KHL - Weekly Review

Today is when it all starts – the 10^th KHL season gets underway in just a few hours in St. Petersburg. So it’s been a week of fine-tuning, last-gasp signings and assessing the progress made over the summer. Hockey’s back … at last!

The wait is over

Monday brings the start of the KHL season, and the Opening Cup promises to be a cracker. Gagarin Cup winner SKA takes on regular season champion CSKA in a juddering collision of two of the Western Conference’s strongest teams of recent seasons. Both clubs will be adjusting to new rosters – CSKA has new head coach Igor Nikitin at the helm, and boasts a deep playing staff of 40; SKA is more recognizable but must find a way of replacing the scoring power of Vadim Shipachyov and Evgeny Dadonov. Oleg Znarok, head coach of the defending champ, was encouraged by his team’s preparations, saying SKA’s readiness for action was ‘frightening’.
The action starts in St. Petersburg at 5:30 pm Moscow time.

Marchenko’s home-coming

Defenseman Alexei Marchenko returned to CSKA Moscow during the week, continuing the club’s policy of encouraging Russian stars to return from North America and fight for a place on the Olympic roster. Marchenko follows Mikhail Grigorenko and Roman Lyubimov back across the Atlantic to play for their former club once again. 
CSKA President Yesmantovich welcomed the move, telling championat.com: “We’ve said more than once that one of our strategic directions is to bring Russian players back from the NHL to play for CSKA and within the Olympic team. Players like Marchenko, who have decent experience at the highest level but are still in the early years of their careers, will continue our victorious traditions.”
The other big trade of the week saw Avtomobilist sign two-time Stanley Cup winner Dwight King. The Yekaterinburg club will hope that the forward’s physical presence can play the same disruptive role it offered to LA Kings in their runs to the big prize.

Alexei Marchenko

Znarok beats team Canada

Russia’s World Championship semi-final loss against Canada was the third time head coach Oleg Znarok had lost out against his country’s biggest rival in international hockey. But last week, in the Puchkov Memorial Trophy, he claimed victory over the Canadians with a 3-0 scoreline. It wasn’t a full international – Znarok was in charge of his SKA team, Canada was using the tournament as a chance to experiment with its Euro-based players ahead of the Olympics, but it wasn’t exactly a routine pre-season game either. 
Znarok himself was keen to play down the result – “I’ve beaten Canada many times before, so it doesn’t have any special significance for me,” he said after the game. SKA went on to win the Puchkov trophy on home ice to finish its pre-season campaign on a high note.

CSKA – champion in waiting?

There are already signs that Nikitin’s new-look CSKA might be on track for success. The team picked up its first trophy last week, winning the Mayor of Moscow Cup to complete a pre-season campaign that was almost flawless. The Army Men played eight games, and won all of them – seven in regulation. That was the best return of any KHL team; SKA (six wins from seven, one shoot-out loss) and Lokomotiv (seven wins from 11) rounded out the top three.
Neftekhimik’s long-serving American forward Dan Sexton was the top scorer of the summer with 15 points as he forged an effective partnership with new colleagues Chad Rau and Robin Hanzl.
Not everyone had a great summer, though. Slovan failed to win a single game in regulation, collecting two shoot-out wins in 10 attempts and – surprisingly – Metallurg Magnitogorsk was among the weakest teams in the warm-up games, lying 21^st in the notional KHL ‘summer’ championship.

The week ahead

The serious action is underway at last – and there are plenty of games worthy of attention in week one of the season. Apart from the Opening Cup, CSKA has another grudge match to look forward to on Friday, when it travels to Moscow rival Dynamo for the first big-city derby of the season. 
Before that, Tuesday sees Mike Keenan take charge of Kunlun Red Star for the first time in a competitive game away to HC Sochi. On Thursday, he joins a clash of the veteran coaches when he pits his wits against Zinetula Bilaletdinov’s Ak Bars in Kazan. In between those encounters, Metallurg Magnitogorsk unveils its new-look front line on Wednesday, at home to an Avtomobilist team that features double Stanley Cup winner Dwight King.

KHL - SKA vs CSKA 4-2 - Monday, August 21, 2017

It’s the big curtain-raiser – the Opening Cup. This year’s game pits Gagarin Cup winner SKA against regular season champion CSKA. It’s all set to be the latest chapter in a rivalry that is defining the current KHL – and it’s a game full of intrigue.

New-look rosters  

Both teams have undergone some significant surgery over the summer. SKA’s free-scoring offensive combination of Vadim Shipachyov, Nikita Gusev and Evgeny Dadonov is no more: Shipachyov and Dadonov have moved across the Atlantic to try their luck in the NHL. In their place come Sergei Kalinin, back in Russia after a stint in the KHL, and ex-Dynamo Moscow forward Maxim Karpov, who scored a play-off hat-trick against SKA last season. There are also defensive reinforcements in the form of Lokomotiv youngster Vladislav Gavrikov and experienced Swede David Rundblad, part of the Blackhawks 2015 Stanley Cup-winning roster.

Vladislav Gavrikov

Despite the challenge posed by the loss of such impressive scoring power, by the end of pre-season head coach Oleg Znarok was impressed with his charges.
“I think, on the whole, we’re better prepared now than we were this time last season,” he in a press conference after his team beat Jokerit to win the Puchkov Memorial Trophy. “It even frightens me a little. I’m expecting great production from all four lines.”
CSKA also has plenty of new faces, starting with incoming head coach Igor Nikitin. The club followed a deliberate policy of trying to bring Russian players back home from North America at the start of this Olympic season, with club president Igor Yesmantovich talking of success for club and country.
The brightest lights of that plan are the return of defenseman Alexei Marchenko and forward Mikhail Grigorenko, two CSKA graduates who are returning to their alma mater after stints in North America. Both players are still young, but the experience they’ve gained across the Atlantic makes them intriguing additions. Roman Lyubimov is another familiar face returning from the NHL. The Muscovites also recruited heavily from Sibir, attracting Maxim Shalunov, Sergei Shumakov and Konstantin Okulov from Novosibirsk.
Despite several changes, CSKA had the best record in pre-season, wrapping up its preparations by winning the Mayor of Moscow Cup last week.

Konstantin Okulov

A familiar rivalry

Recent seasons have seen these two teams battle for supremacy in the Western Conference. So far, SKA has the edge – those two Gagarin Cups in the last three seasons suggest a lasting dynasty might be emerging beside the Neva. But CSKA has had its moments: the Moscow club has topped the regular season table in each of the last three years, and beat SKA on its way to the grand final in 2016, only to lose out against Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
Typically, games between the two clubs are hard-fought and high-scoring affairs. In recent seasons, they’ve often met four times in the regular campaign, as well as crossing paths in post season in … This time, though, tonight’s game will be the first of just two encounters – adding to the stakes.

What they’re saying
Nikitin, renowned as an uncompromising D-man in a playing career that spanned nine seasons at Avangard, a couple of campaigns with Sibir and Olympic action with Kazakhstan in 2006, surprised many with his lively, attacking approach at CSKA. But he insists this is nothing unusual. “Modern hockey is developing, and so am I,” he told KHL.ru. “And, like any coach, I have to build a team around the players I have. There’s no point asking people to do something that they cannot do.”
SKA’s Ilya Kovalchuk expects another interesting season. “We are constantly considered among the favorites, but it is very hard to win the cup twice in a row,” he said after a charity game this weekend. “It’s another difficult task for the team, but, thank God, it’s not like after our first championship. Then, the entire coaching staff was replaced and many players left. This time, it’s not like that.”
As for the clash with CSKA, Kovi reckons SKA’s preparations leave them ‘fully armed’ and added that he didn’t envy CSKA despite its summer reinforcements.
Lyubimov, meanwhile, is also excited by the new-look CSKA. “I think it works in our favor when players have to compete for ice time,” he told Izvestia. “It’s healthy competition. Everyone has to show what he can do, without forget that it’s a team game, first and foremost.”
Back in Petersburg, Karpov is determined to be his own man despite being described as a replacement for Shipachyov. “I don’t know if I’ll be playing his role on the power play,” the new arrival said. “I’ll be playing my own game. I’m playing with Gusev and [Nikolai] Prokhorkin, and I think that will go well.”


SKA St. Petersburg 4 CSKA Moscow 2 (2-0, 1-1, 1-1)
SKA claimed the Opening Cup with a performance that lays down a marker for the coming campaign.
The KHL’s 10^th season got off to a flying start with a high-quality game between two of the top teams in the league – but it was SKA’s early scoring that made the difference as Oleg Znarok’s team took control of the game in the first ten minutes.

Action-packed start

It didn’t take long to see the first goal of the season – just 301 seconds, in fact. It was hardly the first incident of a game that began with three penalties in quick succession, but once SKA gained a 5-on-3 power play, the Gagarin Cup holder made its advantage count. Patrik Hersley got the goal, smashing home a one-timer off Pavel Datsyuk’s feed.
SKA, in theory, was short of scoring power after the summer departure of Vadim Shipachyov and Evgeny Dadonov, but there was little sign of any problem with the home offense. Inside 10 minutes it was 2-0. Nikita Gusev’s feed across the face of the net eluded everyone until it bounced back for Nikolai Prokhorkin, and the forward spun around and whipped a shot that Ilya Sorokin could do nothing to stop.
Despite its quick start, SKA did not have everything its own way. CSKA’s new-look first line of Popov, Petrov and Burdasov was proving to be a handful for the SKA defense but could not find a way past Mikko Koskinen. But it was two of CSKA’s new arrivals combined to halve the deficit midway through the second period when Kirill Kaprizov produced a great bit of skill, pulling off a wonderful dangle before feeding Mikhail Grigorenko for a wrister that was too good for Koskinen. The goal heralded a spell of CSKA domination, but the wiles of Datsyuk finally won a power play that relieved the pressure on SKA’s net.

SKA - CSKA

Datsyuk, Kovalchuk relieve the pressure

And, just as the teams got back to equal strength, SKA extended its lead. A slightly ragged line change gave Patrik Hersley the chance to boom a pass out of defense; Ilya Kovalchuk raced down the left-hand channel and used the defenseman to screen a wrister that Ilya Sorokin could not stop.
CSKA came close to reducing the arrears once again when Maxim Shalunov pinged one off Koskinen’s bar in the dying seconds of the stanza, but SKA survived that alarm to take a commanding lead into the second intermission.
Things got even better for Znarok and his team at the start of the third thanks to a short-handed goal from Sergei Shirokov. It was a fine individual effort, wrestling the puck away from two defensemen on the boards and rushing the net. His shot took a helpful deflection off Bogdan Kiselevich to make it 4-1.

SKA - CSKA

CSKA pushes, Koskinen thwarts

But CSKA would not roll over: Maxim Shalunov marked his debut for the Army Men with a goal just seconds later. Grigorenko supplied the feed; Shalunov faked a shot, wrong-footed the defense and beat Koskinen low on the stick side.
The Muscovites continued to push – the shot count was 30-20 in CSKA’s favor – but could not find a way to claw back the deficit. SKA produced the kind of disciplined defensive display we’ve come to expect from Znarok’s teams, and had Koskinen in reliable form behind them when required. That put the squeeze on CSKA’s offense and secured the first victory – and first silverware – of this anniversary season.

KHL - Season 9 Review

Top-class hockey came to China, Oleg Znarok came back to the KHL, Pavel Datsyuk sprinkled a little magic and Sergei Mozyakin shattered records at every turn. The ninth season of KHL action was never short of incident and excitement.

Unique expansion

China, the world’s most populous nation and the venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics, lacks a big hockey tradition. But, in a country where sporting ambitions are high, the time is right to introduce the game to a huge new audience. And so Kunlun Red Star was born, based in Beijing and ready to represent the People’s Republic in the KHL.
With the local game still very much at the development level, there was an inevitable influx of international expertise. Vladimir Yurzinov took the helm as head coach, a veritable United Nations of Finns, Russians, Slovaks and North Americans featured on the ice, but there was scope for some local heroes too. Zach Yuen became the first Chinese player to score points in the KHL.
There were challenges: a long spell playing in Shanghai due to a double booking at the team’s Beijing home made it difficult to generate support in the early months of the season. Sometimes, there was a steep learning curve on the ice. But the team had its achievements as well, making the playoffs in its debut year and seeing top scorer Chad Rau get an All-Star call-up. In all, a promising start; something on which Chinese hockey can build.

Kunlun Red Star

Ins and outs

Was the summer of 2016 a win or a loss for the KHL in terms of trades? It probably depends which team you root for. CSKA had grounds to feel this it was a big loss: Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team saw Alexander Radulov and Nikita Zaitsev head to the NHL; Roman Lyubimov soon followed them. It robbed the roster of some explosive scoring talent and one of Russia’s brightest young D-men.
SKA, meanwhile, had plenty to celebrate. An agreement to share head coach Oleg Znarok with team Russia brought a decisive end to coaching uncertainty. The signing of Pavel Datsyuk – now a veteran, but still a legend – added a touch of star quality, while the acquisitions of Viktor Tikhonov, Sergei Plotnikov and Nikolai Prokhorkin were a statement of intent.
One other trade came with little fanfare, but made a big impact. Sibir captain Alexei Kopeikin, somewhat surprisingly, opted to join Vityaz. The experience forward became a key part of Valery Belov’s roster; alongside a reinvigorated Maxim Afinogenov, he helped the Podolsk team to its first ever KHL playoff campaign.

Pavel Datsyuk

Russia’s greatest goal machine

Game one brought a clue about how the season would unfold. Sergei Mozyakin scored, Metallurg Magnitogorsk won. That would happen repeatedly: Mozyakin finished regular season with a KHL-record 48 goals and 85 points; Magnitka topped the Eastern Conference and made it to the Gagarin Cup final. But those bare stats only begin to tell the story of Mozyakin’s heroics.
On September 15, Mozyakin scored in Minsk to tie the game on the way to a 5-4 win for Metallurg. That was his 429^th goal in Russia’s top league, beating Boris Mikhailov’s all-time record. Mikhailov, a Soviet-era star who, unlike today’s top scorers, never had the chance to play overseas, set his mark back in 1980, five months before Mozyakin was born.
There was more to come. In the opening round of the playoffs, Mozyakin scored his 1,000^th point in Russian hockey – an unsurpassed achievement. The goal came in Beijing during a 3-2 win over Kunlun on Feb. 26. Number 1,001 soon followed, an assist on Danis Zaripov’s GWG.

Sergei Mozyakin

On the ice

Metallurg began by lifting the Opening Cup, but the early attention focused on Canada and China. Kunlun made a winning start to life in the KHL, claiming a 6-3 victory over Admiral in its first home and introducing 8,000 Chinese fans to the thrills of top-class hockey. On the other side of the world, in Toronto, Russia took four KHLers to the World Cup of Hockey, with Znarok and Magnitka’s Ilya Vorobyov on the coaching staff. Three other players from our league – Vladimir Sobotka and Tomas Kundratek of the Czech Republic, and Mikko Koskinen of Finland – also went to the tournament. Russia lost out to Canada in the semi-final.
Back home, SKA looked powerful. Igor Shestyorkin went 272 minutes and eight seconds without allowing a goal, setting a new club record. The team won 15 on the spin, including a 9-0 drubbing of Barys. The Znarok effect was in full force.
A rule change on December 13 introduced three-on-three overtime to decide tied games. A couple of days later, Chad Rau and Kunlun made a little bit of history by scoring the first game-winner in the new format to defeat Avtomobilist.
There was also a new format for the All-Star Game, now an All-Star week. Instead of a one-off clash between East and West, each division sent its best players to Ufa and augmented the roster with one of the stars of the Youth All-Star Challenge earlier that week. As a result, Andrei Altybarmakyan ended up as the unlikely hero, getting the winning goal for the Chernyshev Division in the final.

All-Star Game. Enver Lisin

He wasn’t the only young player to illuminate Ufa. Kirill Kaprizov was a shining light in a difficult season for Salavat Yulaev, coming close to beating Evgeny Kuznetsov’s record for points from a junior player. He might have cleared that mark if he hadn’t missed games to go to the World Juniors, where he had nine goals and three assists as Russia won bronze.
As regular season came to an end, CSKA and SKA battled it out to lift the Tikhonov Cup as regular season champion. In the final week, the Muscovites overhauled a three-point deficit to tie on 131 points and claim the prize – for the third season running – by virtue of winning more games in regulation.
In the playoffs, two teams made history. Kunlun, in its rookie season, and Vityaz, at the ninth attempt, reached post season in the KHL for the first time. Both, though, had the misfortune to be drawn against the eventual finalists. SKA swept Vityaz, Magnitka needed just five games to overcome Kunlun.
The second round saw Danis Zaripov become the first player to score three hat-tricks in a playoff campaign, while Dynamo Moscow’s Andrei Kuteikin earned a reputation for scoring from the red line against SKA, even though his team could not find a way past its Petersburg rival. CSKA’s hopes hit the buffers at Lokomotiv, the Yaroslavl team producing the surprise result of the competition to advance to the Conference final.
Astonishingly, both Conference finals ended as sweeps. SKA overcame Lokomotiv, but trailed in three of the four games – pulling off a two-goal recovery in the last five minutes of game one and profiting from Loko head coach Alexei Kudashov’s ejection from game three after a bottle of water fell from the bench onto the ice. In the East, Metallurg dispatched Ak Bars, but needed double overtime in game one and a 30-save shut-out in game two. In game three, Zaripov scored twice in the closing moments to turn a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 win before Ak Bars finally wilted in game four. Zaripov matched Evgeny Dadonov’s playoff goals record of 15, and the two forwards would go head-to-head in the grand final.
But the final, despite throwing together a pair of potent offenses, was settled by defense. After the teams traded the opening games, SKA’s blue line imposed a lock-down. In game three, the Mozyakin line mustered just three shots on goal in 92 minutes as SKA won in double OT. Vasily Koshechkin’s 58 saves proved in vain as Dadonov got the winner. Game four was similar: Koshechkin faced 50 shots, Metallurg’s top line managed just four. SKA won 3-2, on two goals from defenseman Dinar Khafizullin and took a 3-1 lead.
Back in the Urals, the shackles finally came off the forwards. Metallurg went 2-0 up, SKA retaliated to lead 4-2. Zaripov alone fired seven shots at Mikko Koskinen, his line generated 13. But they could not find a way to turn the game around, even after Yaroslav Kosov made it a one-goal game once again. Oskar Osala came agonizingly close, hitting both posts in the closing moments, but Sergei Plotnikov’s empty-netter gave SKA a 5-3 win on the night and its second Gagarin Cup in three seasons. Znarok became the first head coach to win the trophy three times, and the first to take three different clubs to the final and only the second to win it with two clubs.

KHL - Season 8 Review

Changing the head coach in mid-season usually heralds a club in crisis. But in the 2015-16 campaign, Metallurg showed that change can be a positive force. Promoting Ilya Vorobyov from within the coaching staff, Magnitka went on to win its second Gagarin Cup.

One in, one out

Spartak Moscow made a welcome return to the competition after resolving the club’s financial problems during a one-year sabbatical. However, Atlant Moscow Region dropped out after several seasons of struggling to sustain a viable budget. Many figures within the Atlant organization, including GM Alexei Zhamnov, moved to Spartak.

Spartak

Coaching changes

Pre-season brought a shock for SKA. The Gagarin Cup winner learned that head coach Vyacheslav Bykov was stepping down from his post for family reasons and would not the lead the team’s defense of its title. Andrei Nazarov was appointed in his place, but his reign proved short and fractious. A slow start to the season cost Nazarov his job on October 18; he returned to Barys, while Sergei Zubov stepped behind the bench in Petersburg.
Bykov’s right-hand man, Igor Zakharkin, remained in the KHL but moved to Salavat Yulaev. Initially, he held a wide-ranging role overseeing the entire hockey side of the organization, but after new head coach Anatoly Yemelin suffered a difficult start, Zakharkin took over as head coach in October.
In a season where 13 of the 28 teams changed head coach, Mike Keenan was another notable casualty. On October 17, he stepped down from his position at Metallurg and moved into an advisory role. Ilya Vorobyov took over behind the bench.

Igor Zakharkin

On the ice

A change in the arrangement for the Opening Cup meant that, for the first time, the Gagarin Cup winner would meet the regular season champion. That set up a showdown between SKA and CSKA in St. Petersburg on August 24, with the Muscovites winning 4-3 in overtime. The early stages also brought the 5,000 KHL game. Ak Bars celebrated the landmark occasion with a 6-3 victory at home to CSKA on Sep. 18.
The regular season brought other landmarks: Sergei Mozyakin, always a reliable man for a new record, scored his 500^th career point on December 26. Brandon Bochenski went on an extended hot streak, picking up points in 16 consecutive games from December 3 to January 19. In that time, he scored 24 (10+14) points as his Barys team collected 10 victories. Mozyakin (67 points) and Bochenski (59) finished the regular season near the top of the scoring charts; CSKA’s Alexander Radulov separated them with 63 points.
Last season’s regular season champ, CSKA, was involved in a great battle with Lokomotiv to claim top spot this time out. In the end, Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team edged it by two points, collecting 127 points to Loko’s 125, but Alexei Kudashov’s first season as head coach in Yaroslavl cemented his credentials as a talented tactician with a bright future. The teams’ dominance was confirmed by their advantage over the chasing pack: Jokerit and HC Sochi were next with 108 points, Avangard was the best in the East with 106.
It all pointed to a decisive shift in power towards the Western Conference, a trend reinforced by the All-Star game which the West won 28-23 at Moscow’s brand new VTB Arena. But that all changed in the playoffs.
Maybe it was the ferocity of the competition, but three of the opening-round match-ups in the West went to the lower-ranked team. SKA defeated Lokomotiv in five, despite losing the opening game of the series, Torpedo surprised Jokerit in six during a bad-tempered clash and Dynamo Moscow swept Sochi despite the Southerners’ impressive regular season. Even CSKA’s sweep of Slovan wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. In two games, the Army Men came from behind to win, and late goals swung the verdicts in Moscow’s favor.
In the East, there were no such surprises, although the series between Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars brought an end to Kazan’s proud record of never failing in the opening round of the playoffs. Salavat won this Green Derby in seven games, wrapping up a frustrating season for an Ak Bars team undergoing a rebuild.
But the East was the focus of controversy in the Conference Semi-finals when Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Sibir clashed. It all happened in Game Four, where two separate incidents saw goals awarded despite apparent infractions as the teams changed. Sibir, at first, was the beneficiary, scoring in the 37^th minute through Oleg Gubin to halve a 2-0 deficit. The goal was awarded, even though there was a collision involving a Sibir player heading off the ice. Ultimately, though, Sibir was the wounded party. Sergei Mozyakin’s overtime winner, which lifted Magnitka to a 3-1 lead in the series, was awarded despite Metallurg apparently infringing the ‘too many men’ rule while changing on the fly. Sibir appealed, calling for the result to be annulled due to a refereeing error, but that claim was dismissed because the appeal procedure had not been correctly followed. The league also highlighted Article 77 of the KHL regulations, while does not allow results to be cancelled due to officiating errors. Metallurg went on to win the series 4-1, Sibir goalie Alexander Salak was handed a lengthy ban for his post-game protests.
The Conference finals were happily straightforward: CSKA swept SKA, avenging its defeat at the same stage last season. That meant the Army Men were the first regular season champions to reach the Gagarin Cup final. Metallurg joined the Muscovites, reaching its second final in three years with a 4-1 win over Salavat Yulaev.
CSKA, with Radulov on form and young goalie Ilya Sorokin performing wonders, was the hot favorite. Metallurg had undergone a tricky season, changing coaches part-way through. The team seemed overly reliant on the heroes of the 2014 campaign, now two years older. When CSKA powered to a 5-1 victory in game one, the destiny of the cup seemed fairly clear.
But nobody told Ilya Vorobyov and his team. Despite falling behind in the first period of game two, Metallurg showed huge resilience to calm CSKA’s offense before fighting back to win 2-1 on goals from Danis Zaripov and Alexei Bereglazov. Now, we had a real final.
CSKA claimed an overtime win in the Urals; Metallurg responded by edging a 1-0 verdict thanks to 30 saves from Vasily Koshechkin and a winner from Tomas Filippi. Back in Moscow, Sergei Mozyakin scored twice as Magnitka came from behind to win in overtime and move ahead in the series for the first time; game six saw Mikhail Yunkov frustrate his former club with two goals in CSKA’s 3-2 overtime success.
The outcome would be decided in Moscow. Home advantage gave CSKA the edge on paper, but two goals from Evgeny Timkin and a goal and an assist from Chris Lee gave Metallurg a 3-1 victory on the ice. It was the team’s second victory in three seasons, Vorobyov became the youngest head coach to win the cup and the first to claim the prize after coming to the role during the season.
While Metallurg celebrated, CSKA reflected on a missed opportunity – and began preparing for life without Radulov and talented young defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, both of whom headed to the NHL.

KHL - Season 7 Review

Vyacheslav Bykov returned to the KHL – and picked up where he left off by winning the Gagarin Cup. The former Salavat Yulaev supremo took SKA to its first ever championship and became the first man to win the cup with two different teams. CSKA also got back on the trophy trail: after topping the regular season table, the Army Men were announced as Champions of Russia – the first title for the club since the fall of the USSR.

Clowns to the north of me, leopards to the south …

Two new teams joined the KHL, and a third made a welcome comeback for the 2014-15 campaign. In the north, Jokerit Helsinki, the jokers of the Finnish league, switched to Europe’s biggest competition. Under the guidance of Erkka Westerlund, Finland’s double Olympic medal-winning coach, the club had high hopes of rivalling Lev’s achievement of the previous season and putting a foreign name among the Russian contenders for the big prize.
On the Black Sea coast, HC Sochi adopted a leopard as the club symbol and moved into the Olympic complex. With ex-CSKA man Vyacheslav Butsayev at the helm, this expansion franchise brought the game to a region of Russia that had never before enjoyed top-level hockey.
Finally, Lada Togliatti came back to the league in a new arena. The club – famously the first team from outside Moscow to win the national championship – was a founder member of the KHL but had spent four seasons playing in the VHL due to financial restrictions and the need to upgrade its home arena.
But the league also lost three teams. The political instability in Ukraine forced Donbass Donetsk to withdraw, last season’s runner-up Lev Prague dropped out for financial reasons and Spartak Moscow was forced to take a year’s sabbatical while it resolved its own cash-flow problems.

Jokerit - HC Sochi

Mourning a legend

Viktor Tikhonov, the most successful hockey coach of all time, died on the morning of Nov. 24, 2014 at the age of 84. As head coach of CSKA and team USSR, he won 12 straight Soviet championships, three Olympic golds (and one silver), eight World Championship golds and the 1979 Challenge Cup and 1981 Canada Cup.
On the evening of Tikhonov’s death, his club, CSKA, played a SKA team that featured his grandson, also called Viktor. It was a somber evening, the game played out without music or fanfare. CSKA won 5-3, Tikhonov Junior scored two goals and an assist; the game was a fitting memorial to a hockey great.
Subsequently the KHL announced that the prize for the regular season champion would be named in honor of Tikhonov; CSKA went on to win that accolade.

Viktor Tikhonov

Record breakers

The big milestone of the season was achieved by Steve Moses of Jokerit. The American forward scored 36 goals in regular season, setting a new KHL record. He wasn’t the only one among the goals. CSKA beat Slovan Bratislava 12-0 on Feb. 11, setting a KHL record for the biggest victory.
Defenseman Kirill Koltsov, playing for Salavat Yulaev, smashed a long-standing record on Jan. 21. His scored the 376^th point of his career in the Russian top league, making him the all-time top-scoring D-man ahead of Vyacheslav Fetisov. Wojtech Wolski got the quickest KHL hat-trick, scoring three in 1:46 for Torpedo against Sibir. And Sergei Mozyakin potted his 400^th point in regular season play, the first man to do so in the KHL.
Then there was one oddity: defenseman Matt Anderson played in 63 regular-season games, a new KHL record. However, the season only had 60 games. Anderson, who was traded from Medvescak to Neftekhimik part-way through the campaign, squeezed in his extra appearances thanks to the Croatian team’s busy start to the season. In total he played 35 times for Medvescak and 28 for Neftekhimik, contributing 35 points.

Steve Moses

On the ice

Defending champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk faced Dynamo Moscow – the previous Gagarin Cup holder – in the Opening Cup. It was the second time Dynamo had been invited to the curtain-raiser after the previous season’s runner-up failed to return for the new campaign, and the Blue-and-Whites’ first game since the departure of Oleg Znarok to the national team. It wasn’t a happy debut for new head coach Harijs Vitolins – Magnitka powered to a crushing 6-1 victory.
The regular season turned into a procession for CSKA. The Army Men won 49 out of 60 games, 39 of them in regulation. A rock-solid defense allowed just 98 goals all season, the lowest in the league, and the team finished with 139 points – 16 clear of SKA – and a goal differential of +107. Alexander Radulov topped the scoring charts with 71 points (24+47), despite missing 14 games. Stephane Da Costa, the KHL’s first French international, contributed 62 from 46.
Jokerit, fired by Moses’ scoring, finished fourth in the West with an impressive 119 points. HC Sochi also made the playoffs in its debut season, claiming the final berth in the Western Conference, three points clear of Atlant and Severstal. The third newcomer, Lada, found things tough in the East and came 11^th, some way off the playoff pace.
Ak Bars topped the Eastern Conference table. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov enjoyed a successful return to club coaching after his stint with the national team, and completed his 800^th championship game behind the bench during the course of the season. But Sibir was the break-out team in the East, winning the Chernyshev division. Andrei Skabelka’s team surprised many by the way it coped with the loss of the talented Jori Lehtera to produce its best-ever KHL season. Defenseman Patrick Hersley, forward Jarno Koskiranta and goalie Mikko Koskinen (traded to SKA part way through the campaign) were among the stand-out players.
Sibir’s success continued in the playoffs. The Novosibirsk team got past Traktor in six games, then stunned defending champion Metallurg with a 4-1 series win. Game four was the crucial one. Sibir led the series 2-1, but had lost its first game in Magnitogorsk and needed to stop the momentum swinging back to Metallurg. Two first-period goals put the visitor in control, but Danis Zaripov hit back to tie the game in the second. It went to overtime, and Renat Mamashev got the decider just 22 seconds into the extras. Sibir went 3-1 up in the series, and finished the job on home ice.
That set up an Eastern Conference final against Ak Bars. This was a low-scoring series, with the Kazan team getting over the line in five games, winning the last two 1-0 in overtime. Oscar Moller, Ak Bars’ Swedish forward, proved to be a difference-maker: over the course of the post season, six of his nine goals were game-winners, including the game four overtime marker.
In the West, the two Army clubs made serene progress to the Conference final. But after dropping just three games between them in the opening two rounds, CSKA and SKA served up a classic battle.
Initially, it seemed that the Moscow team would maintain its advantage from regular season. An assured 3-0 win to open up was followed by a 3-2 squeaker on home ice, giving CSKA the early advantage. A 3-1 victory in Petersburg, Alexander Radulov involved in all three goals, seemed to have the team poised for the final.
Then it all changed. SKA, with nothing to lose, roared into action. The Shipachyov-Dadonov-Panarin line kicked up a gear. SKA fired in 10 goals in two games, seven of them from that line. The series sprung back to life. Game six was an anxious affair; the teams traded power play goals in the first period but could not find a breakthrough until Patrick Thoresen struck nine minutes into overtime. It was all set for a game seven showdown in Moscow.
SKA went into a 2-0 lead through Kovalchuk and Dadonov, CSKA hit back with two goals in four minutes late in the second period. The home team tested Koskinen repeatedly – the Finn made 37 saves – but Thoresen, a Gagarin Cup winner under Bykov at Salavat Yulaev, delivered the winner in the 51^st minute. SKA became the first team to claw back a 0-3 deficit in a playoff series and was off to its first Gagarin Cup final.
The final itself did not live up to the excitement of the previous round. SKA was simply too strong for Ak Bars all over the ice. Bykov’s team won it in five, wrapping up the prize with a crushing 6-1 victory in Kazan. That game, Ak Bars’ last stand, saw SKA fire four unanswered goals in the first period to power to its first Gagarin Cup. Evgeny Dadonov became the leading post-season goalscorer with 15, an Ak Bars defense that had six shut-outs in the playoffs was left in tatters. SKA, which had never won a national title since it was founded in 1946, finally got its hands on the biggest prize.

KHL - Season 6 Review

The 2013-14 campaign was a good one for Canadians in Russia. In February, their national team repeated its Olympic gold medal, seeing off Sweden in the final to wrap up two weeks of clinical hockey. Then, in April, Mike Keenan, Ontario born, made history as the first North American coach to win the top prize in Russian hockey. The international flavour didn’t stop with Canada: Lev Prague was the first team from outside of Russia to reach the Gagarin Cup final before falling to Keenan’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Heading east, heading west

Two further teams joined the KHL, stretching the league’s geography in both directions. Out in the Far East, Admiral Vladivostok brought the competition to the shores of the Pacific, while in Zagreb, Medvescak made Croatia the eighth country to be a part of the project.

Admiral

Big-name arrivals

The pre-season was all about Iron Mike Keenan, a veteran coach whose experience and track record promised to bring something big to the KHL. After taking over at Metallurg Magnitogorsk, there was great excitement at the prospect of a Stanley Cup-winning mastermind pitting his wits against the cream of European coaching.
On the playing side, Ilya Kovalchuk’s move to SKA was the attention-grabbing trade. Kovi had feature in Petersburg during the previous season’s lock-out, and clearly enjoyed the experience. At the age of 30, with 12 years remaining on a blockbuster of a contract with the Devils, he opted to quit the NHL and return to Russia with his family. SKA eagerly signed up the star forward once again.

Ilya Kovalchuk

Olympic action

Russia was ready to celebrate an Olympic festival in Sochi, and hopes were high that the hockey team would be back among the medals for the first time since 2002. There was also interest in how Latvia, once again punching above its weight on the international stage, would perform, while Finland brought nine KHLers to the Games.
In the event, Russia was frustrating again. Despite a roster stacked with offensive options, the team’s production never really caught light. A 1-3 loss in the Quarter Final against Finland left a nation disappointed. Latvia had a more encouraging time, winning through to the last eight with a victory over Switzerland, then pushing Canada all the way before succumbing 1-2. The Canadians went on to went a second successive gold, Finland took bronze, Jarkko Immonen became the first player to win two Olympic medals while playing in the KHL.
Russia’s defeat spelled the end of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s spell as head coach, and he returned to Kazan as GM at Ak Bars for the final weeks of the season. Oleg Znarok was persuaded to leave Dynamo and take charge of the national team, making a successful debut at the World Championship in Minsk with a gold-medal display.

On the ice

After Dynamo won the Opening Cup against Traktor, the most interesting result of the early games came in Zagreb. Medvescak, new to the competition, enjoyed a spectacular opening night with a crushing 7-1 victory over CSKA. That set the tone for an encouraging debut season, with the Croatians making the playoffs at the first attempt, finishing ahead of CSKA and Lokomotiv. Strong scoring from Jonathan Cheechoo and Matt Murley led the Medvescak charge, while the enthusiastic fans at Zagreb’s Dom Sportova produced a lively game-day atmosphere.
Admiral also performed well in its rookie year, taking the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Under the guidance of Hannu Jortika, the only coach to take Amur to the KHL playoffs, the team was always competitive, coping with the demands of some serious travel. German international Felix Schutz, signed from Kolner Haie, and Swede Niklas Bergfors were the key scorers for the expansion team.
The battle for honors involved most of the usual suspects in the regular season. Dynamo topped the table as Oleg Znarok continued to set the standard among coaches. SKA was the closest challenger in the West, while Keenan’s Magnitka came out on top on the East. This was the season when the Mozyakin-Kovar-Zaripov troika was unleashed for the first time, and the three players topped the scoring charts with a combined tally of 205 points. Barys edged Salavat Yulaev to the Chernyshev Division title, with Brandon Bochenski leading a powerful line of his own, supported by Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes. Ak Bars also performed strongly, but there was a surprise as Avangard failed to reach the playoffs. Victory in the short-lived Nadezhda Cup tournament was scant consolation in Omsk.
Dynamo fell early in the playoffs, relinquishing its grip on the cup. Maybe Znarok was distracted by his impending move to coach Team Russia, but the team lost out in seven to Lokomotiv in the first round of post-season action. That result blew the Western Conference bracket wide open, and Lev Prague surprised everyone by taking advantage.
Lev, one of an unprecedented four foreign teams to qualify in the West, started out by sweeping Medvescak. Next came a 4-2 series win over Donbass, which included the longest KHL game to date in game two. The teams reached a fourth period of overtime, before Donbass won it in 126:14. By this time, though, the deteriorating political situation in Eastern Ukraine made it impossible to play in Donetsk; forced to play home games in Bratislava, the team fell to Lev.
The Czechs, meanwhile, breezed past Lokomotiv in five to win the Conference final, reaching the Gagarin Cup final after just two seasons. Metallurg was waiting, after just two post-season losses. For the first time in KHL history, the Gagarin Cup would be won be a non-Russian coach – but would it be Canada and Magnitka’s Mike Keenan, or Finland and Lev’s Kari Jalonen?
It took seven games, and a KHL record attendance, to find the answer. In Magnitogorsk, the teams traded victories. Lev won the first match-up in Prague, and a huge crowd of 17,031 came to game four at the O2 Arena. Metallurg won 5-3, thanks to two Zaripov goals in the third period. Then came two overtime wins. Magnitka took game five thanks to a pair of Mozyakin goals, Lev took the series all the way with a 5-4 roller-coaster of a win in Prague, settled by a Nathan Oystrick goal.
That set up a deciding game in Magnitogorsk, and Metallurg’s offense proved too powerful. Seven home goals, with Mozyakin, Kovar and Zaripov all finding the net, secured a 7-4 victory. Keenan won the Gagarin Cup at the first attempt, becoming the first North American to win the top prize in Russia and the only man to win both the Stanley and Gagarin Cups. The Canadian clearly enjoyed his season, and not just because of the hockey. Footage of him singing a song by popular Russian performer Grigory Leps illustrated how firm a bond Keenan forged with the people in Magnitogorsk during the season.
For Lev, the first and – so far – only non-Russian team to contest a grand final, there was also a notable individual achievement. Forward Justin Azevedo scored a goal in all seven games of the Gagarin Cup final, a feat not yet matched.
The post-season scoring, just like the regular season, was dominated by Mozyakin’s line: he led the way with 33 points, Kovar and Zaripov had 26 each. Mozyakin also established six individual KHL records as he became the first player to break through 100 points in a full season.

KHL - Season 5 Review

The fifth season of KHL hockey saw the league attract some of the biggest names in the game during the NHL lock-out. It also saw two new countries – Ukraine and the Czech Republic – represented in the biggest competition to date. Despite all the new faces, though, the Gagarin Cup went back to Oleg Znarok and Dynamo Moscow after a successful title defense.

Further expansion

The KHL line-up for this season was bigger than ever, with 26 teams from seven countries taking part. Lokomotiv made a welcome return after missing the previous campaign following the Yaroslavl air disaster, while Lev Poprad was replaced by Lev Prague. Slovakian interest was maintained with the arrival of Slovan Bratislava, and Donbass Donetsk became the league’s first Ukrainian representative after moving up from the VHL.

Donbass Donetsk

Lock-out deals

With the NHL undergoing a lock-out that wiped out the first half of the season, KHL clubs were an attractive destination for many players. Several big-name Russian stars took the chance to return home – Alexander Ovechkin (Dynamo Moscow), Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Bobrovsky (SKA), Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Bryzgalov (CSKA), Evgeny Malkin and Sergei Gonchar (Metallurg Magnitogorsk) were among the returning stars. There were also plenty of big name imports, despite a rule that limited Russian teams to just one foreign lock-out signing. Zdeno Chara’s spell in Prague was a highlight, Swedish forward Nicklas Backstrom joined Caps team-mate Ovechkin at Dynamo and team USA’s Olympic silver medallist Joe Pavelski had a stint at Dinamo Minsk. In total, 41 NHLers signed deals with KHL teams, although Kris Letang never made it to SKA before the lock-out ended.
Of the lock-out players, Malkin was comfortably the biggest success. He was one of the first to agree a move to the KHL and rewarded Metallurg’s faith with 65 points from 37 games. He formed an effective partnership with Sergei Mozyakin, who was the KHL’s leading scorer once again, with 76 points from 48 games.
Although the lock-out officially ended before the KHL All-Star Game, Kovalchuk and Datsyuk remained in Russia to take part as a thank-you to the fans who had welcomed them during the season. Their presence could not give the Western Conference victory, though.

Alexander Ovechkin

A new hope

In an attempt to extend the season for teams that did not make the playoffs, a new competition, the Cup of Hope, was created. Dinamo Riga won the first edition, but attendances were disappointing and the experiment only lasted one further season.

Dinamo Riga - Amur. Cup of Hope final.

On the ice

Star names came and went due to the lock-out, but Dynamo found the consistency to shine once again. Oleg Znarok’s team ran into controversy during the regular season, parting company with last year’s playoff star Mikhail Anisin for disciplinary reasons, and struggled to keep up with the enhanced rosters at SKA and CSKA. The Blue-and-Whites eventually came third in the Western Conference.
Lokomotiv’s emotional return took a youthful roster to fourth in the West, and two of the three newcomers – Lev and Slovan – also made the playoffs. Donbass missed out by a single point.
In the East, Ak Bars led the way from Avangard. Traktor nipped into third, while Metallurg’s promising early-season form faded when its lock-out stars headed back across the Atlantic. That cost the Magnitogorsk team in the playoffs, and it crashed out against Salavat Yulaev in the first round.
In post-season, Traktor was inspired by youth. Valery Nichushkin only broke into the team late in the regular season, but announced himself as a star in the making with some spectacular goals in the playoffs. That, coupled with strong scoring from Petri Kontiola, saw Traktor defeat Avangard and Ak Bars on the way to its first Gagarin Cup final – a huge step forward for a team that had been very much an also-ran in the early years of the KHL. It was unexpected, especially after Traktor lost its first two games against Barys before squeaking through the first round in seven. But a powerful offense – its 25 goals in that Barys series was a KHL record for a single playoff round – made it a tough team to stop. Then, against Avangard, Traktor had four shut-outs in five games. Along the way, goalie Michael Garnett set a new record for goalless playoff action, going 211:41 without conceding.
Traktor would face Dynamo, its head coach Valery Belousov coming up against the club he defeated to win his first Russian Super League in 1999. In what proved to be his last playoff campaign before his death in 2015, Belousov had a chance to repeat that triumph. But, to do so, he would need to down the defending champion after the Blue-and-Whites swept Slovan, won a derby series against CSKA 4-1 and repeated its Conference Final win over SKA to return to the grand final. As in the previous season, the team got a lift from a deadline-day trade. Jakub Petruzalek, a Czech forward who had impressed for Amur, headed to Moscow. He went on to score 16 (9+7) points in the playoffs.
He wasn’t the only new face to catch the eye. Alexei Sopin emerged from the VHL, where he was playing with Dynamo Balashikha, to make the big league in time for the Gagarin Cup run. Sopin was never more than a workhorse, but nonetheless made a solid contribution to his team’s success.
In the Grand Final, Dynamo opened with two tight home victories. Traktor responded with a 3-1 success at home, built on two-point shows from Deron Quint and Yegor Dugin. Then came the decisive performance. Dynamo goalie Alexander Yeryomenko, MVP in last year’s playoff, delivered a game-winning display in Chelyabinsk. With 25 saves, he frustrated the host; Petruzalek found the net at the other end and Dynamo returned to Moscow with one hand on the trophy.
Traktor refused to yield: three goals in the first nine minutes stunned Dynamo. A fight-back tied the game, but Traktor won it thanks to Andrei Kostitsyn’s goal with five minutes left.
The series returned to the Urals, and another hard-fought encounter. Both teams led in regulation, but finished tied at 2-2 after 60 minutes. Into overtime, and Alexei Tsvetkov grabbed Dynamo’s winner: for the second year running, the Gagarin Cup was coming to Moscow.

KHL - Pre-Season 2017 Round Up - Part 7

Metallurg
In Magnitogorsk, four seasons of stability are coming to an end. Since the 2013-14 season, Metallurg has enjoyed an enviably consistent roster, and enviably consistent success. Two Gagarin Cup wins, and a third run to the final, is testament to the enduring effectiveness of the old Mozyakin-Kovar-Zaripov line; the defense, for so long marshalled by Chris Lee, has been solid. But that era is now over.

Big names move on

Lee? Gone, returning to North America for family reasons. His young colleagues Alexei Bereglazov and Viktor Antipin, both Gagarin Cup winners at Magnitka, headed off to sample life in the NHL at the Rangers and the Sabres. Zaripov? Also gone, traded to Ak Bars before his drugs ban was announced. That all-powerful troika is disbanded, Tomas Filippi looks like the man to replace Zaripov on Magnitka’s first line.
There were also departures among the supporting cast: Bogdan Potekhin (Amur), Dmitry Kazionov (Dynamo Moscow) and Alexander Syomin (retired) all played their part in Metallurg’s recent successes, but won’t be back next season.
However, the club was well prepared for these changes. Lee and Zaripov, in their mid-30s, were approaching the end of their careers; Bereglazov and Antipin, as promising 20-somethings, would inevitably attract Trans-Atlantic attention. Metallurg has great confidence in its own production line of talent – witness the willingness to use those young D-men rather than buy in players from elsewhere – and that could well bear more fruit in the form of Grigory Dronov. He already looks like a lock for Russia’s World Juniors roster in December, and has clearly earned the trust of Ilya Vorobyov at his club. At a well-run organization, when young talent moves on, new prospects are ready to step up; Magnitka is better-equipped than most to deliver that.

Viktor Antipin

New arrivals

That doesn’t mean that GM Gennady Velichkin was able to spend his summer on the beach. But, as usual, Metallurg’s transfer activity has been restrained: a few key signings, rather than a radical overhaul. On defense, Denis Denisov arrives from CSKA to fill the vacancy for an experienced D-man following Lee’s exit. Up front, Matt Ellison’s move from Dinamo Minsk raised some eyebrows. Ellison is one of the KHL’s longest-serving imports, but hasn’t previously been at a club where a title challenge was expected. For some, it’s a surprise move: the arrival of an apparent journeyman, where a thoroughbred was needed. In reality, though, Ellison has always been a consistent producer, regularly among the top 15 scorers in the league in any given season. And, of course, he was part of the MVD fairy tale of 2010, proof that he can deliver in playoff hockey too.
There’s a new import in town as well, Nick Schauss coming in on defense. The 31-year-old American has played in Europe since 2013 and spent last season at Dynamo Pardubice in the Czech Republic. His career path has echoes of Lee’s: he’s worked his way up through the European leagues to get a crack at the KHL after wearying of waiting for a chance in the NHL. His stats, too, suggest a two-way player with an emphasis on offense.

Matt Ellison

Prospects

For some, the sight of Metallurg shedding senior players spells the end of the team’s dominance of the East. The changes have not gone unnoticed in Kazan, Ufa and Omsk, Magnitogorsk’s traditional rivals at the top. But it would be premature to write this team off. Magnitka has a well-drilled roster and many familiar faces remain in place for the coming campaign. If any club is able to handle the losses of the summer, it’s likely to be this one … and Sergei Mozyakin’s scoring prowess represents a formidable weapon at all times.

Sergei Mozyakin

On a very busy day for KHL clubs, with several tournaments underway across the nation and beyond, there were mixed fortunes for the host teams. Avangard defeated Amur, SKA beat Team Canada, but Salavat Yulaev was second best against Neftekhimik and Dinamo Riga was thrashed by Lokomotiv.

Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament

Day 2 of this tournament in Omsk began with Barys enjoying a comfortable 4-2 victory over Ugra, followed by hosts Avangard going one goal better, posting a 5-2 win over Amur. The Khanty-Mansiysk and Khabarovsk teams now share bottom place in the standings, having each suffered two defeats in two games.
Barys (Astana) vs. Ugra (Khanty-Mansiysk): 4-2 (1-0, 3-0, 0-2)
16.08.17. Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament . Barys (Astana) - Yugra (Khanty-Mansiysk)
Barys head coach Evgeny Koreshkov:
“I wouldn't say that this was an easy win, as there's no such thing. We won because we stuck to our tactical plans, we pressured our opponents into making mistakes, and we made good use of power plays. These have all been factors, and we'll try to get all aspects of our game right in time for the new season.”
Goals: 1-0 Markelov (Pushkaryov, Trivino, 9.36), 2-0 Dawes (Vey, Dallman, 22.52, PPG), 3-0 Shevchenko (Savchenko, Mikhailis, 23.32, PPG), 4-0 St.Pierre (Vey, 30.37), 4-1 Ugolnikov (Vasilyev, Varfolomeyev, 52.52, PPG), 4-2 Ilyin (55.01)
Goaltenders: Karlsson – Fokin

Barys - Ugra

Avangard (Omsk) vs. Amur (Khabarovsk): 5-2 (1-0, 2-2, 2-0)
Goals: 1-0 Menshikov (Gustafsson, Sundstrom, 17-49), 1-1 Kamalov (Frolov, 27-34, SHG), 1-2 Litovchenko (Frolov, Zohorna, 35-40), 2-2 Berezin (Pyanov, Mikheyev, 37-57, PPG), 3-2 Mikheyev (Medvedev, 39-55), 4-2 Sundstrom (Everberg, 40-15), 5-2 Petersson (Everberg, 46-52 PPG)
Goaltenders: Shilin – Metsola

Standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1 Avangard 2 9-3 6
2 Barys 1 4-2 3
3 Avtomobilist 1 2-0 3
4 Amur 2 2-7 0
5 Ugra 2 3-9 0

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup

Meanwhile, in Ufa, a Nikita Filatov shootout goal gave Lada a thrilling 5-4 victory over Admiral in the early game, before the hosts, Salavat Yulaev, suffered a surprise shootout defeat in a hard-fought match against Neftekhimik.
Admiral (Vladivostok) vs. Lada (Togliatti): 4-5 SO (1-3, 2-1, 1-0, 0-0, shootout – 1-2)
Admiral head coach Alexander Andriyevsky:
“We started the match badly, maybe because we played last night. I'm glad the guys pulled themselves together and showed character. The change of goalie halfway through the game was planned in advance, but I won't comment on the performance of any individual. And no matter how well this or that player might have performed, I can't be content when we've lost two games in a a row.”
Lada head coach Artis Abols:
“We still have shortcomings in our game. We started this match well, but our opponent managed to turn things around and in the third period I would even say they outplayed us. But it's always pleasant to win, even if it's in the shootout.”
Goals: 0-1 Genoway (Filatov, 1.39), 0-2 Zernov (Gurkin, 4.03), 1-2 Alexandrov (Yakovlev, 6.05), 1-3 A. Streltsov (Akhmetov, 9.03), 2-3 Zhafyarov (Kazakov, 23.15), 3-3 Kazakov (Sayustov, 25.33), 3-4 Babenko (Belousov, 31.49), 4-4 Kazakov (40.44), winning shootout goal – Filatov
Goaltenders: Nalimov (Tretyak, 31) – Ivannikov
Salavat Yulaev (Ufa) vs. Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk): 2-3 (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0, shootout: 1-2)
16.08.17. The Republic of Bashkortostan Cup - 2017. Salavat Yulaev (Ufa) - Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk)
Salavat Yulaev Ufa head coach Erkka Westerlund:
“Today we had quite a tough match. At times the tactics were there, but the technique was missing. I must say that Neftekhimik is a very, very good team. They will put up a real fight against the KHL's leaders, and they themselves might even secure one of the top spots in the Eastern Conference.”
Neftekhimik head coach Andrei Nazarov:
“I'm very pleased our team was invited to take part in a tournament as good as this one in Ufa... Both teams wanted to win but fortune smiled on us in the shootout. Looking at the professional way our players prepared for this game and the commitment they showed on the ice, I'm obviously very happy, and we need to keep this tempo for when our season starts on the 22nd.of August.”
Goals: 0-1 Rau (Sexton, 5-10); 1-1 Makarov (Bodrov, Lisin, 19-21); 2-1 Kulyash (Makarov, Bodrov, 25-10); 2-2 Rau (Sexton, Hanzl, 31-09); winning shootout goal: Poryadin
Goaltenders: Fedotov – Makarov

Standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1 Neftekhimik 2 6-3 5
2 Salavat Yulaev 2 6-4 4
3 Lada 2 6-7 2
4 Admiral 2 5-9 1

Salavat Yulaev - Neftekhimik

Nikolai Puchkov Tournament

The day began with a surprise win by Severstal over Jokerit. As a result, all the teams in Group B finished with one win and one loss, but Jokerit finished top thanks to their having a better goal difference than Severstal, as did SKA-Neva, and by winning the head-to-head against the Petersburg team.
Jokerit: (Helsinki) vs. Severstal (Cherepovets): 1-2 (1-2, 0-0, 0-0)
Goals: 0-1 Stransky (Holik, Rybin, 00.51), 1-1 N. Jensen (J. Jensen, 03.06), 1-2 Kazakovtsev (Kodola, 07.04)
Goaltenders: Ratilainen – Hudacek
SKA (Saint Petersburg) vs. Team Canada: 3-0 (0-0, 1-0, 2-0)
In the second game, unanswered goals from Patrik Hersley, Nikita Gusev, and a late empty-netter from Viktor Tikhonov gave SKA a 3-0 win over Team Canada
16.08.17. The Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament. SKA (St.Petersburg) - Canada Team
SKA head coach Oleg Znarok:
“It is by no means the first time I've achieved a victory over Canada, so the win doesn't have any extra meaning for me. It was nothing like a preseason game – they pressed us from the start and were very quick in closing off our options, but of course, we adapted to it. There were missed chances, but that's because the team has a heavy workload.”
Goals: 1-0 Hersley (Kovalchuk, Belov, 39.53), 2-0 Gusev (Karpov, Chudinov, 49.20), 3-0 Tikhonov, (58.07, empty net)
Goaltenders: Shestyorkin – Scrivens

Standings:

Place Team Games Goals Points Group A
1 SKA 2 6-1 6
2 Team Canada 2 5-4 3
3 HC Sochi 2 2-8 0

Place Team Games Goals Points
Group B
1 Jokerit : 2 4-3 3
2 SKA-Neva 2 4-3 3
3 Severstal 2 2-4 3

Latvian Railways Cup

The round robin stage of the tournament ended with Lokomotiv beating the hosts 5-1 and securing top spot in the standings. The Latvians finished second and have a chance of exacting revenge on Thursday, as they will face the Railwaymen in the final. Likewise, Dinamo Minsk and Ak Bars will battle for third place, after the men from Kazan edged Wednesd ay's encounter via the shootout.
Dinamo (Minsk) vs. Ak Bars: 3-2 (0-1, 0-1, 2-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Goals: 0-1 Lander (Markov, Sekac, 09-25, SHG), 0-2 Tokranov (Glinkin, 33-24), 1-2 Kovyrshin (Klinkhammer, 49-48, PPG), 2-2 Kovyrshin (Lisovets, 57-27) 3-2 Klinkhammer (Shootout)
Goaltenders: Enroth – Bilyalov
Dinamo (Riga) vs. Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl): 1-5 (1-2, 0-3, 0-0)
Goals: 1-0 Bicevskis (Jelisejevs, Zile, 03-38), 1-1 Osipov (Polunin, Korshkov, 05-01), 1-2 Rafikov (Korshkov, Kraskovsky, 07-15, PPG), 1-3 Kozun (Nakladal, Apalkov, 34-46, PPG), 1-4 Alexeyev (Kudryavtsev, Mosalyov, 36-56), 1-5 Kudryavtsev (Kadeikin, 37-30)
Goaltenders: Kalnins – Sudnitsin

Standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1 Lokomotiv 3 10-5 6
2 Dinamo Riga 3 7-8 6
3 Ak Bars 3 5-6 4
4 Dinamo Minsk 3 6-9 2

Mayor of Moscow Cup
CSKA took a clear lead in the Mayor of Moscow Cup after the Army Men's narrow victory over Vityaz was followed by a surprise triumph by Spartak over fierce crosstown rivals Dynamo, which went some way toward easing the pain of the Red-and-Whites' derby defeat at the hands of CSKA in the first game.
CSKA (Moscow) vs. Vityaz (Moscow Region): 2-1 (0-0, 2-1, 0-0)
17.08.17. Moscow mayor cup. Vityaz (Moscow Region) - CSKA (Moscow)
CSKA head coach Igor Nikitin:
“We were good in the first period and for half of the second, but in the third we were forced to defend and Johansson in goal helped us hang onto the victory. Tomorrow we'll try Alexei Marchenko. He has had no match practice, but he has been training well.”
Vityaz head coach Valery Belov:
“We had a bad spell early in the second period, but we did well in the third. On the whole, I'm satisfied with the way the team played, including Misha Biryukov in goal.”
Goals: 1-0 Shumakov (Blazhiyevsky, 21.17), 2-0 Okulov (Kuzmenko, 30.30), 2-1 Semenov (Mozik, Afinogenov, 37.05)
Goaltenders: Johansson – Biryukov

CSKA – Vityaz

Dynamo (Moscow) vs. Spartak (Moscow) – 2-3 (1-1, 0-1, 1-1)
Dynamo Moscow head coach Vladimir Vorobyov:
“We failed completely in the second period. We know what happened – we were just poor at killing penalties. After the second period, we talked to the guys and they showed character to get back in the game, but a game lasts 60 minutes and you have to play well from start to finish.”
Spartak head coach Vadim Yepanchintsev:
“It was a good, competitive game. I'm happy with the way my team performed, with the exception, perhaps, of the first period. In the second, we regrouped and started to win the battles for possession, we made use of our power plays, and we scored. Toward the end we started trying to just hold on to the lead, and our opponents punished us for it, but I'm glad we kept going to the very end. We earned this win.”
Goals: 0-1 Radil (Yudin, 14.32), 1-1 Koryagin (Sidlyarov, 16.40), 1-2 Maxwell (Kalinin, Chistov, 28.50, PPG), 2-2 Bryukvin (56.46), 2-3 Mirnov (Bondarev, 57.15).
Goaltenders: Yeryomenko – Svensson.

Dynamo (Moscow) - Spartak

Standings (Place-Team-Games-Goals-Points)
1. CSKA, 2 5-1 6
2. Dynamo Moscow 2 6-6 3
3. Spartak 2 3-5 3
4. Vityaz 2 4-6 0

Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament

It was a bad day for Ugra, who recorded a third defeat from three games at the Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament, this time to Amur. In the earlier game, Barys suffered a first-period blitz from Avtomobilist, who hit three unanswered goals. The Astana Men recovered sufficiently to get on the scoreboard, but the Yekaterinburg Men's victory never looked in doubt.
Avtomobilist (Yekaterinburg) vs. Barys (Astana): 3-1 (3-0, 0-1, 0-0)
Barys Astana head coach Evgeny Koreshkov:
“It is the second game in a row in which team played very well for two periods, but very slack in one, but that is to be expected in the preseason. We'll do some fine-tuning and fix it.” (courtesy of HC Barys press service)
Goals: 1-0 Krikunov (Ticar, 00-39), 2-0 Mikhnov (Torchenyuk, Gareyev, 04-17), 3-0 Torchenyuk (Gareyev, Cajkovsky, 08-54, SHG). 3-1 Belgibayev (37-06)
Goaltenders: Kovar – Karlsson 
Amur (Khabarovsk) vs. Ugra (Khanty-Mansiysk): 2-1 (1-0, 1-0, 0-1)
Goals: 1-0 Klopov (Litovchenko, Vyacheslav Ushenin, 19.09, PPG), 2-0 Vyacheslav Ushenin (Turbin, 24.38, PPG), 2-1 Savinainen (Valentenko, 46.28).
Goaltenders: Kiselyov – Proskuryakov. 

Amur - Ugra (photo courtesy of HC Ugra)

Standings (Place-Team-Games-Goals-Points)
1. Avangard 2 9-3 6
2. Avtomobilist 2 5-1 6
3. Barys 2 5-5 3
4. Amur 3 4-8 3
5. Ugra 3 4-10 0

Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament.

The Saint Petersburg tournament enjoyed its grand finale today with the playoffs for fifth, third, and first place. The host and Gagarin Cup champion took the gold with an emphatic win over Jokerit, while Team Canada brushed aside SKA-Neva to take the bronze and Severstal edged HC Sochi for fifth place.
Severstal (Cherepovets) vs. HC Sochi (Sochi): 3-1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0)
Goals: 1-0 Bumagin (Ugarov, Kodola, 14.05), 2-0 Kagarlitsky (Chernov, 10.08), 2-1 Maltsev (Khokhlov, 34.56), 3-1 Kagarlitsky (59.38)
Goaltenders: Hudacek – Barulin 
Team Canada vs. SKA-Neva (Saint Petersburg): 4-0 (1-0, 1-0, 2-0)
Goals: 1-0 Robinson (Garbutt, Petersen, 04.00), 2-0 Petersen (31.46), 3-0 Gordon (Roy, 50.12), 4-0 (Garbutt, 55.12)
Goalies: Scrivens – Volkov 
SKA (Saint Petersburg) vs. Jokerit (Helsinki): 5-1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1)
17.08.17. The Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament. SKA (St.Petersburg) - Jokerit (Helsinki)
Goals: 1-0 Barabanov (Chudinov, Rundblad, 17.27), 2-0 Chudinov (Gavrikov, Shirokov, 26.58), 3-0 Belov (Kalinin, Gavrikov, 31.19), 4-0 Yakovlev (Kalinin, Plotnikov), 5-0 – Karpov (Shirokov, Rundblad, 46.56), 5-1 – Jormakka Dynasty (Palola, Lepisto, 50.13)
Goaltenders: Koskinen – Zapolski

SKA – Jokerit

Final standings:
1 SKA
2 Jokerit
3 Team Canada
4 SKA-Neva
5 Severstal
6 HC Sochi

Latvian Railways Cup

This tournament in Riga also came to a close today, and as in Saint Petersburg it was the pre-tournament favorites who emerged triumphant. Lokomotiv has had a highly impressive preseason, despite lending many of its finest players to Team Russia and Team Canada pre-Olympic rosters, and the Railwaymen wrapped up victory in the Latvian Railways Cup with a 3-0 win over the hosts.
Dinamo (Minsk) vs. Ak Bars (Kazan): 2-3 OT (1-0, 1-1, 0-1, 0-1)
In the battle for third place, a double from Justin Azevedo helped Ak Bars claim an overtime win over the men from Minsk.
Goals: 1-0 Kitarov (Linglet, 13.46), 2-0 Drozd (Khenkel, 23.33), 2-1 Galiyev (Tkachyov, 32.52), 2-2 Azevedo (Sekac, 43.47), 2.3 Azevedo (Markov, 62.59)
Goaltenders: Enroth – Garipov
Dinamo (Riga) vs. Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl): 0-3 (0-1, 0-1, 0-1)
Goals: 0-1 Koledov (Kadeikin, Alekseyev, 02.36), 0-2 Apalkov (Averin, 30.04), 0-3 Kadeikin (Ilyenko, Naklada, 55.20)
Goaltenders: Peters – Murygin
Andrei Markov was named best defender of the tournament.

Final standings
1. Lokomotiv
2. Dinamo (Riga)
3. Ak Bars
4. Dinamo (Minsk)

Friendly match

Banská Bystrica – Slovan (Bratislava) – 5-2 (2-2, 2-0, 1-0).
Slovan Goals: Hecl (Ebert, Hlinka), Genoway.

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup
Neftekhimik emerged victorious in the Ufa tournament thanks to a closely-fought win over Admiral. Hosts Salavat Yulaev held onto second place despite a surprise shootout defeat to Lada Togliatti.
Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk) vs. Admiral (Vladivostok): 3-2 (0-1, 3-1, 0-0)
18.08.17. The Republic of Bashkortostan Cup - 2017. Admiral (Vladivostok) - Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk)
Neftekhimik head coach Andrei Nazarov:
“Once again, I want to thank the organizers of this tournament in Ufa. Everything is top class, and our opponents gave us sparring of the highest level. I cannot deny that I am happy at winning this trophy and that we accomplished our mission, but we won't kid ourselves. Every line has been making mistakes, in offense, in defense, and in goal, so we'll leave memories of the two tournament victories behind us on the bus, and then get fully prepared for the start of the season.”
Admiral head coach Alexander Andriyevsky:
“Both in today's game and in the tournament as a whole, we have lacked consistency, which is a cause for concern. Overall, we've had ten preseason games, and at this stage it is more important that all of us are fit, healthy, and ready to put our training into practice. We'll stay here in Ufa until the 22nd, when we open our season with the game against Salavat Yulaev, so as not to waste any time with unnecessary travel.”
Goals: 0-1 Blum (Alexandrov, 4.31); 1-1 Hanzl (Rau, Sexton, 24.13); 1-2 Sabolic (Tkachyov, Blum, 26.16); 2-2 Hanzl (Sergeyev, Rau, 28.10); 3-2 Avtsin (Nestrasil, 38.46)
Goaltenders: Yezhov – Serebryakov

Neftekhimik – Admiral

Salavat Yulaev (Ufa) vs. Lada (Togliatti): 1-2 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
Salavat Yulaev head coach Erkka Westerlund:
“It was quite a good game. We created a lot of scoring chances, but unfortunately, we failed to convert them into goals. But we now have four good lines, and we are ready for the season.”
Lada Togliatti head coach Artis Abols:  
“We achieved this victory over Salavat Yulaev today because the guys were organized and showed commitment, and because Lazushin had a great game in goal... We are ready for next season and we will be trying to win in every game.”
Goals: 0-1 Babenko (Belousov, Gurkin, 37.33), 1-1 Hartikainen (Loginov, Kemppainen, 59.33), 1-2 Belousov (shootout)
Goaltenders: Kareyev – Lazushin 

Salavat Yulaev

Final standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1 Neftekhimik 3 9-5 8
2 Salavat Yulaev 3 7-6 5
3 Lada 3 8-8 4
4 Admiral 3 7-12 1

Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament

Hosts Avangard surged ahead in the Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament with a third successive victory. The Omsk men defeated Avtomobilist 2-0, thanks to goals from Maxim Mineyev and Dmitry Kugryshev, while at the other end, Dominik Furch kept the Yekaterinburg Men off the scoreboard. In the early game, Amur's star summer signing Alexander Frolov hit the game-winner to bring victory for the Khabarovsk Men over Barys, after the Astana Men had bounced back from 0-2 down to level the match. 
Barys (Astana) vs. Amur (Khabarovsk): 2-3 (0-2, 2-0, 0-1)
Barys head coach Evgeny Koreshkov:
“Once again, we allowed two unnecessary goals, and were lacking in concentration in the first period. Then we had a good second period in which we fought back and leveled the score, but we were a little disjointed at the start of the third and that's why we lost the game... My main objective was to have a look at our first reserves, and we saw all we needed.” (courtesy of HC Barys press service)
Amur head coach Andrei Martemyanov:
“The tournament was a good one, and superbly organized. We really enjoyed it. And I'm pleased that we've won our last two games in regulation time. Today, we had a total failure in the second period, but I like the way we played in the first and third, especially the perseverance the guys showed in the final period to recover from the mistakes in the second.” (courtesy of HC Avangard press service)
Goals: 0-1 – Byvaltsev (Lyutov, 8.05, PPG), 0-2 – Vyacheslav Ushenin (Vladislav Ushenin, 19.31, PPG), 1-2 Polokhov (Pushkaryov, Trivino, 23.38, PPG), 2-2 Belgibaev (Nikulin, Gurkov, 36.17), 2-3 Frolov (Zohorna, Kamalov, 51.19).
Goaltenders: Kudryavtsev – Metsola

Barys - Amur. Photo courtesy of HC Barys

Avtomobilist (Yekaterinburg) vs. Avangard (Omsk Region): 0-2 (0-0, 0-1, 0-1)
Goals: 0-1 Mineyev (25.38), 0-2 Kugryshev (Zhukenov, Fisenko, 52.19)
Goaltenders: Ustinsky – Furch

Avtomobilist - Avangard. Photo HC Avangard

Standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1. Avangard 3 11-3 9
2. Avtomobilist 3 5-3 6
3. Amur 4 7-10 6
4. Barys 3 7-8 3
5. Ugra 3 4-10 0

Mayor of Moscow Cup

A Geoff Platt goal set CSKA on the way to beating crosstown rival Dynamo and sealing victory in the 2017 Mayor of Moscow Cup. It was the Army Men's third straight win, but they were made to fight every inch of the way by a spirited and determined Dynamo. The Blue-and-Whites answered Platt's goal with strikes from Markovin, Sidlyarov and Komarov to take a 3-1 lead, but the Army Men showed similar resilience. A goal from Popov halved the deficit before the half-hour mark, and a third-period strike from Konstantin Okulov took the game to overtime, in which Okulov completd his double and secured the silverware.
In the earlier game, Spartak won by a single-goal margin for the second successive game, inflicting a third straight defeat on Vityaz.
Spartak (Moscow) vs. Vityaz (Moscow Region): 2-1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)
Vityaz head coach Valery Belov:
“I congratulate Spartak on a deserved victory. Maybe we could have been on top, but our offense was lacking in sharpness today and that prevented us from winning. We haven't been consistent in this tournament. We've had some good periods and some bad, but if you don't play well for the whole game you can hardly expect a positive result.” (courtesy of Championat)
Goals: 1-0 Nikontsev (Voronin, 14.06, SHG), 1-1 Mankinen (Horak, Rissanen, 26.45, PPG), 2-1 Komaristy (Mirnov, Provolnev, 35.41)
Goaltenders: Bespalov – Saprykin. 

Spartak - Vityaz

Dynamo (Moscow) vs. CSKA (Moscow): 3-4 (0-1, 3-1, 0-1, 0-1)
Photo: 18.08.17. Moscow mayor cup. CSKA (Moscow) - Dynamo (Moscow)
CSKA head coach Igor Nikitin:
“It was a tough game, and our third in four days. The guys had one eye on the forthcoming Championship and were not fully focused on the preseason. Dynamo played very well today, but our guys were great in the way they pulled themselves together and dug out a victory.” (courtesy of Championat)
Dynamo Moscow head coach Vladimir Vorobyov:
“Congratulations to CSKA on this win. It was a good match, and very entertaining for the fans. I'm sorry we didn't quite do enough, but I was pleased with our movement and our commitment. Yes, we are a young team and we make mistakes, but we are working on it. At times our penalty killing let us down.” (courtesy of Championat)
Goals: 0-1 Platt (Okulov, Ozhiganov, 10.30, PPG), 1-1 Markovin (Sidlyarov,23.36, PPG), 2-1 Sidlyarov (Markovin,Yefremov, 25.27, PPG), 3-1 Komarov (28.28), 3-2 Popov (Anton Burdasov, 29.09), 3-3 Okulov (Marchenko, 49.57, PPG), 3-4 Okulov (Sergeev, 62.10).
Goaltenders: Bocharov - Sorokin. 

CSKA - Dynamo (Moscow)

Place Team Games Goals Points
1. CSKA 3 9-4 8
2. Spartak 3 5-6 6
3. Dynamo 3 9-10 4
4. Vityaz 3 5-8 0

Friendly match

Metallurg (Magnitogorsk) vs. Zauralye (Kurgan) 1-2 SO (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Goals: 1-0 Shenfeld (Bobryashov),1-1 Mushtayev (Pervukhin), 1-2 Petrov (shootout)

Avangard's Nikolai Lemtyugov and Avtomobilist's Taylor Beck each recorded a double to help their teams to victory in Omsk on Saturday.

Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament

On the last day of the last preseason event before the start of the 10th season of the Championship, Avangard completed its fourth victory in four games to seal victory on home ice in the Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament. Head coach Andrei Skabelka rested many senior players, including all the team's foreign legion, but the Omsk Men were still good enough to claim a 3-1 win over Evgeny Koreshkov's Barys.
In the earlier game, Avtomobilist fought back valiantly from 0-2 and 2-3 to record a thrilling 4-3 victory over Ugra and secure second place in the final standings.
Ugra vs. Avtomobilist: 3-4 (2-0, 1-2, 0-2)
Goals: 1-0 Savinainen (Korolyov, 03.49), 2-0 Kuptsov (Varfolomeyev, 18.48), 2-1 Beck (Cajkovsky, Gareyev, 24.05), 2-2 Beck (Megalinsky, Pare, 31.05, PPG), 3-2 Kuryanov (Korolyov, Lekomtsev, 32.38), 3-3 Mikhnov (Torchenyuk, Tryamkin, 41.40), 3-4 Golyshev (Beck, 43.59)
Goaltenders: Proskuryakov - Covario
Avangard vs. Barys: 3-1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1)
Goals: 1-0 Lemtyugov (Dervuk, Fischenko, 23.34), 1-1 Dawes (Vey, Dietz, 43.35), 2-1 Faizullin (Zhukenov, Fischenko, 44.47), 3-1 Lemtyugov (Lisov, Perezhogin, 50.15)
Goaltenders: Shilin - Karlsson

Avangard

Final standings:
Place-Team-Games-Goals-Points 
1 Avangard 4 14-4 12
2 Avtomobilist 4 9-6 9
3 Amur 4 7-10 6
4 Barys 4 8-11 3
5 Ugra 4 7-14 0

Bodensee Cup

Torpedo – Schwenninger – 3:0 (0:0, 2:0, 1:0)
Goals: 1:0 Parshin (21:15), 2:0 Parshin (38:59), 3:0 Dugin (44:51)
Torpedo goaltender: Galimov

Ak Bars - 2017-18 Season Preview

Some things never change. As the KHL begins its 10^th season, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov is the only head coach still at the club he led back in 2008. Admittedly, he had a stint away from Kazan when he took charge of Russia’s national team from 2012-14, but his indelible connection with Ak Bars remains as strong as ever.
However, not for the first time, he is reshaping his roster in Kazan. Last season Ak Bars did well, but had no answers as Metallurg swept the Conference Final. This season, with Magnitka undergoing a reconstruction job of its own, there’s an opening for a newly dominant force in the East – and Ak Bars is determined to claim that mantle.
That’s why the club was determined to bring in an experienced veteran, a player who could lead on and off the ice. The first man for that role, Danis Zaripov, ended up having to leave after picking up a two-year drug ban. But that opened the way for Andrei Markov to join from Montreal. At first glance, it might seem odd to have a defenseman in place of a forward, but the key issue is the immense experience Markov brings to the locker room. Whatever the situation, after 16 seasons in the NHL, Russian championship success as a rookie, and Olympic and World Championship campaigns for the Red Machine, Markov has been there and done it. Even without his supreme hockey intelligence on the ice, his presence in the locker room would be invaluable.

Trans-Atlantic signings

The two other big summer arrivals also came from North America, but are still looking to prove themselves at the highest level. Swedish forward Anton Lander made more than 20 appearances for the Oilers last season without producing impressive statistics. However, his game suggests that he I capable of boosting an offense with a well-placed pass. Given the opportunity for more ice time, he could blossom into a significant threat in the KHL.
Stanislav Galiyev is in a similar position. He spent last season in the AHL and opted to return to Russia for a new challenge. He’s aiming high this season – an Olympic call-up and a Gagarin Cup triumph – and the early indications at the Sochi Hockey Open suggest that he’s ready to make an impact in the KHL.

Stanislav Galiyev

Mining the Kuzbass

Ak Bars also had a close look at the players made available when Metallurg Novokuznetsk dropped to the VHL. The Kuzbass region has a good reputation for nurturing young hockey talent – Kirill Kaprizov is merely the latest of many talented players to begin their careers at Metallurg. Goalie Vladislav Podyapolsky is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sergei Bobrovsky and Ilya Sorokin, both Novokuznetsk graduates. He’s just one of a five-strong group of players moving from Novokuznetsk to Kazan.

Vladislav Podyapolsky

Departures

Bilyaletdinov’s roster was trimmed by the departures of Michal Jordan, Ziyat Paigin, Mikhail Varnakov and Stanislav Galimov. All four are players with solid experience and reputations, but none of them, in truth, delivered their best hockey in Kazan. Their absence is unlikely to have a huge impact on the roster, especially given that key figures like Alexander Svitov and Justin Azevedo are back in harness.
With the basis of last season’s roster still in place, and new additions poised to strengthen that team, things look bright for Ak Bars going into the new season.

Mikhail Varnakov