RIHA SUMS UP THE RESULTS OF THE TRAINING CAMP

The head coach of HC Spartak Moscow Milos Riha commented on the first training camp of his team.


"We have accomplished everything that we planned for these two weeks," stressed the Czech specialist. "The players did only tough work we paid no attention to tactics yet."

"I have no claims against anybody, everybody worked well. The only negative moment is the injury of Hasek who injured his finger."

"We decided not to put him on goal, he simply skated with the team. But in Moscow he will start proper trainings."

RIHA: FOURTH MATCH WAS DECISIVE

HC Spartak head coach Milos Riha commented on the outcome of his club’s rivalry against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.


"We were not lucky because we set the team for a different game", he said to sport press. "We were not lucky because we created the first scoring opportunity, which we didn’t convert into goal, while Lokomotiv scored in the counterattack".

"After that we conceded the second goal after a rude mistake. We didn’t have enough strength to fight back against this well-organized team".

"In general both teams played wonderfully in the series. Almost all games were held on high level, but we lacked something for victory".

"The fourth match of the series was crucial, because we lost with three minutes before the end. We wouldn’t have let Lokomotiv win, if we had taken 3-1 lead. The outcome of the series was determined on Tuesday".

"Lokomotiv experience helped them, while we couldn’t boast it. Moreover we lacked Slovak guys, who were not in their best form. I cannot say that they are to blame for everything, but I have some claims to them".

"Spartak made progress comparing with the previous season, however we didn’t make the final step to success. We lacked a strong player of Vasicek’s level, who is ready to take responsibility to him on powerplay and on penalty killing".

ZAKHARKIN: TEAM’S PSYCHOLOGY IS IMPORTANT

Salavat Yulaev senior coach Igor Zakharkin commented on course of play-off series against Neftekhimik and other evens in quarterfinal series.


"Only two goals have been scored in last two matches of our quarterfinal series and I was mot surprised by it at all", Zakharkin said to sport press. "Ahead of the start of the series we expected that teams wouldn’t present a feast of goals".

"Neftekhimik is hard working team, which stakes on discipline in defence and quick switch to counterattack, that is the main strong point of well-known specialist Vladimir Krikunov".

"We guessed that nobody would complete with Salavat Yulaev in open hockey. In this respect the first match with many goals was surprising".

"After Vancouver games we pay more attention to factor of the team’s psychology. Contact between coach and player becomes crucial in modern hockey".

"I suppose that with 1-2 score Salavat played like a team with perfect psychology. Having occurred in difficult situation we gained valuable experience".

"Specialists call Neftekhimik goalie Ivan Kasutin as the breakthrough of the series. I can agree with them, though we were aware of his potential before".

"On the other hand, we know situations when Kasutin is not always able to save his team. Our task is to play our players’ attention to these moments".

"I watch other play-off series a little bit, though failures of Dynamo and especially SKA came as big surprise for our coaching staff".

"Saint Petersburg club was one of the main favourites of the competition, plus all breaks for Euro Hockey Tour tournaments and Olympic games helped them a lot".

"It’s hard to understand why this big club came out of this favourable situation as a loser. Maybe they faced serious problems with training process".

"As for Dynamo, I think that coach’s plan was not reason of their mistakes. The team began the series against Spartak brilliantly, but when the score was 3:0 something happened and they failed the whole series. It turned that they didn’t manage to create a stable team".

"Spartak is interesting team. Milos Riha is wonderful coach, who sets his players for all games and presses their opponents and even referees. Maybe Spartak roster is weaken that Dynamo’s squad, but thanks to Riha’s energy situation has changed".

"I like Lokomotiv too, as they are very effective in play-off every year and don’t depend on coach very much despite Petr Vorobyev joined Yaroslavl one month before start of play-offs and had enough time to present his playing models".

RIHA: I AM SURE WE WILL RETURN TO YAROSLAVL

Having beat Spartak in Yaroslavl Lokomotiv took 3-2 lead in the series to be one step from Gagarin Cup semi-final series.


Lokomotiv – Spartak 2:1 (1:0, 1:1, 0:0)

Best players: Kiryukhin (L); Kochnev (S); Vasicek (L)

Score in the series 3-2 (5:1, 2:3 OT, 2:3, 4:3 OT)

"We began actively, but our defeat was caused by mistake, which led to the first goal, and too many suspensions," said Spartak head coach Milos Riha. "Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to compete with the team, which is perfect on power-play".

"But nothing is lost now and I am sure that we will return to Yaroslavl".

KHL: LOKOMOTIV LEVEL THE SCORE IN THE SERIES

Owing to overtime victory Lokomotiv levelled the score in the quarterfinal series against Spartak.


Spartak – Lokomotiv 3:4 OT (1:1, 0:1, 2:1, 0:1)

Best players: Vasicek (L); Obsut (S); Mikhnov (L)

Score in the series 2-2 (1:5, 3:2 OT, 3:2)

"Our team play worse than in the previous game", said Spartak head coach Milos Riha. "Maybe players couldn’t believe that they can beat so strong club in three straight matches and lost concentration".

But they played much better in the third period, though they made a lot of mistakes.

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

HUDLER: KHL IS VERY DIFFICULT LEAGUE

Leader of HC Dynamo Jiri Hudler answered sport press questions after the match against Spartak on Saturday.


Jiri Hudler, who sensationally slipped out of the national team’s Olympic roster, didn’t shine on Saturday evening when Spartak grabbed a shootout victory over Dynamo 4-3.

"KHL is very difficult league and we can’t play without mistakes all the time", said Hudler. "It’s necessary to understand that I am not a machine which scores goals and which must do it in all games".

"I came here to play hockey, but not with the thought to score 30 goals in one season".

"Spartak is not the easiest opponent, but I think that we begin to create a real team. Players got used to each other and understood Khomutov’s requirements. I think his coaching system begins to work".

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".

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".