TIKHONOV: POPOV WAS HERO OF THE MATCH

Avangard assistant coach Vasiliy Tikhonov commented on the season’s opening match of his team, which is one of favorites of the Eastern Conference.


"It’s hard to start the season at home, because so many people came to the hockey arena to swatch their team playing, so we would be glad to play the first several matches away", Tikhonov said to sport press. "Moreover we had to battle with very dangerous club Spartak, which upset CSKA in their previous game".

"Spartak is well-organized team and we didn’t manage to escape mistakes, but I have no claims to our players. I think Avangard fans liked this match".

"Martin Skoula is well known figure in the world of hockey, and 800 matches played in NHL are his best characteristic. He is very stable player and he perfectly acts both on powerplay and shorthanded. His acquisition is serious reinforcement of our squad".

"Some people think that this defender was the best player of our match with Spartak, but I would name our forward Popov as the main hero, as he scored two goals".

"Jaromir Jagr was on a high in our pre-season tournaments, so we have no doubts that he will improve his play soon".

"As for Spartak’s star newcomer Dominik Hasek, I don’t think that he played his worst match. Frankly speaking, when I heard that he would join Spartak, I was skeptical about his age, however his performance proved that I was wrong. Hasek is in his peak form. We created a lot of scoring opportunities, but Hasek saved his team many times".