TORESEN JOINS WEINHANDL AND HOSSA ATOP

Three assists in the match against Sibir allowed Salavat Yulaev newcomer Patrick Toresen catch up with KHL top foreign scorers Matthias Weinhandl and Marcel Hossa.

"It’s very pleasant that I became one of the league’s top scorers", said Toresen. "But I wouldn’t have achieved this result without help of my partners Alexandr Radulov and Sergey Zinovyev".

"However I should admit that personal statistics have never been number one task for me".

"I knew that KHL is very strong hockey league and that Salavat is very powerful club, which will go among leaders. I knew that it would be difficult to play there, and frankly speaking I didn’t expect that I would be the second top scorer of my club".

"I am happy that I earned more points that Jaromir Jagr, my favorite player".

"My partners are candidates to the Russian national team’s squad for the Olympics and I think that there will be several favorites in Vancouver, including Russia. This team has very strong squad, several stars from NHL and many good players from KHL".

"It’s hard to compare hockey in NHL and KHL, but I think that several Russian clubs including Salavat could fight as equals in NHL".

"Before my move to Russia I couldn’t assess level of KHL teams, but now I can say that Salavat Yulaev, SKA and 5-6 other clubs will fight for the Gagarin Cup trophy".

LARIONOV: FETISOV UNDERTOOD REASONS OF MY QUIT

Igor Larionov explains why he decided to leave SKA last summer and talks about his plans for future.


In summer Larionov sensationally left the post of SKA sporting director and rejected Fetisov’s offer to become general manager of CSKA. After that he returned to America and seems to withdraw from KHL active life though he still enters the league’s board of directors.

"I didn’t extend my contract with SKA through several reasons", explained Larionov. "But mainly because my point of view on the team’s formation is different from opinion of the club’s managers".

"I decided that it’s better to leave the team in this situation. Finally everyone can have his own vision of the team’s formation".

"The whole problem is that I saw the club as a business project, as I suppose that it was the main purpose of creation of the KHL. It’s wrong that owners of companies, who invest money in hockey, get nothing in exchange".

"Any team is build not for one or even two years, as it’s very serious and long process. I saw examples of Vancouver, San Jose and Detroit how to build the structure of the professional club set to achieve success in future".

"My friend Vyacheslav Fetisov offered me to become the CSKA general manager, but I refused, because I am not ready to move to Russia permanently. My son studies at school and plays hockey in Detroit.

"We moved to Detroit, because California is not the best place for the growth for hockey player. The main youth hockey is concentrated in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo and Saint Louis. And we had to fly from Los-Angeles to these cities during school year".

"It would be very interesting to work with Fetisov, as CSKA hasn’t won anything serious during twenty years since Slava, our partners and I left the club".

"It means that it’s necessary to change principles of work inside the team. Fetisov understood reasons of my refusal, while I gave him advice on strategy of CSKA’s revival".

"I won’t appear in my home team in the near future, because I want to spend two or three years for another hockey project. I am going to build company, which will deal with young players, provide them with consultation and other services".

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".

YAKUTSENYA SET NEW KHL RECORD

Neftekhimik forward Maxim Yakutsenya shares his feelings after he scored five goals in the match with Lada on Monday.


Maxim Yakutsenya needed only 14 minutes and 59 seconds to score five goals in one match, which a new record of the Russian hockey.

"I have already read in mass media that I became the second player to score five goals in one game after Morozov", said Yakutsenya. "It’s pleasant to find my name in this company".

"My team managed to do everything we wanted in the match with Lada. We caught our playing rhythm and scored nine goals".

"Lada is still very uncomfortable opponent even despite all their problems. We made sure of this fact several days ago, when we played in Togliatti and managed to get back from 1-3 behind and win only in overtime".

"Unlike previous years when Neftekhimik had the task to reach playoffs, this season we will try to advance as high as possible in the regular season. And then we will do our best to advance further in Gagarin Cup fight".

SUSHINSKY: I HOPE I WILL PLAY IN VANCOUVER

SKA forward Maxim Sushinsky earned 5 (2+3) points in latest two games of the regular season to head the KHL top scorers’ list with 38 points overall.


"I didn’t think about reasons of my so successful performance, as everything goes well for both my club and me", said Sushinsky. "I am in good form, I have wonderful partners so it helps us achieve high results".

"I often mention time when everything goes not well for me, and I don’t pay special attention to positive moments".

"My leadership in the top scorers’ list is mainly achievement of my partners. I haven’t achieved the same results during last two years and it happened because I didn’t have partners of so high level before".

"After the break connected with the Euro Hockey tour SKA began showing the same hockey, which we played at the start of the season. We had a negative series of games in November, as our match schedule was very challenging. But after the break we caught our usual playing rhythm and became even better".

"We need to continue showing hockey which we show now, and plus it’s necessary to improve in several components of the game".

"I prepare and hope that my own hockey and figures of my effectiveness will help Russian national team’s coaches make the final decision according to the side’s roster for the Olympic games".

"This season helped me understand that it’s early to finish my playing career. When your team wins, when you understand your partners without words, you want to play hockey more. It helps me improve myself and find something new in my game".

FILATOV: NEW ICON OF THE RUSSIAN HOCKEY

HC CSKA forward Nikita Filatov was voted the best rookie of the week by the Kontinental Hockey League.


The Russian youngster Nikita Filatov, age 19, stands best chances to become a new icon of the Russian hockey. The Russian national team’s squad for the Sochi-2014 Olympics will be made by such rising stars, and of course KHL clubs will follow CSKA’s example and will trust their youngsters more.

Having returned to CSKA from NHL Filatov made fantastic debut – 9 points in 5 games!

"When I came back to Russia I didn’t think about records and awards, as I just missed hockey, more playing time and good partners", Nikita told Sport Express. "Now I have everything I want and it’s great that I am very effective and helpful to my team".

"My partner Albert Leschev is a great player. Before going to the ice we agree with him how we should play in particular situation and it works out and it’s fantastic".

"Now I don’t think about the next season at all. I am satisfied with my current job, my clubmates and playing time. I don’t think about my return to NHL too".

"Of course I would like to have more time for rest between the matches, but I don’t feel tiredness".

"Russian youth team’s head coach Vladimir Plyuschev didn’t contact me, but if I get invitation to the national side I will surely come there and help. My dream is to become the world champion and I will have enough strength to put it into reality".

"Filatov’s performance didn’t surprise me at all, admitted CSKA head coach Sergey Nemchinov. We hoped that Nikita would score in our club and we trusted him. He played brilliantly in Columbus when coaches let him play".

"Hockey in NHL is an absolutely different game, with less space on the ice and more powerful hockey. But Nikita wanted to leave Russia, he grew up in the North America and learnt a lot there. Comparing with the last youth World championship he made progress".

"He is young and he has very important advantage as he can return to full fitness quicker than others, even when we have very fierce match schedule".

"Nikita is very talented player, but he is not Kovalchuk or Ovechkin. He is Filatov with his own unique tricks".

"If he goes to the youth Word championship, his absence would be a big loss for us, but we understand that he can help our national team".

DYNAMO FORWARDS DISMISED TO RESERVES

Forwards of HC Dynamo Moscow Oleg Saprykin and Vadim Epachintsev have been sent to reserves.


Ahead of the season’s kick-off the Moscow club managers counted that both newcomers would become leaders of the team, however their performance is far from ideal.

Dynamos coaching staff was not satisfied with hockey showed by Saprykin and Epachintsev in the match against Dynamo Minsk.

"Oleg and Vadim played awfully in Minsk and I decided to watch other forwards in action", said Dynamo head coach Andrey Khomutov. "I don’t consider their dismissal to reserves as educational measure, since we are trying to find our optimal lineup".

"All players should get a chance to show themselves".