NAZAROV: I DIDN’T KEEP MY WORD

Traktor head coach Andrey Nazarov feels pity that his team has to finish the season so early after losing KHL play-off series to Metallurg Magnitogorsk.


"On one hand, Traktor reached play-offs for the third consecutive season under my reign and sealed the first cup victory", said KHL youngest coach to sport press. "On the other hand, we have a feeling that we didn’t manage to find out Metallurg’s weakest sides and play better against this super club. We don’t want to finish the season so early, because the team is in excellent form now".

"We were weakened by injuries of our leading defensemen plus our top scorer Skachkov was suspended. In general we are one of the youngest clubs in the league consisting mostly of products of our own school, that is very important for development of the whole Russian hockey".

"Traktor had been conflicting with our fans during the season, but they saw off the team with ovation. This situation increased people’s interest in our club in the whole country".

"By the way, even despite our budget is one of the lowest in the league, Traktor and fans will always set for maximum goal".

"To be honest, I didn’t keep my promise to our fans because we didn’t advance to the second knockout round though we were very close to fulfilling our task".

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)