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HCSalavat Gets Back in the Series. Salavat Yulaev - Ak Bars 4:3. February 26, 2017

Today the 3rd game of the Green Derby series has been played and it was crucial for Salavat to win it. 2:0 after the two games in Kazan made it catastrophically necessary to reconsider the team's play. Salavat Yulaev completely lost first two games physically, the players seemed much slower. Ak Bars sweeped all before themselves. It was really interesting to see what Salavat was going to do with that. Ufa has met the first game of this season's play-offs brilliantly. The city has waited for this the whole year and for some time the fans had doubts regarding hitting the play-offs. But now, 26 February, the first home game of the Gagarin Cup, the Green Derby. What can be better? Only the win over Ak Bars. The most unexpected, surprising, illogical, shocking thing about the roster of Salavat Yulaev was announced 2 hours before the game. Andrei Gavrilov substitutes Niklas Svedberg in the net, he will start the game. 'What? Are you insane, Zakharkin?', fans had this silent question in their minds. In order for you to understand, firstly Gavrilov has never played at such top level games as the Green Derby, especially in play-offs, secondly Salavat lost 2 games - they have to win this one, thirdly Svedberg showed excellent play in the two previous games - there was no his guilt in the conceded goals. This Zakharkin's move didn't make sense at all. Not only fans but all the experts didn't understand that. I don't say that Gavrilov is a bad goalie, he's good but he doesn't have such experience as Svedberg does. Igor Zakharkin made quite a lot of changes in the roster. This time he brought Kaprizov and Vorobyov back together, Linus Omark was the band-master. Denis Parshin joined Enver Lisin, the man of the game by the way, and Evgeny Bodrov in the second line. Igor Grigorenko took Kaprizov's place in the third line. I agree with the head coach regarding the roster, I think this is the most efficient combination of players which are ready to play. The game started with Salavat's long attacks which were planned to break Ak Bars right from the start. I think, we could watch at it from two points of view. It's important for Ufa to score as many goals and to win the game. On the other hand, Ak Bars had the right for a mistake and there was no need to strive this time. Salavat seemed much more ready physically, the work was shown. It brought benefits immediately. Denis Khlystov, the former captain of Salavat Yulaev who plays now for Kazan, got double penalty for roughing and Kirill Kaprizov scored an opener assisted by Linus Omark. The most creative pair of forwards started to work again together.

No time to stop, Salavat had to score again. This is the time when Denis Kulyash, the Tsar-Pushka of the KHL, kicks into action. Kulyash on his own enters the away zone and without hesitation slapshots. When you see that, usually you say he took the spider's web. The puck hit the very top left corner, such an amazing shot Kulyash has.

Salavat showed really fascinating play in the first period. They had plenty of chances and a rain of powerplay. But I think the team played as much as Ak Bars allowed them to play. This is just my humble opinion, but you could see that. Sometimes in powerplay it seemed that Ak Bars just gave away the puck and Salavat players didn't know what to do with it. They could score more and more but there was no classic creativity seen. According to the stats, Ufa made 15 shots on goal against 3. Gavrilov didn't have to even raise a hand. But horrible things started in the end of the period. Stepan Zakharchuk as the biggest and the baddest player of Ak Bars makes a dirty and heavy head shot on small Anton Lazarev. The Arena and all the commentators cry in terror for Lazarev. We know how dirty Zakharchuk can be, but really? The refs give only 2 minutes for charging. The result - no Lazarev, 2 minutes for Zakharhuck.

Unfortunately Salavat couldn't score in this powerplay, this would a huge revenge. Now passing over to the second period. Initially things were good, Ak Bars gets one more penalty - Rafael Batyrshin for tripping, Linus Omark as the director of all the attack this time scores himself. There was some beauty in this goal. Linus recovers from a heavy injury, comes back on track in two previous games, and becomes the leader in the third game and scores a screamer. Only Linus can do that, not anyone else.

So, 3:0 at the start of the second period. Time to celebrate? Did you really think that Ak Bars would give up so easily? In 24 seconds Fyodor Malykhin makes the Arena fall silent. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning. Ak Bars increases the speeds, makes much more shots, and already Salavat doesn't seem stable. Igor Grigorenko get penalty for tripping and Jiri Sekac realizes the powerplay. Probably that wasn't enough for Igor. He goes to penalty box once again, now Justin Azevedo equalizes the score. Andrei Gavrilov thus wasn't Zakharkin's best move tonight. Still, why would he choose him? No one knows. After that Svedberg comes on ice, the Arena breathes a sigh of relief. Igor Grigorenko probably was too nervous in this game, because he gets one more penalty at the end of the 2nd period. He totally failed the game. The captain of the team, cannot afford to leave the team shorthanded three times in such an important game. Fortunately Ak Bars couldn't take that advantage in the 3rd period. Now we know that not only Salavat can make amazing come backs. But it's more important to stay psychologically stable when you lead by 3 goals and the opponent equalizes the game. So did Salavat Yulaev. Enver Lisin makes his biggest effort in this series so far. Assisted by Denis Parshin he scores the game winner.

Now it's easier to breathe for me and all the Salavat Yulaev fans. We still believe in all the players, coaches, in the whole team. We believe that on 28 February Salavat Yulaev will make it 2:2 in the series and start everything over in Kazan.

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Ak Bars Doubles the Lead over HCSalavat. February 25, 2017.

The Green Derby continues in the Gagarin Cup play-off series between Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Ak Bars Kazan. The first game ended with 2:1 in favour of Kazan and a massive scandal due to doubtfully legal goal scored by Atte Ohtamaa. You can see the details in my previous post. In the first game Ak Bars seemed much better in the 1st and the 3rd periods, their head coach said that they have made conclusions regarding the 2nd period which was won by Salavat completely. The game showed that Ak Bars have really made conclusions, they've bettered.

As for the rosters, HCSalavat again has more injured players. Two players of the two first lines - Dmitry Makarov and Maksim Mayorov got injured in the previous game. Mayorov has recently become one of the leaders, so this is a huge loss. So, only young players could substitute them - Mikhail Kotlyarevsky and Stepan Khripunov. Linus Omark went to the first line, and Evgeny Bodrov upped to the 2nd line substituting Makarov. The rest was the same as in the previous game. As compared to the first game, this time Salavat starts the game in offense. This is normal, because Ufa needs the victory more. But the starting rush was easily neutralized by Ak Bars in 10 minutes. Moreover, on the 15th minute Fyodor Malykhin opens the score in powerplay.

This wasn't really typical for powerplay, because Ak Bars made a transition attack. Opening goal means much in play-offs, especially when the teams are close in strength. If in the first game, Salavat responded immediately, this time Ak Bars was able to neutralize all the attempts.

Now, the second period, which was pretty good for Salavat in the first game. Tonight, we saw which conclusions Bilyaletdinov make regarding the 2nd period. His team was fast, the play speed seems the defining component in this series. If you are physically prepared, you are faster, that means the opponent cannot always keep pace with you. This happened to Salavat, the boys weren't able to do anything. They made even less shots on goal than in the first period - 5 vs 7 (1st period). In the third period, Ak Bars could play their classical Bilyaletdinov's hockey. Due to Lepisto's mistake Mikhail Glukhov scored right from the start and Ak Bars parked the bus on their blue line. Tonight Sami Lepisto was really active, but all this activeness brought only loss. In last 10 minutes finally Salavat was able to attack in their own style. When the time board showed 8:03 minutes left, Enver Lisin scored due to Tkachyov's mistake.

You have to understand, Salavat scored only because of Ak Bars's mistake. This wasn't team work, this wasn't a classic Salavat attack. This was all Ufa team could do in the whole game. Bilyaletdinov has completely outgamed Zakharkin in this game. 2:1 - the final score again. The only good thing about this game is Niklas Svedberg's play. He was the one who let Salavat stay in the game till the end. In my humble opinion he is the man of the game.

Ak Bars goes to Ufa with a huge advantage and it's crucial for Salavat to win both of the games in order to start everything over. The coaches have to do something to bring back the physics and mentality to the team. I'm hoping to see Teemu Hartikainen and Sergei Soin back in the game in Ufa.

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Scandalous 'Last-second' Goal from Atte Ohtamaa. February 23, 2017

Yesterday's first game of the Green Derby Series between HCSalavat and Ak Bars ended with a massive scandal. The games between these teams are always hot and it's a brilliant news headliner. So, yesterday, the teams exchanged punches in the first period and got back to deep defense for the rest of the game. Still, Ak Bars was the one in the third period who didn't want overtime. 5 seconds left, they started an attack and Atte Ohtamaa scored a heartbreaking goal on the last second.

Igor Zakharkin immediately took a coach's challenge to check if there was goaltender interference, because Andrei Popov made contact with Svedberg's leg pad when he was making the first shot. The refs defined that there wasn't anything. Ak Bars started to celebrate the victory for the second time. Then something happened, the referees watched the goal again. They checked if it was scored before the final buzzer. Again, the goal was good. Tatneft-Arena bursted into hysteria for the third time. That was it for Salavat Yulaev that night. But here we have a video of the goal with a timer on the left corner. What do you see? Is that legal? Can Ak Bars score goals after the time is off?

https://twitter.com/hockey_se/status/834484045925011457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

KHL says yes, the goal was scored when it was 0,04 seconds left. But we don't know that, we see what we see on this video. Why can't KHL show what really happened there? We won't get answers for these questions. We just have to pull ourselves tomorrow and beat them in a fair game, although they don't play it.

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Ak Bars Takes the Lead in the Green Derby. February 22, 2017.

HCSalavat the second year in a row faces Ak Bars Kazan in the first round of the Gagarin Cup. This year the series starts in Kazan as Ak Bars came higher in the regular season. But they say it doesn't matter in play-offs. Ak Bars has come to the play-offs in full squad. Vladimir Tkachyov, Albert Yarullin and Damir Musin have finally got back from a rest after the national team games. On the contrary Salavat Yulaev, which had problems with the roster during all the season couldn't count on everybody. Although Linus Omark, Denis Bodrov, Andrei Gavrilov and Evgeny Bodrov were finally ready, Teemu Hartikainen, Sergei Soin, Aleksandr Nesterov and Igor Makarov stayed in Ufa. These four players are a big loss for the team. Two of them are centreforwards. So, as for the roster, Igor Grigorenko - Dmitry Makarov - Denis Parshin made the first line, backed up with Sami Lepisto and Aleksander Loginov. Enver Lisin - Tomas Mertl - Maksim Mayorov now were the second line. As in the previous game Kirill Kaprizov played with Evgeny Korotkov and Anton Lazarev. Linus Omark and Evgeny Bodrov were the drivers of the fourth line, they substituted young Stepan Khripunov and Mikhail Kotlyarevsky.

So, the rosters are set, the Tatneft-Arena is ready, the fans are pumped, let the Green Derby begin!

The game starts with a light advantage of Kazan, which is normal, because they play on their home ice, they are the favourites of the series. Still the teams tried to play it safe, paying more attention to the defense, which is also normal as this is the play-offs, every small mistake may cause huge problems. The first small mistake was made by Sami Lepisto. He got a dispensable 2-minute penalty for tripping, and Ak Bars takes the advantage by the effort of Jiri Sekac assisted by Vasily Tokranov and Justin Azevedo.

Usually who opens the score, he wins, so it's important to respond quickly. So does Salavat. Kirill Kaprizov who hasn't scored in a long time, makes it 1:1 in powerplay. Sami Lepisto and Linus Omark assisted him. The Classic came back! The teams traded jabs and got back to defense.

The second period was Salavat's chance to lead the game. They made 13 shots on goal against 5, had plenty of chances to score, but Emil Garipov took to heart saving the net. If, I repeat, if Salavat scored at least two of the chances, they would win the game undoubtedly. But it's 1:1 after the second period as well.

The third period was the most unentertaining. As for the shots on goal - 5:4 in favour of Ak Bars. The game was close, every goal could be the last. It seems Ak Bars needed the win more, because haven't given it up until the end of the game, literally. Atte Ohtamaa scored the game-winner and freezed the screen when it was showing 00:01 left.

Can you imagine that? Salavat Yulaev lost the game on the last second. This is a bitter loss for the team, because firstly of course the goal was scored on the last second, the team was really good, Svedberg showed how he can play against Ak Bars. The team has good movement, it's quick, the lines are pretty balanced. So we'll see how we can respond to this loss on February 24.

All the photos are taken from HCSalavat and HC Ak Bars VK Public pages:https://vk.com/hcsalavat and https://vk.com/hcakbars

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The Last Game of the Regular Season. HCSalavat - HC Lada Togliatti 4:2. February 18, 2017.

In one of my previous posts I wrote that Salavat Yulaev risked not make it to play-offs. I wrote that the team must have won both of the rest games. One over Ak Bars was enough, though, because the opponents, Kunlun Red Star, Admiral Vladivostok and Sibir Novosibirsk simulateaously lost their games. Thus, today's game vs Lada Togliatti determined only our first round opponent. If we win, we get the Green Derby as in last year. Do we want that? Of course we do. Everybody was sure that HCSalavat wanted Kazan in play-offs, so the win was obvious. HC Lada doesn't already pursue any aims, so it was just a game of honour for them, everybody thought. Nobody expected that Togliatti would play at top speed. We have to thank Lada that they didn't give up the game and showed a top class hockey. It's good both for Salavat Yulaev ahead of play-offs and the fans to watch a spectacular game.

Coming down to the roster of Salavat Yulaev, I have to mention some good and bad news. During the previous game vs Ak Bars, Aleksandr Nesterov got injured for unknown time. That's a big loss for the team, especially now. He's a 3-4th line wing forward who rarely scores, but when he does, the team wins. The doctors confirmed that Igor Makarov isn't going to play this season for sure. On the other hand, there are some good news. Teemu Hartikainen got back to Ufa and was seen on the Arena during the Green Derby. Doctors say that he's going to be ready soon. Linus Omark, probably the best player of the team, sent a video from Sweden, saying hi to everybody and promising to get well soon.

As for the roster for today's game, there were some changes, but not so important. The first line Enver Lisin - Tomas Mertl - Maksim Mayorov stayed the same. Nominally the 4th line Igor Grigorenko - Dmitry Makarov - Denis Parshin became the 2nd in this game. Kirill Kaprizov went to Evgeny Korotkov and Anton Lazarev instead of the injured Aleksander Nesterov. Stepan Khripunov and Mikhail Vorobyov were partnered with Dmitry Maltsev who substituted Kaprizov. Mikhail Kotlyarevsky was the 4th forward in this line, but still he got his playtime. HCSalavat starts with massive attacks on Ilya Ezhov's net, making many shots. But HC Lada lets everybody understand that it's not going to be an easy game. They responded with bruising hockey and dangerous counterattacks, one of them finished with a fluke goal. Grigory Belousov makes a wrist shot from the blue line, Svedberg parries the puck to the left side but hits the referee. Denis Zernov takes this free puck and sends it to Niklas's net, 0:1. In my opinion, it wasn't the goalie's mistake. Just the referee was not in the right place. 

The second period starts with Lada's one more penalty. HCSalavat is good at powerplay this season. Sami Lepisto confirms that with a long slap shot, tying the game, 1:1.

Lada doesn't wait for long, in 4 minutes Stanislav Bocharov responds with a powerplay goal. I repeat, no one expected Togliatti to play at top speed. This was a heavy game for Ufa. Salavat Yulaev had to use extra powers to win the game.

Maksim Mayorov assisted by Evgeny Korotkov scores the 2nd goal of the team. The combination went really good. Look at that assist by Korotkov! Does he have eyes on his back?

Probably that was all for Lada. At the start of the 3rd period young line scores the 3rd goal. Mikhail Vorobyov and Mikhail Kotlyarevsky assist Stanislav Gareyev to give the lead to Salavat. We have to mention that the goal was scored by efforts of only Ufa alumnis. In the end of the game Denis Kulyash scores an empty net goal. Kulyash finally scored, because it was seen during the whole game that he really wanted to score. He made 5 shots on goal! We're really happy for him. In general, I'm happy for the team. HCSalavat ended the regular season with a good mood and hit the play-offs. One more Green Derby awaits us. The first game is on February 22nd in Kazan. That's going to the hell of a Derby. All the photos are taken from  HCSalavat's official VK Public page: https://vk.com/hcsalavat

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Big Interview with Igor Grigorenko. February 15, 2017.

Igor Grigorenko, the current captain of Salavat Yulaev, gave a big interview to a KHL journalist Vladimir Bakulin. The interview was given on February 14 just before the game, so something may not be up-to-date, because HCSalavat has already won the Green Derby (3:1). Grigorenko gives interviews very rarely, and this one is big, so we must appreciate Igor's openness in such a hard situation. I've provided you with the translation of the whole interview.

Igor Grigorenko: Salavat is on thin ice. Everything's in our hands.

The captain of Salavat Yulaev in an interview for KHL - about Salavat's hardest situation, about a meeting with Ufa fans at the airport, about the 500th game in KHL, about time with Aleksander Radulov, about off-hockey live and all the rest.

"Well we're not a boy and a girl with Radulov to miss each other" - The game against CSKA became your 500th in KHL, did you know? - Frankly speaking, I didn't. Our press-attache told me about that before the game. Of course it's a bright spot for me, I played so many games. - Did you follow your statistics until this moment? - No, I never follow stats. - Which season do you consider the most successful for yourself? - Of course, I remember that season in Ufa, when we won the Gagarin Cup. This is the most memorable event. Probably it's about everybody: if you win something, then it's the best year. - What about the time in CSKA? - I have pleasant memories of that time. The results were good. Positive time. - Right in CSKA two years ago you had the most successful season in the sense of goal production. - Again I'll tell that it was excellent time for me. We played with Aleksander Radulov then, we got it right. In the sense of mutual understanding: both in Ufa and in CSKA. We spent a lot of time with him. That season was really memorable. Especially the play-offs, when we led 3:0 over SKA, and then we lost that series... - Do you miss the line with Aleksander Radulov? - Well, do I miss? Well we're not a boy and a girl with Radulov to miss each other. (Laughs). We played - yes, we did great. Unfortunately, now is the time when I play in one team, he does in another. So goes the sports life. - Is Radulov the best playmaker you've ever played with? - I don't want to single out players - who's better, who's worse. I'll say that Sasha (Radulov) is a strong player, everybody knows that. - Was it easy to get on with him as a person? He's got nasty temper after all... - For me it was always easy with him. Starting with the time when he joined Ufa. (Smiles). - How did you take Radulov's decision to try himself in NHL again? Do you keep in contact? - Of course, we call each other. Regarding Sasha's move - that's what he wanted. He wanted - he got it. He went to NHL to try himself again. I follow his perfomance in Montreal. As far as I know he's recently even scored a goal. Good job! Let him do his best, I wish him to win the Stanley Cup! Let's be happy for him. - Just recently KHL All Star Game has taken place in Ufa. Did you go there? - Yes, I did. Everything was organized seriously. We met with the guys who took part in it, everybody liked it,  everything was great. Probably it was the best All Star Game that's been ever held. - The next season is the 10th for KHL. Has the League developed during this time? - The League has been developing every year, there are some changes in rules and in other stuff. It seems everything started just now, but so many things were made. Good job!

“Kaprizov is not the leader of Salavat? He scores goals right when we need them" - Almost two months have passed after you recovered from an injury. Have you already got in shape? - I'm still getting. There was a break in KHL, enforced work-outs. I'm getting the shape that you need in play-offs. Though now is such a situation that we're still not in play-offs, we didn't guarantee a place in it. - After an injury you have a hard time scoring goals. What's the reason? - I don't know. Probably I haven't recovered completely. - In the current season you haven't been invited to Team Russia. Do you aim at it? - Every player aims at playing in Team Russia. Unfortunately, I'm having such a season, a lot of injuries, and there's nothing to be done...Again so goes the hockey world: today you're playing, then you get an injury and you can do nothing about it. You have to spend a lot of time to recover. - This season a whole epidemy of injuries has caught Salavat up, you can even open your own hospital. What do you think is the reason: defects in pre-season preparations or simple accidents? - Can't say anything about the pre-season, because I didn't attend it due to an injury. As for injuries and the reasons...I don't know. But we really have a lot. - How does the team feel physically in general? - We work out on the physics. Normally. Everybody understands his role in the team. Now we have two games to play before the play-offs and we must win them. All the boys are getting in the necessary shape for the games. - Now Linus Omark has not so very succesful time. Did the story about the spoilt holiday influence him? He didn't take part in the All Star Game, then he got injured... - I don't think it could somehow influence him. All the people, including hockey players, cannot always be in the same shape: someone has his downs. I think he's tired a bit. And this injury...Now he'll recover, gain strength and everything wil be alright. - How are you going to make out without him? After all Omark is the key player of Salavat, the leader of attacks... - I've already told in some interview that our team is a true team. We worry about the injured boys as well as about him. - This season Kirill Kaprizov has hit another level. How could he make so much progress? A young boy - 19 y. o., but he plays excellent in the club, in young and national team Russia. - Well, look at how we started out careers. We played when we were even younger, in our 19-20s we were already accomplished players. Yes, he's a young boy, but he pursues his aims. He works a lot, he strives, he listens out and does what the coaches ask him. He's got a good shot, he's smart. That's the reason he plays like that. - Is Kaprizov taken as a leader in Salavat Yulaev? - Of course. Kaprizov is not the leader of Salavat? He scores goals right when we need them. We sure understand that he's young. But everything is about that in such age he's already a player of the main team. No leeways. - There are such cases when players of 19-20 y.o. throw a lead and then leave the hockey horizon... Even if we remember your team of 1983: not everybody drew out, as many forecasted. Do you agree? - In some sense, yes. But the most of that boys still play, and regarding the players who hasn't drawn out - so goes the career. Our team was really strong. Many players sparkled. And even if someone couldn't play on the highest level, they play in VHL.

"We don't understand what is happening with Salavat, why we lose" - Let's talk about the current state of Salavat: the losing streak counts 9 games. It's the situation when the experts shrug their shoulders and say: "We don't know what's with Ufa". What is the reason of failed season in your opinion? - I've told many times about it. We the players, constantly meet and discuss it. How come that we are leading 3:1 in the 3rd period and then lose the game?! I don't understand it. I think this is not about physical, but psychological state. There came diffidence. It comes one after another, we lose each game after another. I think after a break in the regular season, everything will be alright. - And when did this diffidence come? - I don't know at all. So many injuries, everything imposes on one another... It's hard to tell, when this moment has come. - What is being done in the team in order to stop this bad luck? - We constantly make meetings. We constantly talk to each other to huddle together, in order to be stronger, be the united body, to be one fist. And more positive thinking, than negative. - Heavy criticism went on the goalies: including Niklas Svedberg. Is this criticism fair? - This question is not for me. I'll just say that we are one team. And the goalie has got nothing to do with it. Yes, he concedes some goals, but the skaters also don't shrugg off responsibility. If it goes on him, then it goes on us as well. That means we don't make him play confident. Our every player is interdependent: if one made a mistake, the other makes that too. And this chain of diffidence transferres to everybody. - What does the team lack at defending own net? Salavat concedes a lot, many at a time, even fails separate parts of the games. - Probably everyone should get in his head. We may play well the whole part, the 1st period, and just fail the 2nd. This is more about psychology. - Has the club management already talked to the team about the losing streak? - They came, talked. We have a heavy situation. We are really on thin ice, we can miss the play-offs. Everything is in our hands.

"The thought of Salavat missing the play-offs? We try to shake it off. We're thinking positively" - What is the psychological situation in the team? Are there mutual allegations? - No. On the contrary, we huddled together in order to be the united body. We talk only positively. - How does Igor Zakharkin react on the losses? - I think the same as us. On top of all of that, he's the responsibility for the team. It doesn't come cheap for him. I understand him, but he's with us, he also says that we should the one united body and gain strength from each other. - Zakhar Arzamastsev in an interview said that Igor Zakharkin is a gentle and democratical coach, but still sometimes buckets fly all around the locker room. Does it happen more often now? - No, I would say so. In any case, he shouts sometimes. This is normal work situation. - Do the rumours about the coach shift on the eve of the play-offs get on the team's nerves? Someone even named the specific candidate - Canadian specialist Mike Keenan. - We don't read the press. - You are the captain of Salavat Yulaev. Has Zakharkin talked to about the situation in the team? - We talk, but again it's not for the press. It's our inner workings, we keep it in. This information doesn't go anywhere, it's only in the team. - Now do you feel more responsibility as the captain? - Of course, I feel. When you need to talk, get the idea across the players. - Zakharkin has recently made a decision to talk to the fans who waited at the airport. How did you take it? - It's not Zakharkin, it's us all together, the whole team made that decision. We talked to the fans, it's a normal situation. Their position can be understood: they worry about us. - Do you allow the thought of Salavat may not make it to play-offs? - We try to shake it off. Now we have only 7th games of play-offs: 2 games which we must win. The result depends on us and we are getting ready for these games and striving. I'm sure everything will be alright. - Do the losses leave traces on off-hockey life? - Of course! Fans, everybody discuss it, friends call and ask the reasons. Our fans came to the airport, even one fan came to my house - we also talked. What can I say? The situation is as in life: not everything goes smooth in life. There are moments when everything's good or bad. You have to cope with that and work on it. Remedy the situation and that's it. - Do you have confidence that things will straighten out in play-offs? - We'll hope so and strive to make it happen.

"I wouldn't say that something changed after the car accident. Just became a bit older" - Which coach was the most comfortable to work with in your whole playing career? - I was comfortable with each. I'm not like that: comfortable with one, not with the other. We have contracts, we perform them. - Do you plan to become a coach in future? - The life will show. I don't want to guess at the future. - Many hockey-lovers still remember that terrible car accident in Togliatti, which happened to you in 2003. That period wasn't easy for you. How do you feel about that time? - I've alrady forgotten all of that. Let bygones be bygones, you have to live further. - Does your heart miss a bit when you drive near that place? - No. - Did something change in you, in your attitude to life, in your principles after you spent 14 days in coma? Between life and... - I wouldn't say changed. I simply started to be more careful at some moments. Just became a bit older. (Smiles). - The golden youth of 2003 is very friendly. With whom do you still communicate? - With Ilya Kovalchuk, Maksim Kondratyev, Andrei Taratukhin, Akeksander Perezhogin. I have normal relations with all of the boys. - What or who is on the 1st place in your life? - Family is on the 1st place. - If you choose between Togliatti and Ufa, which is the dearest and nearest? - As I live in Ufa, my wife and the children's hometown is Ufa, I think Ufa is my hometown too: I have an apartment here, a house. I don't forget Togliatti too, I was born there. brought up, my mother lives there. Everything dearest. In general I think it's bad to choose. - What is Igor Grigorenko fond of in life? - I try to spend more time with the family. As much as I can. We have holidays together, but I don't have a hobby. - Do you feel insulted by CSKA when you left the club in 2015? - What is the sense in feeling insulted? So goes the hockey career: today you are here, tomorrow elsewhere. No one knows where we are going to be the next year. - Talking about the future, your contract with Salavat Yulaev expires in April. Have you thought about the future and how much will the decision depend on whether the team makes it to play-offs or not? - Now I don't think about it at all. I think only of how we can get into play-offs, the rest will be later, in April.

Source:http://www.khl.ru/news/2017/02/14/339134.html All the photos are taken from the KHL official site and HCSalavat's official VK Public page: https://vk.com/hcsalavat From myself I will add that in the Green Derby Igor Grigorenko played the crucial role. He was The Captain who led the team on ice and scored probably the most important goal in this regular season.

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Charitable action "I help the children" at the Green Derby. February 15, 2017.

Salavat Yulaev as a big club in the League makes much not only in the hockey sense but it also carries out many social programs. Since recently it has started to realize many charitable events. Yesterday's Green Derby wasn't an exception. As it was Saint Valentine's Day, everybody who came to the game could buy and write a valentine to his most favourite player of HCSalavat. The point was that you buy a tear-off card with the player's photo on it, you write words of encouragement on the tear-off part and you keep the other part.

A valentine card costed only 100 rub. All the earnings of this "I help the children" charity action were to be transferred to "Liniya Serdtsa" ("Heart Line") program of Markhamat (Mercy) foundation. The program's task is to make targeted aid to severely ill children. The idea of such a wonderful action was given by Svetlana Mirsayeva, Markhamat's fundraising manager. At the conclusion of the charity action the club passes the valentines to the players, counts all of them and names the most popular player. The most wonderful thing about it was that you not only help the children, but you also support the team in these hard times. Green Hearts help each other!

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Svedberg brings the win for HCSalavat in Green Derby. February 14, 2017.

Salavat Yulaev for the first time in last 12 years risks not to make it to play-offs. The team has come to the final games of the regular season with 82 points. The main competitors are Admiral Vladivostok, Kunlun Red Star and Sibir Novosibirsk. 9 losses in a row with 41 goals conceded, the injuries of Linus Omark, Teemu Hartikainen, Sergei Soin and the coming opponent Ak Bars Kazan left a vistage of doubt regarding making it to play-offs. But the stricken beast is the most dangerous, right? Maybe the most bitter rival is the thing you need the most in this kind of situation. Maybe Ak Bars is the right motivator to make the players play bigger than they think they can, they may rise to the occasion. The win over Ak Bars would make HCSalavat rise again from the ashes, break this lengthy skid of 9 losses. This would be a beautiful story. Can it come true?

All of this was in my head 2 days before the game. Good news came later when the head coach Igor Zakharkin said that Tomas Mertl had recovered from an injury and was ready to play. He is one of the centreforwards which we lack right now. One of the biggest problems of HCSalavat was Niklas Svedberg's play in this whole season. He is the most goal-conceding goalkeeper of the League. Could we trust him in these last most important games of the season? He must have been in hard psychological state. According to the goalie coach Kirill Korenkov, Svedberg will be alright. We can do nothing but believe him, believe in Niklas. The other thing which would make us think positively about the coming games was that there was a big break in KHL season because of EuroHockeyTour where Kirill Kaprizov and Zakhar Arzamastsev took part. The break could help the team have a rest, ease the tension, tune the mindset and basically practice for the last games.  As Kirill Korenkov said Svedberg had a trip back to Sweden for 3 days, where he could have a rest psychologically. The only positive thing about these breaks is that simply you can have a rest. As for Ak Bars Kazan, the team has coped with a task of getting into play-offs some games ago. The team will be the 3rd team in the Eastern Conference in any case. So, 2 hours before the game. The city of Ufa is pumped about the coming Green Derby. The people are slowly coming down to the Ufa-Arena. The others are turning the TVs on at home. It's the most important event in the city right now. It's already a knockout game for HCSalavat. The fan zone prepared a big banner in order to encourage the team, the fans to unite all the strength and emotions to win this game, this war.

As for the roster, Enver Lisin - Tomas Mertl - Maksim Mayorov made the 1st line. Probably right now it's the strongest line in the team: 2 huge and fast wingers with a smart centreforward. The other lines were not changed as compared to the last game except the 4th. Dmitry Makarov joined Igor Grigorenko and Denis Parshin. In advance I'll tell that right this line made a big deal for the final result. Svedberg took the net and the whole Ufa laid hopes on him. So, the face-off, the arena bursts at the seems making a great deal of noise to support the team. The game starts with a slight pressure by Ak Bars. Probably it was their head coach Zinetulla Bilyaletdinov's game plan. Salavat sticks it and responds quickly. Igor Grigorenko finishes a brilliant Yulaev style combination hitting a top corner of the net. Sami Lepisto and Denis Parshin assisted him. The arena goes crazy. The Captain as he should do leads the team after him. Igor makes his long-forgotten celly. Has Salavat come back

HCSalavat doesn't lose the momentum, making more and more dangerous attacks and shots. Generally the 1st period was the most fascinating in the sense of the speedy play and dangerous attempts. In ten minutes another miracle happened. The never-scoring Aleksandr Nesterov tips the puck after Enver Lisin's shot and makes it 2:0 for Ufa. In 42 seconds Ak Bars remembered that they were on the ice too. Atte Ohtamaa makes it 2:1. But that wasn't for long. Salavat Yulaev responds 43 seconds later. Aleksander Loginov makes the arena writhe in hysterics with his long wrist shot hitting the top corner. Pretty hot period, well, no one said it's going to be cold. This very period has determined the fate of the whole game. The rest 2 periods went in the same open style hockey with plenty of moments. The real hero of the game Niklas Svedberg made quite a lot of big saves which let the team keep this 2-goal lead. To sum up, he made 17 saves with 94.4 saves percentage. He was announced the man of the game. Finally we saw The Svedberg, right when we needed him.

This win increased the chances of Salavat Yulaev to get into play-offs drastically. Firstly, the team got the long-craved 3 points, secondly, it brought back its skill to win important games, thirdly the win gave the confidence to the team. Now Salavat Yulaev has only one game to play and to win. The victory over Lada Togliatti will let the team make it to the play-offs, where HCSalavat may face Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Avangard Omsk and most possibly Ak Bars Kazan again. That would be the continuation of the Green Derby thriller.

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HCSalavat Open Practice. February 13. 2017.

HCSalavat has approached to the last two games of the regular season. Right these 2 games will determine the team's fate regarding the play-offs. The opponents are Ak Bars Kazan and Lada Togliatti. Today the team have carried out an open practice for the journalists. The coaches and players gave interviews which I've translated for you.

Head Coach Igor Zakharkin: "We've been tapering for these games."

- Did the preparation for the coming games differ from the others?

- It did, crucially, because we've been tapering right for these games. That's how the microcycle has been tuned. It's very important that Tomas Mertl has got back to the team. We've completely analyzed the opponent teams' play. I think the boys know well how to play at first against Ak Bars, and then Lada. - Why hasn't Denis Bodrov been on the ice today? - He's got a light injury, that's why he's skipped today's practice. - Will he play tomorrow? - I don't know, the doctors should say. - When will the international players come back? Will they play against Ak Bars? - Something happened with the flights, they'll get back tomorrow evening. I will let them have a rest and they'll be in the roster. - What is Evgeny Bodrov's state? - He's not ready play now. Evgeny Korotkov: "We'll see everything tomorrow."

- The break went good, we had a rest, then started to work-out. We worked out defensive patterns - the thing which we lack, we concede a lot of goals. We did great, I think, we'll see everything tomorrow. - What is the team's state ahead of the rest games? - The state is hard, because of such losses, of course. We try to keep us up, we smile to keep a good mood. We need to win these 2 games, then we'll do the play-offs. - Your line looks good in the recent games, are you ready to be the leaders? - Our every line must be the leaders, no matter it's the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Every line must throw lead, help each other. - Did you analyze the weak sides of Ak Bars? - We watch the games, we study out bit by bit, how they defend, how they start the attacks. We study out everything. - How can you win them? - You'll see, I won't tell anything! - Can anyone in the team lose his nerve before the game? - No. In the pure playing moments, when there's anger on ice, it's alright. It must be. - The games vs Ak Bars are very emotional, is it good for Salavat right now? - It's the Green Derby, it's always good to play, the mindset will be good. We try to set our mind for every game. Now the situation is such that we have to win every game.

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What is wrong with HCSalavat Goalie System? February 9, 2017.

Actually, Salavat Yulaev Ufa has always had troubles with the goalies. When I say always, I mean last 12-15 years. Of course you'll disagree with me, because of Aleksander Yeryomenko. He's an exception. He's one of the guys who brought the 1st ever Russian Superleague Cup to Salavat Yulaev. In my opinion, he's the best goalkeeper of Ufa club ever. But I have to give credit to the whole team then, the rest of the roster was excellent. After Yeryomenko's first season in Ufa, the results became a lot weaker. 2 seasons later the coaches considered Yeryomenko wouldn't become better and got rid of him. That was one of the biggest mistakes made by Salavat Yulaev management. After that Aleksander won 2 Gagarin Cups in a row with Dinamo Moscow.

In 2010 Salavat's management buys a new foreign goalkeeper, Erik Ersberg. You should understand when you have the best roster in the league you don't need a top goalie. Ersberg wasn't the best, but a good one. I would call him the 3rd strongest one in last 10 years. From the 1st season (2010/2011) he won the Gagarin Cup, the first ever and the last so far for Salavat Yulaev. He played one more season in Ufa and then withdrew into shadows. Ufa became the highest point in his career, which proves the point that he wasn't a top goalie.

Erik Ersberg will always be remembered in Ufa by two facts: he was in the team which brought the first Gagarin Cup to the city of Ufa and by this amazing head save against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the eternal rival of Salavat Yulaev:

From that point HCSalavat has started to have troubles with the goalkeepers. There was Iiro Tarkki, Vitalii Kolesnik, Vadim Tarasov, Nikita Davydov, Vitalii Koval, Leland Irving and etcetera. There is tendency in Salavat Yulaev and generally in KHL to buy one 1st foreign goalkeeper and an unknown Russian one. This strategy sometimes justifies itself, sometimes not. According to it, the foreign one should be much better than a Russian goalkeeper, and he must play vast majority of the games. In case of Ersberg this system was realized brilliantly, but then comes Iiro Tarkki, who was hoped to be new Erik. He was also a good keeper, but not a top one. He could make an amazing save, but later make a silly mistake. I consider any goalie a top if he constantly saves the team from any dead puck. So in 2012 Tarkki was considered to be the 1st keeper, but he couldn't show his best game. Salavat gets knocked out in 1/8 of Gagarin Cup. The next year young Andrei Vasilevski comes to the ice and creates a sensation. A young boy, 18 y. o., becomes the 1st goalie and brings bronze medals to Salavat Yulaev. Vasilevski is the one who I consider the 2nd best goalie in Salavat Yulaev. I give much respect to Vladimir Yurzinov jr who was brave enough to let Andrei do the play-offs. In my opinion he is the best alumnus of HCSalavat's hockey school. Having played 2 years in the 1st team, Andrei went overseas to Tampa Bay Lightning being a strong competitor to Ben Bishop. Right from the start he amused the whole NHL. The highest point in Andrei Vasilevski's career so far is the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, where he was the 1st keeper. Pretty much for a 20-year-old, huh?

Then in Salavat Yulaev comes a time for bad management again. The club buys Vitalii Koval who was supposed to be the main goalie. Of course it didn't come true. During the season Leland Irving, a Canadian guy, who played for Jokerit joins Ufa. This is again a story of a bad foreign player who was substituted by a good own school alumnus. Vladimir Sokhatsky, Ufa-born, gets the attention of fans. That year Salavat hasn't done anything brilliant in play-offs, but this is all about bad management which buys a foreign goalkeeper who requires high salary, while you have a good Russian one. The same year, for example, Toros had also a good prospect, Rafael Khakimov. He's also born in Ufa and could be at least watched by the 1st team. Why not? No answer. In season 2015/16 new management comes to Salavat Yulaev. New coach Igor Zakharkin and new manager Leonid Weissfeld changed the goalkeeping system completely in two years. Rafael Khakimov went to Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk and then was exchanged for talented Andrei Kareyev to Metallurg Novokuznetsk. The management invited Andrei Litvinov to Toros and as a potential 3rd keeper of HCSalavat and our favourite Niklas Svedberg. Last year Sokhatsky was his substitute, in critical moments he could save Salavat Yulaev. In play-offs Svedberg was just amazing. He dragged the team to one more bronze medal in the League. If Svedberg's 1st season was great, this year something happened. In addition Vladmimir Sokhatsky was exchanged to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg for young Nikita Tsirkul and Maksim Askarov, which are young prospects for Tolpar. Andrei Gavrilov was invited to Ufa from Sochi. Very ambivalent decision by Weissfeld in my opinion, although he showed some great games. We know everything about both of the keepers' perfomance this season. Bad goalkeeper choice was already seen in November, December 2016, then why couldn't the coaches at least invite Nikita Tsirkul (one of the best in MHL) and Andrei Litvinov to practice with the main team, to substitute Gavrilov or Svedberg as a 2nd keeper? Now that Gavrilov is injured, Litvinov is the 2nd one, who hasn't ever played in KHL. We don't talk about Gagarin Cup so far, you know why. Vladimir Yurzinov jr wasn't scared to take big risks and let 18 y.o. Vasilevski be the 1st and this risk paid off! Why couldn't Zakharkin at least try these young guys? No answer. At the same time Zakharkin trusted 19 y.o. Kirill Kaprizov and 20 y.o. Mikhail Vorobyov in KHL. So he knows how to work with young players. Probably we won't find answers for these questions. Now we just have to believe in Goalie Coach Kirill Korenkov that Niklas Svedberg will be alright. We hope so. We believe in Niklas.

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HCSalavat Goalie Coach: Svedberg will be alright. February 9, 2017.

I continue to provide translations for the interviews of HCSalavat coaches and players. Now it's going to be Kirill Korenkov, goalie coach. This season the club has troubles with goaltenders line, so it's interesting to hear the words of actual person responsible for this aspect. Let's come down to the interview. Salavat Yulaev's goalie coach told about the goalkeepers in the club's system.

- What is the physical shape of Andrei Gavrilov right now? - Andrei bumbed into a cross-bar and strained an iliac muscle. I've just talked to a doctor and I hope in 2-3 days Andrei will be on ice. Now he's started to practice in a gym, he exercises on a stationary bike, so we hope that will see him soon. - How do you evaluate Niklas Svedberg's state after so many losses and conceded goals in last games? - Niklas has been home, had rest, he's been 3 days in Sweden. He came back in a good mood, he works fine, we don't hold it against him regarding work-out session. I'm sure everything will be alright, he'll play at his best. - In your opinion what is the reason that this season Niklas plays weaker that the previous? - Maybe, much responsibility or deep field played its role. But I want to say that this season bad games as vs SKA interchanged with great games vs Jokerit or Kazan. Thus, I wouldn't say this season is very bad for him, but, sure, last season he looked better. - Fans have big issues against Svedberg and Gavrilov for they leave the net too far during the games. What do you think of this style? - I wouldn't agree with fans. Andrey Gavrilov - yes. He skates much, he plays through positioning, Niklas has a bit different style. When the puck is in home zone, in my opinion, on the contrary, he plays from too deep. But the thing is that they are mature, established goalies. It's really hard to change them. We try our best, but when the keeper has close calls he starts to play by the stereotype he has in mind. - Tolpar's goalie Nikita Tsirkul gets a lot of flattering reviews this season. How can you evaluate him? - A good, young and coming prospect. I like him very much. He practiced and still does with the first team. But in my opinion, there is sufficient difference between MHL and KHL teams. I hope that he'll continue to work-out to the highest standard and soon we'll see him in the roster. - Of which team? - I hope, Salavat Yulaev. -  Tsirkul has been to Toros for only one game this season. Didn't you want to give him more chances in the highest level? - We offer this goalkeeper to Toros, because we often take Litvinov. They even had a situation when they took a goalie from MHL-B, but apparently Tsirkul doesn't meet VHL level. - Speaking of the goalies from the whole hockey system, in your opinion, in nearest times who can make a big step up and hit a new level? - In most cases our guys are good prospects. Tsirkul, Litvinov, Bulygin - all of them look not bad during the whole season. Andrei Litvinov played well last games for Toros. I hope, the guys will try hard, everyone has chances, the main is to break a sweat and the result won't be slow to arrive. - Bulygin has played very little for Tolpar and Toros this season. How do you evaluate his season? - I wouldn't say that the new-arrived goalkeepers are much better than him, but here everything depends on the coach's trust. He's played really little, but in the previous season he was one of the best in MHL by all the criteria. This is a sign that he can play. - Then where and when will we see him? - I think, both in Tolpar and Toros the same goalkeepers will play till the end of the season, because they have important games. The boy is a prospect, soon he will make his name. Source: https://vk.com/hcsalavat?w=wall-45995544_258614

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HCSalavat's Assistant coach: We want competent players from "Toros". February 7, 2017.

I continue the series of translations of the interviews with HCSalavat players, coaches and staff. As the next one, Salavat Yulaev Ufa's Press Service has chosen Anatoly Emelin, the assistant coach of the team. First of all I, personally, would like to explain what Toros Neftekamsk is. It's Salavat Yulaev's affiliate hockey club which plays in Supreme Hockey League (Высшая Хоккейная Лига). Toros is supposed to provide Salavat Yulaev with players when it has troubles with roster. It's usual practice in NHL and AHL. Now, the interview itself. Assistant coach of Salavat Yulaev Anatoly Emelin told about the players of Toros, which Salavat Yulaev could count on during the regular season.

- In Salavat Yulaev we can use the players of Toros only if they have two-way contracts. There are 17 such players. 4 of them are goalkeepers. Andrei Gavrilov and Litvinov, also Stepan Khripunov, Stanislav Gareyev, Petrischev, Mikhail Kotlyarevsky and Dmitry Chernykh constantly play or practice with Salavat Yulaev. Pimenov, Razumnyak, Bannikov and Kirill Tsulygin are young players. But during the season have already used 4 young players (4 is the limit), including Kirill Kaprizov and Mikhail Vorobyov. We consider young players which we actually used are stronger. Apart from the named, there are 4 adult players in Toros which have two-way contracts. From them Vaschenko played only 5 games in season, and Ladnov scored only 3 points in 18 games. The rest are Aleshin and Teryaev, we tried them in summer, they didn't fit for the main team, but we continue to watch them. And that's it. So, thus, we would like Toros to have more competent players, which we could count on. Source: http://hcsalavat.ru/news/salavat-yulaev/khotim-iz-torosa-kvalifitsirovannykh-igrokov/

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Team Spirit is above all. An interview with Denis Parshin. February 7. 2017.

While HCSalavat is on break due to the EuroHockeyTour in order to keep the blog alive I would like to translate some interviews of HCSalavat players. All of the interviews are taken by Salavat Yulaev Press Service, I only provide the translation. I would like to begin with an interview with this season's newby Denis Parshin who had already been in Salavat a couple of years ago.

Denis Parshin: Team Spirit is above all.

Recently Denis Parshin has hit over 700 games played in Russian championship. The forward has started his career in CSKA Moscow, won U18 Worldchampionship with Evgeny Malkin and Aleksander Radulov, but hasn't gone overseas, staying in Russia. His best season was in 2014 when he joined Avangard Omsk. But already 2 years later he left Omsk to try himself in Salavat Yulaev Ufa, where he had already been, but hadn't played even half a season. From Avangard - Tell us, how was your move from Avangard Omsk to Salavat Yulaev? - Everything went very quick, I was exchanged in a blink of an eye. - Were you ready for it? - I was, but everything went in couple of days, there wasn't even a word about it before. - Whose initiative was it? - Avangard's. And I'm glad that I was exchanged to Ufa. This is a good club, a good team. I quickly blended in to the team, I know a lot of the guys here, played with many of them or is just acquainted with the rest. It was really simpler in this respect. - Is it true that you could leave Avangard in summer? - No, it was just rumours. Well, as far as I know. - You had an excellent season 2014/15, why couldn't you maintain the same perfomance? - It's hard to say why. During that season the puck went to the net almost after each shot, now it doesn't happen so often. - But you practice such things during trainings? - I can't say that I became less demanding to myself, on the contrary, I became more demanding. Maybe I can't keep a cold head at the last moments. - In Avangard you played with Sergei Shirokov. Is he your best partner? - Probably, I can say so. We were rather good. - And there was one more "CSKA player", Ilya Zubov. If you're together again, will you quickly find the same chemistry again? - Rather quick, I suppose. - What do you think when you hear the name of Raimo Summanen? - I have a smile on my face! I remember some of funny moments. - Summanen seemed to be a tough coach, but you remember funny moments? - Summanen is both tough and funny at the same time. I have mainly positive opinion about him. There were of course unpleasant moments, but everybody has it, this is working climate. - Did you find it easy to talk to him? - I don't speak neither English, nor Finnish, he doesn't speak Russian. - So you didn't understand him? - Yes, maybe, it even helped me when he shouted! It was simpler to take it easy.

Playing model - Have you already completely got the feeling of the Salavat Yulaev's playing model? - I have, I think rather quickly. Regarding daily routine everything was simple, regarding hockey I have the feeling, we only lack goals and victories so far. - What is the reason of that in Avangard during that season your average perfomance was a bit higher than in Salavat Yulaev? - Sometimes somebody plays more, somebody less. I try to play as much as the coaches trust me. I do it every shift, but not always I manage. - Do the playing models of Salavat Yulaev and Avangard differ much? - I wouldn't say much, on the contrary there are many common things. As in many teams: more strictly and carefully in defense, quickly and boldly in offense, more shots. In Salavat Yulaev there is more freedom in movements. - "Strictly in defense" - is it exactly about Salavat? - Well, anyway we agree on that, in the last game - yes, it's not about us. - What memories do you have about last season's play-off series between Avangard and Salavat Yulaev? - Of course, they are bad. Surely, it would be better, if we had won. - You often take part in play-offs, not for long. Do you ever think why? - I don't know, probably I dissatisfy the coaches, if happens so. I hope I'll manage to play more in this season. - How do you evaluate that part of your career, when you moved to Salavat Yulaev the previous time? - It was my first move, it was hard to leave CSKA after so much time, which I'd spent there. I understood that it's hockey life, this may happen to anyone. Frankly speaking, it's much easier now. - Did those feelings reflect in your game? - No, just hockey is different in each team, you have to adapt to new partners. Although, then Nikita Filatov was here, we played together with him beforehand. We also played in one shift here, from time to time we did good. - Did you also take hardly the next transfer to Torpedo Nizhniy Novgorod? - No, calmly. Nizhniy Novgorod is closer to Moscow, it's only a 3-hour's trip by car. - From CSKA you were exchanged for Igor Grigorenko, then to Torpedo for Dmitry Makarov, now you all play in one team... - ...Sometimes even in one line! Yes, I've thought about that. - Do you believe in signs, non-random coincidences? - I don't, but sometimes it happens in our life. At some point we were exchanged for one another, now we are in one team.

Team spirit and right head - It used to be supposed that it was harder to make the big time for small-scale players. But nowadays we see Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane in NHL, Linus Omark and Kirill Kaprizov in Salavat Yulaev. What has changed? - Firstly, hockey has changed. Forwards got more more possibilities in offense, now the so-called "clinches" are forbidden which weren't time ago. Now referees give you penalty for the lightest hooking, that's why forwards have more chances. And the players themselves, they have head screwed on right, good skating, technique, field vision, so that's why they score so many points. - The future belongs to small or big forwards? - I don't know. Only time will show. I think, doesn't matter small or big, he has to have head screwed on right. - In your opinion, which teams make the big time in modern hockey? - I guess the one which have the better team spirit, because the team wins, not a separate player. - How do last results of Salavat Yulaev reflect on team's state of mind? - The mind, surely, is not very good. Sometimes we start the games bad, we concede 3 goals, then we even the score, but then we concede again. I guess we played not so bad in last games, but unfortunately we lost. Probably we cannot collect ourselves for all the 60 minutes. We wallow out of the game for 5-10 minutes, the opponent punishes us, then we rush to play catch-up, but not always we manage to do that. Or we just concede at last minutes. - Is it hard to keep good vibes, when you constantly lose points? - Of course it is. But we all cheer up each other, nobody hangs the jib, everybody tries even harder. - Your contract is till the end of the season, what are you going to do afterwards? - Frankly speaking, didn't guess at the future. At this moment the main thing is to win, I'll think of the rest after the end of the season. Source: http://hcsalavat.ru/news/salavat-yulaev/denis-parshin-glavnoe-komandnyy-dukh/

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Salavat couldn't bust the horse. HCSalavat vs SKA vs CSKA. February 5, 2017.

After a short break Salavat Yulaev continued the regular season with 2 home games against the best teams of Western Conference - SKA Saint-Petersburg and CSKA Moscow. These two games unexpectedly became of extra importance. Firstly in 12 years, Ufa club risks not to make it to play-offs. In order to be in the last 8, the team needs to score as many points. All of this stuff multiplied by the fact that the half of the leaders are injured makes it a heavy challenge for Salavat Yulaev. SKA Saint-Petersburg is considered as one of the best teams in KHL with the coach, Oleg Znarok, who is also the coach of Team Russia, the wizard Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vadim Shipachyov, Sergei Shirokov, Nikita Gusev and a young goalkeeper Igor Shestyorkin. SKA has the best offence in the League scoring 237 goals and one of the best defenses (106 goals conceded). So, Salavat Yulaev wasn't lucky to play SKA in its life-saving game. In spite all of it, Saint-Petersburg has some problem issues with the roster. The defenders Andrei Zubarev (used to play in Ufa) and Patrick Hersley, the forwards Steve Moses, Sergei Plotnikov and Viktor Tikhonov are injured.

But we all know that who has more troubles with roster, don't we? Linus Omark, Teemu Hartikainen, Igor Makarov, Sergei Soin, Evgeny Bodrov and Tomas Mertl, the very best, essential players of the team are injured. That's why the coach, Igor Zakharkin has to rotate the roster each game. Believe it or not, but Andrei Gavrilov was chosen the 1st goalie of the game. After 6 games in which Niklas Svedberg conceded 24 (!) goals, the coach gave him a rest. It appeared, not a long one. I'll get back to it later.

Maksim Goncharov and Zakhar Arzamastsev made it the 1st defense pair, the 1st line was Enver Lisin - Dmitry Makarov - Maksim Mayorov. It's a regular combination of these players, but usually they are the 2nd line. Kirill Kaprizov and Mikhail Vorobyov were in one line, as they used to be at WorldJuniors. Stepan Khripunov helped them from the left. Pretty young shift, all of them are not older than 20 years. Aleksander Loginov and Sami Lepisto backed them up as usual. It's important to mention that the roster of the 4th line was a good discovery by Zakharkin. 2 quick wingers (Aleksandr Nesterov and Anton Lazarev) with a huge centreforward Evgeny Korotkov backed up by Konstantin Korneyev and Denis Kulyash were pretty good at offense. Right from the start Salavat showed that they were primed for victory. 12 SOG against 9 in the 1st period. During the 1st intermission we found out that Andrei Gavrilov got injured and he played the last 5 minutes with awful pain in the leg. There is sure something wrong with Salavat's fate regarding injuries. Pretty fast and mutually attacking game was changed by SKA's heavy rain of shots in the 2nd period. As a result the 2nd ends with 0:2 in favour of SKA. At the beginning of the 3rd period Enver Lisin brings the hope to fans' hearts scoring really a great goal.

The hopes were not to come true as Vadim Shipachyov scores his 3rd in the game. Although Salavat had many chances, they couldn't score any. The 8th consecutive loss - 1:3. As a result of the game Andrei Gavrilov made it to the injured list. Despite the loss to the best team in the League, the fans and the experts saw some positive movement in the team's play. Was it the rise of Salavat?

Unfortunately, no. The next opponent was CSKA Moscow, another "army" squad which counts on the Gagarin Cup. The team doesn't have many "stars" this season after Aleksandr Radulov went to Montreal Canadiens, but still is great. The roster is well-combinated with players which do their work properly. In the current squad we can call only Valery Nichushkin who has just got back from Dallas Stars and Ivan Telegin stars of the team. Both of them play in one line by the way. If the game vs SKA rose hopes in Salavat's fans' hearts, Aleksandr Popov and Vladimir Zharkov let them down right in the beginning. Dmitry Makarov made it 1:2 in a couple of minutes.

The rest of the game showed that Salavat Yulaev is not ready for such strong sharks as CSKA. Greg Scott, Nichushkin and Telegin consecutively made it 1:5. So, the 9th loss in a row and the 8th place in standings. Now the team goes for a break in the regular season. Salavat needs to win both of the rest games vs Ak Bars and Lada to make it to play-offs. The team still has chances and we hope that the leaders will recover from injuries to take part in the most important games of the season.

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Bad Times for Salavat Yulaev Ufa. February 4, 2017.

I haven't written anything in this blog for almost a month, a horrible thing to do. The more horrible thing is HCSalavat's play. Since my last post, Salavat Yulaev has lost all of its games. January 23rd the guys played against Vityaz Podolsk after the All Star Weekend in Ufa. The 1st thing to say is there is something wrong with the team's fate regarding injuries. Salavat's newby Tomas Mertl after several games got a head concussion in the previous game vs Ak Bars. So minus 1 centre-forward vs Vityaz. Unexpectedly the game starts brilliantly for Ufa guys, Kirill Kaprizov and Zakhar Arzamastsev made it 0:3 at the beginning of the 2nd period. Good start, right? The fans were on cloud 9. Is it Salavat? After 3 consecutive losses? Yes, because everything fell into the groove to the middle of the 3rd period - 3:3. Again shootouts where Vityaz was luckier, or more skillful... After Podolsk, the team went to Moscow to fight Dinamo. Important thing to mention is that Dinamo Moscow haven't lost to Salavat Yulaev in Moscow since 2010. Each time Dinamo wins, scoring no less than 4 goals. Last 3 games Dinamo permanently scores 6 goals to Ufa's net. This game couldn't break this statistics. Moscow scores 2 goals right in the beginning. Nothing new, we're used to that. Kaprizov and Igor Grigorenko were able to even the score. However, the 1st period ends with 3:2. Ufa fans had hopes that maybe this game would become Salavat's rise. But no, Lucas Kaspar makes it 4:2 in the beginning of the 2nd. It was necessary for Dinamo just to support this score and mind the defense in the 3rd period. Easiest thing to do now against Salavat. Martins Karsums and Fedorov even make it 6:2 in favour of Dinamo. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was the next opponent which didn't even consider that it was the great Salavat Yulaev they were playing against. Lokomotiv could score 5 goals in the net of Niklas Svedberg. As for him, we cannot say that he is a bad goalie. He's a good one, but right now he is not the one who can rise the team on his shoulders. Niklas doesn't make silly mistakes, he does everything he can, he plays his level, but apparently that's not enough. Generally speaking, the team tries to score, tries to do everything it can. There are a couple of reasons of Salavat's bad luck this year. But the most important right now is lack of players because of lots and lots of injuries: one of the leaders - Teemu Hartikainen, the man who could bring the confidence to the guys - Sergei Soin, the man who started the season brilliantly - Igor Makarov, a new foreign striker - Tomas Mertl, one more centreforward - Evgeny Bodrov. 4 of them are centreforwards. This is huge for any team. But that's not all regarding injuries. The worst is yet to come. Salavat Yulaev finished its away series with a game against Severstal Cherepovets. Everybody hoped that maybe this game would become a breaking one, because Severstal sure won't take place in play-offs and isn't motivated. Really, Linus Omark was the one to open the score. Rare thing to see by the way. Sami Lepisto and Aleksander Loginov assist him in powerplay. During the game you could see that everything can end well. The movement was good, the players made more shots to Jakub Kovar's net. But that's unmotivated Severstal, right? Hell no, in the second they made it 2:1. Now Salavat again needs to find strength to even the score. Only in the 3rd period Dmitry Makarov scores and leaves the fans' hopes. Unfortunately, Severstal broke them in the overtime - 3:2. But it wasn't the only thing that had been broken in this game, Salavat's real leader, Linus Omark trying to block the puck, broke his leg. Can we call it just the bad luck or is the team cursed? Really, right before the play-offs? The loss to Severstal probably took the fans' cake because they decided to have a talk with the players. The wild fans caught the team in the Ufa airport and gave the players a piece of their mind. They told that the fans believe in the team, but it seems that the team cannot believe in itself. The coach, Igor Zakharkin, assured that the guys will do whatever they can to break this series and make it to play-offs. Do you know how many years Ufa fans haven't talked about not making it to play-offs? 12 years. All these years Salavat does it without any problems. This year might be a shock. Salavat Yulaev has 4 games left and 6 opponents in a fight for play-offs. The next 2 games are against the best teams in Western Conference - SKA  Saint-Petersburg(February 1) and CSKA Moscow (February 3).

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Master Show Super Skills KHL 2017. All Star Week Ufa. January 21, 2017.

As you know the All Star Week is taking place in Ufa this year. The MHL Challenge Cup between Eastern and Western Conferences has already been played. The West team have won the game 2:1 in shootouts. Here you can read a full review of the game. Also the All Star Week included the first ever WHL All Star Game, which ended with the brillian victory of the Western Conference 4:0. Both of the tournaments, of course, were wonderful and really attractive for the fans, but everybody knows what the highlight of the Week is. The KHL All Stars consists of 2 days: the skills show and the game itself. Justa couple of days before the All Star the League made some changes to the final rosters. Sami Lepisto has substituted Linus Omark (illness), Enver Lisin has taken place of Vladimir Sobotka (injury). 4 best players of the MHL Challenge Cup were added to the final roster. This year the organizers prepared 7 contests for the stars of the League: Speed Skating 

Last year no player could run faster that 13 seconds. On the contrary, his year's speed skating was rich for record breakings. Right from the start Aleksey Potapov from Torpedo circled the rink in 12.952 secs. HCSalavat's Enver Lisin not agreeing with it set a new record - 12.450. Later on Enver said in a flash interview that he knew every inch of Ufa Arena's ice and the only thing that made him scared was falling near the corners. Thus, Lisin wrote his name in All Star Games' history as the fastest player of 2017. Cheers for him and HCSalavat!

Hockey Biathlon

This contest became for young, but masterful Kirill Kaprizov the moment of glory. The players needed to combine the puck control around the marks and the accuracy in shooting. Most of the players from both of teams couldn't do that perfectly, all except Kaprizov. He was the fastest and the most accurant. So he became already the 2nd HCSalavat player to bring the win to the East Team and make it 2:0.

The hardest shot The hardest shot contest has always been overly popular both in NHL and KHL, expecially after Aleksander Ryazantsev's record of 183.67 km/h set a couple of years ago. This year wasn't an exception, because the fans are craving for the new records. Unfortunately the dreams of the fans didn't come true. Igor Ozhiganov from CSKA Moscow became the one who's come closest to Ryazantsev - 154 km/h. Ozhiganov laters considered that only Shea Weber could contest Ryazantsev.

Artistic impression The most favourite skills contest of the fans, the journalists and probably the hockey players themselves. It was really hard to impress anyone after the last year's The Burning Stick of Linus Omark. It's getting harder and harder every year to invent new ways of taking a penalty shot, but who said that the job was supposed to be easy? No one said it was supposed to be hard either. Vladimir Tkachyov agreeing with the latter opinion scores a fantastic goal, making 3 spins with the puck on the end of his stick, before smashing it down into the net past Igor Shestyorkin.

Also Matt Gilroy stood out of the others giving a bribe to the goalkeeper Igor Bobkov:

Be like Pro Probably the hardest competition for the players. This contest required the best skills in speed, puck control and shot accuracy. Fortunately the best players of the League were collected that evening: Jan Kovar, Sami Lepisto, Sergei Mozyakin, Danis Zaripov, Maksim Shalunov, Jan Kolar and Dan Sexton from the Team East; Matt Ellison, Charles Genoway, Pavel Datsyuk, Brandon Kozun, Ryan Stoa, Ivan Telegin and Ilya Kovalchuk from the Team West. These guys showed all their best but Team East again was faster.

Power offence, solid defense

The competition for the goalkeepers, which were, in my opinion, deprived of a chance to show their skills during past All Star Games. Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow) and Pavel Francouz (Traktor Chelyabisnk) were chosen to stand up for all the goalkeepers. In this contest 3 small teams of 3 players from each conference were to score a goal against one goalie. The teams tried different combinations, some of them scored, some of them didn't.

Unexpectedly, the best was Pavel Francouz who repeated hockey's best known sip of water, originally made by Andrei Gavrilov (HCSalavat) in a game vs Dinamo Moscow. The fans were delighted and, in my opinion, this was the best moment of the Master Show.

Race around the ice The last competition was the traditional race around the ice with team consisting of 5 skaters and a goalkeeper. The result of this contest couldn't affect the final one, so it was just for fun. Enver Lisin again showed who the fastest ever players is. So final score of the Super Skills is 5:2 in favour of the Team East. So this year Team East has proven that they were the most skillful players of the League. Can they prove that once again at the All Star Game? Check out more photos here.

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Green Derby #3. Ak Bars - Salavat Yulaev 6:5 OT January 18, 2017.

The Green Derby - the games between the hockey teams representing the two neighbouring Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan which consider green color as their symbols - has always been hot, utter, hardcore and absolute rivalry. For fifty years these two teams have been finding out who stronger and greater is. Historically this rivalry is based on the competence between two oil-producing republics backed up by two as they say relating nations - Bashkirs and Tatars. But it's a quite different story. The ex-President of the Republic of Bashkortostan used to say 'You may lose to anyone, but Ak Bars'. This quote always pops out at the end of Ufa fans' tongues ahead of the coming Green Derby. This game wasn't an exception because Salavat doesn't play really good recently: only 3 wins in last 14 games. But one of them was over Ak Bars 1:2 OT two weeks ago. So, you see, fans had the right to believe in Ufa club, despite all the unlucky games. Generally speaking, the Green Derby always stands out of the rest regular games. Current statistics doesn't work here, last games have nothing in common with the coming derby. This is a separate game, separate tournament. Don't you believe? Just consider this. Last time Ak Bars conceded more than 4 goals was on September 26th, 2016 vs Dinamo Minsk 3:5. Ak Bars have won only over Dinamo Moscow after the last Derby. Again Ak Bars opened the scoring in 3 games in a row before this one. This time Salavat did this, already 2 games straight. Ak Bars couldn't score in powerplay 5 games in a row. Igor Grigorenko, HCSalavat's captain has won 6 Green Derbies in a row. Aleksandr Loginov hasn't scored more than one goal in a game this season. All of these facts have crashed against the wall of Green Derby this evening. Regarding the roster Igor Zakharkin didn't make any changes except the goalkeeper. Niklas Svedberg, now confirmed 1st keeper of the team, took the place in the net. As you know, Niklas doesn't show the best play during the regular season, often Andrei Gavrilov substitutes him to prove that he's better. Sometimes he does, sometimes doesn't. You see Salavat Yulaev have always had problems with the goalkeeping. It's kind of an eternal problem, Salavat's style already. But you also see that these goalkeepers somehow know how to reinvent themselves for the big games, for play-offs. Same happened last season when Niklas Svedberg was criticized and attacked by journalists and fans all the way until the play-offs where was just brilliant. Let's see what happens now.

As for Ak Bars, Zinetulla Bilyaletdinov, the head coach, made some changes. He changes the order of the lines: nominally 2nd line Jiri Sekac - Aleksandr Svitov (C) - Justin Azevedo came 1st this time. It's a quite balanced line with 2 small, but fast wingers and a huge centreforward. This line may cause troubles to any team, I would say. Emil Garipov, young Kazan goalkeeper, has proved by his play in last games that he deserves to be the 1st goalkeeper of the team making Stanislav Galimov sit behind him. Could he confirm that today? So January 18th, 2017, Ak Bars Arena, the Green Derby #3, 1st period. Face-off.

Ak Bars right from the face-off tries to make the starting punch. But Salavat being ready for that goes with a counterattack: Denis Kulyash dumps the puck into the away zone, goes after it but Dinar Musin (Ak Bars) in an attempt to stop him gets a penalty for high-sticking. Aleksandr Loginov needed only 22 seconds to get a pass from Linus Omark and Kirill Kaprizov and make a wrist shot to Garipov's net, 0:1. Salavat opens the scoring in the 2nd game in a row. In the middle of the period Anton Lazarev (HCSalavat) being overly active in the away zone, gets a penalty for tripping, giving powerplay to Ak Bars. In the end of the powerplay Stefan Elliot with his 3rd shot in this attack makes it 1:1. Having 2 minutes remaining in the 1st period Jiri Sekac gives the lead to Ak Bars after Elliot's wristshot. So, end of the 1st, 2:1, all the 3 goals were scored in powerplay. The 2nd period starts for Ak Bars with shorthanded play and, of course, what do you think? Linus Omark scores the 4th goal of the game getting an assist from Kirill Kaprizov. After that Ak Bars goes all-out to Salavat's zone, trying to close the opponent in it. They manage to do that for whole 2 minutes, but then something extraordinary happens. Anton Lazarev gives a long pass from home zone to Aleksandr Nesterov and he entering the zone without hesitation makes a slapshot to the top corner of Garipov's net, 2:3. I call it extraordinary because Nesterov scores in the 2nd game straight. Before that, he hasn't scored any points in 35 games. Can you imagine that? This is the Green Derby, folks, everything can happen. In four minutes Tomas Mertl makes it 2:4 after a long attack. Who do you think assisted him? Omark and Kaprizov. That's a rule. Getting Kaprizov back in action is one of the game-changers right when you need it. 3 assists in an important game like this is an indicator of his talents and skillfulness. A score like this, 2:4, however makes you feel a bit relaxed. That happened to Salavat. Justin Azevedo and Vladimir Tkachyov get back a tie game. The Green Derby, the score is 4:4, every goal may be the last, the stakes are high, so apparently the passions of course will rise. Maksim Goncharov and Dmitry Obukhov have already a history behind them. Their conflict begins in the last season, so now everygame they don't miss a chance to do something to each other. 

In my opinion the referees made a mistake not letting them have a little domestic. It would calm down both of the teams, who knows maybe this wouldn't happen: 

Check out the full video here. Aleksandr Svitov got a match-penalty for that and Aleksandr Loginov just had to take advantage of that, 4:5. Goal assisted by the captain, Igor Grigorenko. That's when Stanislav Galimov substitutes Garipov in the net and that's when Ufa club stops scoring. Salavat Yulaev goes for the 2nd intermission leading, but what is a one-goal lead in a game like this? Nothing, even though Salavat had shown brilliant defense for 18 minutes of the 3rd period. Artyom Lukoyanov firstly makes it 5:5 and then brings the 1st win in Green Derby for Ak Bars this season. This's not a big tragedy for Salavat Yulaev , though. Shouldn't we let Ak Bars fans to celebrate a bit?