hours before this interview Phoenics of Ilya Bryzgalov slipped out of NHL play-offs. "We are waiting for our goalie in the national team", Bykov commented. "We hope that one of the most valuable players of NHL championship will rehabilitate after painful loss in the series with Detroit".

"President of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak is responsible for work with our goalkeepers. We are likely to call Bryzgalov on Thursday or Friday".

Ilya Kovalchuk said that he had made decision to play for the national team in Germany. "Ilya is gentleman", said Bykov. "He expressed his desire to help his national team at the World championships during the season and he kept his word as real patriot of his country".

RUSSIAN COACHES UNVEIL THE SQUAD FOR SWEDISH GAMES

Coaches of the Russian hockey national team determined list of players who will take part in Swedish Games.


Yesterday the list of players was published at the official web site of the Russian Hockey Federation. This list includes following players:

Goalkeepers – Koshechkin, Khudobin, Eremenko;

Defencemen – Kulikov, Atyushov, Korneev, Kulyash, Kalinin, Denisov, Ryasensky, Belov;

Forwards – Afinogenov, Kulemin, Artykhin, Anisimov, Tarasenko, Lisin, Gorovikov, Sushinsky, S.Fyodorov, Kozlov, Radulov, Mozyakin, Svitov, Saprykin, Grigorenko.

Thus Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin rejected services of two CSKA forwards Filatov and Parshin after two friendly matches in Italy. Besides they took aside forwards Skachkov, Rybin, Krysanov, Varnakov, defencemen Vorobyev and Biryukov and goalkeeper Bobrovsky.

The national team squad was strengthened by Sergey Fedorov, Sushinsky, Viktor Kozlov, Grigorenko, Radulov, Mozyakin and three NHL players Afinogenov, Kulemin and Lisin.

The Swedish Games will kick off on Thursday.

MEDVEDEV: HATS OFF TO KAZAN!

KHL president Alexandr Medvedev shared his feelings after Gagarin Cup final match between Ak Bars and HC MVD.


"Gagarin Cup final has fully justified supporters’ hopes", Medvedev said after the game. "We are proud of Balashikha, which has so wonderful team like HC MVD".

"But we are even more proud of Ak Bars, which managed to defend their title and become the KHL best club for the second consecutive season without their leading players".

"I think that KHL second season was more interesting than the first one, hockey was more entertaining and matches were more unpredictable. Even number of matches in play-offs increased that means that rivalry became fiercer".

"Decision on integration of Dynamo Moscow and HC MVD hasn’t been made yet, and the club’s managers will discuss it. I think that decision will be suitable for Dynamo, HC MVD and the League".

AK BARS WIN GAGARIN CUP

Ak Bars Kazan outplayed HC MVD in the seventh match of the final series to win Gagarin Cup for the second consecutive year.


HC MVD – Ak Bars 0:2 (0:0, 0:2, 0:0)

Scorers: Alexeev, 21:18 (0:1); Kapanen, 35:16 (0:2)

Best players: Vehanen (A); Stepanov (A); Garnett (M)

Score in the series 3-4 (2:3, 1:4, 3:2, 2:1, 3:2, 1:7)

Defending champions scored twice to take the trophy again. "It was the most difficult series", said the team head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov after the match. "I have a feeling as if it was he most dramatic finals in my life. I am so thankful to our players!"

SHALAEV: WE WILL SEE DIFFERENT HOCKEY IN BALASHIKHA

KHL vice-president Vladimir Shalaev gave a short interview to sport press after the sixth match of Gagarin Cup finals.


"Seven-match final series is a big luck for supporters, because they have an opportunity to get pleasure from hockey even more", he said. "I don’t support any club, and they know that I wish good luck to all of them".

"I agree that we will see an absolutely different game in Balashikha. It will be very tough and people won’t see entertaining hockey".

"HC MVD is perfectly physically prepared and they play in the finals not accidentally. Their success is result of their hard work".

"The winner of the series will be the team, which will cope with pressure better than their competitors".

EMELIN: WE WERE READY FOR DIFFICULT GAME

Ak Bars and HC MVD players Alexey Emelin and Denis Kokarev comment on Kazan club’s win in the sixth match.


"Of course we didn’t expect so effective play from us", said Ak Bars defenceman Alexey Emelin. "We prepared for a tough match, as we were 2-3 behind in the series and must have won the clash".

"We were supposed to accurately play in defence trying not to make mistakes".

"We fully lost the match to Kazan in movement beginning from the first period", said HC MVD forward Denis Kokarev. "When the score grew 3:0 it was very hard to fight back against this strong club.

"We were not ready for the first period, though we knew that Ak Bars had nowhere to step back, but it was unlucky day for us".

"I wouldn’t say that we were calm, because we had no right for mistake. Our team wanted to finish the series in Kazan, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to do it".

"We created a couple of dangerous episodes in the first period, but we lacked concentration".

YURZINOV: DYNAMO AND HC MVD HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON

The legendary hockey coach Vladimir Yurzinov shared his opinion on possible integration of HC Dynamo and HC MVD.


"I do not know details of possible integration of these clubs", Yurzinov told sport press. "To my mind these teams have absolutely different roads".

"Appearance of HC MVD became epoch-making event in history of Russian hockey. Achievements of this young club turned not only to a gift for all sensation-lovers, but into a lesson for other participants of the championship how to achieve success thanks to hard work and striving for victory".

"The Moscow region club became a new guiding line and author of new tendency in development of Russian hockey. We need to understand that many clubs of our league should take HC MVD as a model. So it’s necessary to think about it, but not about how to liquidate the team and create something new instead of it".

"As for Dynamo, their management should think about their future, because it is clear that they cannot move in the same direction anymore. They need to reconsider strategy of their development. Dynamo has not made any progress in recent years, that means they need to change something in the club. I think it’s better to pay their attention to players who grew professionally in their club".

"That is why I think these clubs have nothing in common with each other. HC MVD should develop new traditions of Russian hockey, while Dynamo need to concentrate on returning old traditions".

SALAVAT YULAEV WIN AT HOME

Yesterday Salavat Yulaev grabbed 2:1 victory over Ak Bars at the end of the third period to make the score in the KHL semi-final series to 2-3.


Salavat Yulaev – Ak Bars 2:1 (0:1, 0:0, 2:0)

Best players: Radulov (S); Toresen (S); Morozov (A)

Score in the series 2-3 (3:4, 1:2 OT, 2:3 OT, 4:2)

"We had an ideal moment, when we were playing five minutes on powerplay", said Ak Bars head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. "But we didn’t use it. It was one of key episodes of this match.

"We have no other way out, because we must win", said head coach of Salavat Yulaev Vyacheslav Bykov. "We try to win each game, so let’s see what will happen in Kazan".

KHL: LOKOMOTIV IS ONE STEP FROM THE FINALS

Lokomotiv crushed HC MVD again to take 3-2 lead in Gagarin Cup semifinal series.


HC MVD – Lokomotiv 0:4 (0:1, 0:1, 0:2)

Best players: Galimov (L); Gelashvili (L); Mikhnov (L)

Score in the series 2-3 (3:2 OT, 1:2 OT, 6:4, 1:6)

"We were perfectly prepared for the match", said Lokomotiv head coach Petr Vorobyev. "We picked two suspensions in the second period and we lost this period completely. We are lucky that everything got back to its places".

"The final step is the most difficult, so winner of our series is not clear yet".

BYKOV: 0-2 IN THE SERIES IS NOT A PROBLEM

Salavat Yulaev head coach Vyacheslav Bykov assesses his team’s chances to beat Ak Bars in Eastern Conference finals after two home defeats.


"I wouldn’t dramatize our situation", Bykov said to sport press. "Actually we lack only one thing now – chances conversion, as attacking and holding initiative doesn’t give any positive result".

"Our critics believe that Salavat loses the series in tactics. Ak Bars was ready that Ufa side would rush to attack, and now they score on counterattacks. Opinions on this question can be different and we listen to them all".

"At the same time we think that there is no sense in changing our attacking and entertaining hockey, which guaranteed us the top place in regular season. Finally hockey is created not only for specialists and journalists, but for our supporters too".

"First of all fans like not traps, but goals and combinations. We are not going to play defensive hockey".

"When I played in Switzerland, I fought back from 0-2 behind not once. By the way, many our players also topsy-turned this score and won, so our situation is normal".

"Episode when Toresen challenged Ak Bars captain Alexey Morozov in the opening clash of the series and was suspended for the next match, was much discussed, but I don’t know what we can say about it. Everybody saw his stroke and referees understood the situation correctly".

"Several people believe that matches in Kazan will be played according to different scenario. Ak Bars won’t play the second violin at home in front of their fans and Salavat Yulaev will get enough space for attacks".

"I am not sure that it will be really so. To my mind Ak Bars will let well alone. They have system, which brings result, and they are likely to use this system at home too".

"Speaking about national team matters, Russia’s coach for the North America Andrey Nazarov has completed his overseas journey last week. Of course we are concentrated on the KHL series now, but our coaching staff kept contact with Nazarov and got all necessary information from the North America".

"I am satisfied with results of this trip, because Nazarov has done great deal of work in short period of time. Now many Russian players are aware that we remember about them and count on their services. Andrey collected interesting information for us".

"Nazarov will likely to come to Ufa on 7 April and we will summarize his overseas trip".

PETROV: SEMIFINALS ARE UNPREDICTABLE

Famous former forward of HC CSKA and Soviet national team Vladimir Petrov commented on the coming Gagarin Cup semifinal series.


"Taking into consideration teams’ skills, Lokomotiv is supposed to have advantage over HC MVD", he said. "But I wouldn’t make any conclusions, because both teams are famous for their self-organization and players’ self-commitment".

"I think that result of the series will depend on teams’ functional readiness. Goalkeepers are also important factors in this rivalry and to my mind HC MVD has some advantage, because Lokomotiv goalie Gelashvili is not very reliable".

"Many people consider the second semifinal series between Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars as early final ,since these are two strongest clubs of Russia, however I don’t share this point of view. It will be just final of the Eastern Conference and that’s all".

"I want to remind that it’s very difficult to predict the final result in the ongoing play-offs, so we will see two unpredictable series where any team can celebrate victory".

RIHA: CHANCES ARE EQUAL

Head coaches of HC Spartak and Dynamo Riga Milos Riha and Julius Supler commented on the final series of KHL Western Conference between HC MVD and Lokomotiv.


HC MVD (2) – Lokomotiv (5)

Chances to win the series 45/55

Spartak head coach Milos Riha believes that both teams stand equal chances to win the series and advance to the final. "Of course I will watch the series", he said to sport press. "Though I think that teams’ chances to win are equal, I predict that Yaroslavl club will be the winner. I won’t guess how many games they will need to determine the winner, but it is unlikely to end very quickly".

"Oleg Znarok’s team had very successful season and they managed to do without recessions. This season HC MVD made all other clubs respect them and became one of the main surprises of the League".

"They proved their high level in the first play-off rounds as they knocked out CSKA and Dynamo Riga rather quickly. HC MVD is well-disciplined team, which perfectly fulfil all coach’s instructions, that is very important factor in play-off series".

"Lokomotiv’s main advantage is players’ physical form, and we see that Vorobyev perfectly prepared players for play-offs. HC MVD also are in good physical form, moreover they had enough time for rest".

"Refereeing could also become decisive point in the series. If referees don’t break the game with a lot of suspensions, Lokomotiv will be allowed to play their hockey and in this case HC MVD will have tough time".

"I want to mention that very often we pay too much attention to weaknesses and weak sides of our rivals, but before doing it it’s necessary to get rid of your own mistakes", said Dynamo Riga head coach Julius Supler.

"As for the series between HC MVD and Lokomotiv, I think it will be equal battle. HC MVD is high-class team, which can easily organize quick counterattacks. Znarok possesses four links, each of them being able to lead his partners".

"But I have no doubts that Lokomotiv staff has video-tapes of their opponents’ games and Vorobyev and his assistants will get detailed information about HC MVD".

"I am linked with the Moscow region club, and I know well Oleg Znarok, his assistant Harijs Vitolins, players Strbak, Novak, Ellison. But I hope they won’t be offended if I say that I will support Lokomotiv in the series".

"I had been working in Yaroslavl for some time, I know many people there and I still keep contact with them".

"I would like to mention Lokomotiv fans, who always liked me. Even when Dynamo visited Yaroslavl this season, they supported my team and me. That is why I want to support their favourite team this time".