Zaripov returns
After a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Russian international and four-time Gagarin Cup winner Danis Zaripov saw his suspension for doping violations reduced from two years to six months. The reduced ban made him eligible to return to the ice on November 23, and the forward quickly returned to Ak Bars, where he had signed a contract in the summer after leaving Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Zaripov could make his Ak Bars debut this week when the Eastern Conference leader entertains Salavat Yulaev on Wednesday and Neftekhimik on Saturday.
Thoresen heads back to SKA
Patrick Thoresen, one of the KHL’s most successful imports of all time, is reportedly on his way back to SKA until the end of the season. The Norwegian forward, who won Gagarin Cups with SKA and Salavat Yulaev, was the leading scorer among imports with 365 (144+221) points, until he was overtaken last season by Barys duo Brandon Bochenski and Nigel Dawes. Now, two years after leaving St. Petersburg, the 34-year-old is expected to be officially unveiled at SKA in the coming week. Swapping his home-town team, Storhamar, for the KHL means a boost for his prospects in his third trip to the Olympics, but also means a battle to get into a loaded roster at the Gagarin Cup holder. “I know that, even without me, SKA looks like a really, really strong team,” he told Russian newspaper Sport Express. “But I’m not just coming to sit on the bench, I want to fight for a place on the team. I’m ready to do everything needed, to help us win the cup. I understand perfectly well that I’ll have to prove my worth to the coaching staff, and I’m entirely confident that I can do it.”
Parenteau chases Olympic dream in Yekaterinburg
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, veteran of eight NHL teams and more than 500 games in the big league, is one of many players who opted for the KHL this season in the hope of booking a trip to the Olympics. He arrived at Avtomobilist in November, marked his debut with a goal (albeit, a streaky one) and is set to join up with Team Canada at December’s Spengler Cup. International play, for the first time since the 2003 World Juniors, is a big deal for the 34-year-old. “I want to play in the Olympics,” he told KHL.ru. “I’m not going to lie, that’s the main reason I came overseas. At the same time, the KHL is a good league and I am excited to be part of this team.”
A Winter classic in Helsinki
This season is a double celebration for Jokerit. As well as marking the 10th season of the KHL, the Finns are also celebrating 50 years of the Helsinki club. One of the highlights of that party is set for Saturday, Dec. 2, when Jokerit and SKA will meet in the open air for a festive special. It’s the first time a KHL game will be played outside, but for SKA’s Pavel Datsyuk the game evokes memories of NHL spectaculars and childhood scrimmages. “In the NHL, I think the atmosphere was the most memorable part,” he told KHL.ru. “There were so many fans in the stands, it was a great feeling playing in front of 40,000 in one game and 100,000 in the other.” And those childhood games? Well, that was a little different. “If you played street hockey as a kid, you probably remember the biting cold, the icy winds from all directions and the snow falling. But in that kind of atmosphere, you just have to enjoy it while it lasts, because games like this are few and far between and they linger in the memory.”
2-time world championship gold medalist and Junior Hockey League managing director Alexei Morozov shared his sports experience and talked about modern professional junior hockey in Russia on November 21st as part of educational program for professional young hockey players. Educational Center Sirius hosted All-Russian competition among Federal Districts hockey team among U-15 players from November 13th to November 20th in Sochi. 175 athletes participated in the competition, representing Moscow, Central, Privolzhie, North-West, Sibir, Far East, Ural and Southern federal districts.
MHC Spartak Moscow beat Chayka Nizhny Novgorod in a hard-fought game. With this 4-2 win Spartak climb on top of the Western Conference.
Top players of the week:
Best goaltender – Andrei Skovronsky (MHC Spartak)
Best defenceman – Yegor Bryutov (Tyumenskiy Legion)
Best forward – Alexandr Dzedayev (Tyumenskiy Legion)
Best goaltender – Andrei Skovronsky (MHC Spartak)
Best defenceman – Yegor Bryutov (Tyumenskiy Legion)
Best forward – Alexandr Dzedayev (Tyumenskiy Legion)
WHL week in review
Six more games took place in the Women's Hockey League over the past seven days, and not all the results went the way the pundits might have predicted. In Krasnoyarsk, Biryusa welcomed Dynamo Saint Petersburg, who were playing their last matches of 2017, but the hosts were not in a hospitable mood. The Siberian team won both matches by a 2-1 score, although they needed a shootout to edge the first encounter. In Ufa, the current leader, Agidel, played host to Arctic University. The first match was a resounding 6-1 win for the home team and favorite, but in the second encounter the visitor raced to a shock 3-1 lead. Home nerves were soothed, however, in a blistering 10-minute spell in which Ufa captain Olga Sosina hit a hat-trick to seal a thrilling victory. In Nizhny Novgorod, Skif took on the reigning champion, Tornado of Moscow Region. The visitors took the spoils in the first match with a 3-1 triumph, but Skif showed admirable spirit in the rematch, exacting sweet revenge with a 3-1 win. Following her captain's performance, Agidel's Olga Sosina leads the League in both goals and points, with her account now showing 23 (8+15), and her team tops the standings with 26 points. In second place, 5 points adrift of the Ufa women, is Skif on 21, three points ahead of third-placed Biryusa on 18, while Dynamo Saint Petersburg clings to fourth place with 17. 
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