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SPORTS

They were waiting for a different final - the alignment of "Kazan against Omsk" seemed the most unlikely even during the playoffs, when a lot was already clear. Magnitogorsk remained the favorite, the chances of the other three monsters were considered a little lower and approximately...

They were waiting for a different final - the alignment of "Kazan against Omsk" seemed the most unlikely even during the playoffs, when a lot was already clear. Magnitogorsk remained the favorite, the chances of the other three monsters were considered slightly lower and approximately equal. Moreover, the bashing of Ak Bars at the first stage was arranged by the most indistinct club of the Superleague - HC MVD, who beat the Kazan team once and lost twice only in shootouts. The more incredible is the final result of the team of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who won the next three series, including the final one, with a clean sheet. All nine victories (against Salavat Yulaev, Lokomotiv and Avangard) were won in regular time with a fantastic difference in goals of 35-10, which cannot be explained by luck alone and the weak readiness of competitors.

After last year's grandiose failure of the Kazan "team of the world" ("Ak Bars" during the lockout in the NHL employed a dozen world-class stars), the championship in the capital of Tatarstan was no longer stuttered. Nevertheless, Bilyaletdinov was left in the team, and "less stars - more work" became the unspoken motto of "coach Bill". Kazan remained aloof from the pre-season scandals (at the same time, taking the heels of decent hockey players away from the capital's Dynamo), and during the season it was mostly not in the first roles. After sitting behind the backs of the leaders, the team reached the second position right at the start of the playoffs and, right before our eyes, gained a truly champion power. Dave King's Magnitogorsk turned out to be exactly the opposite - it lost this power, by a fatal coincidence, stumbling on Avangard for the third spring in a row.

You don't win the playoffs by accident, a lot of factors come together here. Everything possible and impossible was played for Ak Bars, and the triad "coach - leader - goalkeeper" became the basis of the victory. Bilyaletdinov, whom only the lazy did not scold for his adherence to closed defensive schemes, managed to get the best out of his players, superbly debugged the game in unequal lineups and provided an opportunity for free creativity in attack. The leader and captain of the team, Alexei Morozov, needed only this - in conjunction with Sergei Zinoviev, he scored 13 goals in the playoffs, which is a phenomenal result by today's standards. Well, another overseas defector, dark-skinned goalkeeper Fred Brathwaite, spent the playoffs in the same breath - he was not mistaken even once.

Kazan made its dream come true by taking gold for the first time in the Cup variant. Bill is back in the saddle, after Dynamo - with Ak Bars, with whom he did nothing outstanding, but turned out to be stronger at the right moment and at the right time. This was more than enough.