BARULIN: MAYBE I LACKED CONCENTRATION IN SHOOTOUT SERIES

Konstantin Barulin celebrated his return to Atlant from CSKA by a shut-out match against Torpedo.


"It’s pleasant to start the season with shut-out, and it’s a pity that my team didn’t win", Barulin said. "I don’t agree that the game was boring, because both teams played perfectly in attack. We haven’t converted a lot of chances, but it can be explained by the fact that we have many new players, who are getting used to each other and are afraid of making mistakes".

"I am not satisfied by my display in a shootout series, maybe I lacked concentration".

"CSKA offered me to sign the contract this summer, but the sum was not 4 million dollars for three years. I had a meeting with Sergey Nemchinov [CSKA head coach] who said: “We didn’t find common language with you during pre-season preparations, so we signed two other goalkeepers”. I was confused by these words, because he should have told me it earlier".

"I had offers from Astana, Minsk, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, but my wife was pregnant and I didn’t want to leave Moscow. That is why when I hear about Atlant variant, I didn’t think it over at all. I had played there before and fans know me well".

BARULIN CAN RETURN TO ATLANT

The 25-year old goalkeeper Konstantin Barulin who played last two years in CSKA can return to Atlant.


The Moscow region club is ready to swap for Barulin the CSKA drafted defender Shestopalov.

According to the sports director of Atlant Ravil Iskhakov he had a conversation with the general manager of CSKA Sergey Nemchinov and they were close to agreement. At the same time CSKA calls this agreement quite unlikely.

SPARTAK EASES PAST DYNAMO

On sunday Spartak outplayed Dynamo Moscow at Luzhniki to win play-off series 3-1. They opponent in Gagarin Cup quarterfinal will be Lokomotiv, which knocked out Atlant.

Spartak – Dynamo Moscow 1:3 (0:2, 0:1, 1:0). 13 March, Saturday

Best players: Eremeev (D); Yachmenev (D); Weinhandl (D)

Spartak – Dynamo Moscow 4:0 (1:0, 3:0, 0:0). 14 March, Sunday

Best players: Kochnev (S); Cibak (S); Lapenkov (S)

Score in the series 3-1

"I thanked players for their work", said Spartak head coach at post-match press conference. "They have done everything like we asked them to. They calmed down and played with better discipline, that told upon result immediately".

"We lost play-offs in the first match of the series when we held 3-0 advantage and possessed initiative for most part of the game", said Dynamo head coach Andrey Khomutov. "That result told upon all Dynamo players".

"I consider our hockey in play-offs unsatisfactory and I want to apologize to our fans, who waited good game from us".

Lokomotiv – Atlant 4:3 (2:1, 2:0, 0:2). 13 March, Saturday

Lokomotiv – Atlant 2:1 OT (0:0, 0:0, 1:1, 0:0, 1:0). 14 March, Sunday

Score in the series 3-1

EPACHINTSEV: NO CLAIMS TO DYNAMO

Vadim Epachintsev became one of the most sensational exchanges of the season when he swapped Dynamo Moscow for Atlant.


"No doubt I am happy to move to Atlant", said Epachintsev to sport press. "I have already played in the Moscow region club and I know that it is very popular among hockey supporters".

"I moved from CSKA to Dynamo with my friend Oleg Saprykin and we hoped that we would be in group of leaders in the team, get more time on powerplay. Thanks to Sergey Kotov we felt that he trusted us, but unfortunately the club’s results were not satisfying at the beginning of the season and he had to leave".

"When Khomutov headed Dynamo, Oleg and I had little time on powerplay, but I have no claims to the head coach".

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".