Translated material
Battle holidays
Super League leaders are set to conquer Europe
Before the New Year, there are only a few calendar matches left to be played in the Super League. However, the teams that occupy the first two places in the Russian championship will only play in the domestic championship in January. The match between the leader of Dynamo and its closest pursuer Metallurg from Magnitogorsk was postponed from December 28 and played earlier due to the participation of the Urals team in the Spengler Cup that started yesterday. Dynamo can already prepare for the 2005 meeting, however, due to the defeat from Lada with a score of 0:4, they are not in the best mood, and Magnitogorsk will have to forget about the noisy celebrations.Late yesterday evening, Marek Sikora's team played their first match in Davos against the Canadian team, and the final of the prestigious competition will take place on the last day of the outgoing year. The Spengler Cup, named after the famous Swiss doctor, dates back to 1923 and is being held for the 78th time. Last year, our country was represented in Davos by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and took third place. In the current competition, five teams, including the Finnish HIFK, Sparta Prague and a local club, will play in one round, following which the two strongest teams will compete for the trophy in the decisive match.
A number of hockey players from the two leading Super League clubs are currently participating in the Russian national team at the World Youth Championship in the USA. They were the key figures in the opening match against the hosts. Alas, our guys lost 4:5, but the tournament formula allows us not to make a tragedy out of one defeat. Our team's goal was defended by Anton Khudobin from Magnitogorsk, his club mates Dmitry Pestunov and Evgeniy Malkin scored a goal and an assist, respectively, and Dynamo's Alexander Ovechkin and Yakov Rylov scored another goal each. The Russians, losing 0:2 during the match, equalized the score three times, but the hosts still won in this tense meeting.
The absence of the best young players cost the Blues and Whites and the Urals dearly. The Muscovites, having barely won against Salavat Yulaev, in the last match before the break could not do anything with the Togliatti Lada, which a few days earlier inflicted a painful defeat on the road to Magnitka. In the meeting with the Volga team, the national team goalkeeper Alexander Eremenko played uncertainly, missing the first goal in the second minute after Zubrus’ powerful shot from the blue line. Dynamo's attack without the powerful Ovechkin did not look formidable at all; the visiting defense easily destroyed the combinations of Vladimir Krikunov's team. Having lost his usual partner in the trio, the top scorer of the championship, Pavel Rosa, was not as active as before. But Alexander Semin from Lada managed to distinguish himself at the end of the match and with 17 goals came close to the Czech in the list of Super League snipers.
After the New Year, on January 5, Dynamo will meet with Khimik, and then go to Szekesfehervar (Hungary) to fight in the Final Four of the Continental Cup. The third Russian team that will soon face battles on the international stage will be Avangard. Omsk will play for the European Champions Cup from January 13 to 16 in St. Petersburg. The national champion in the last round on his site took quite adequate revenge from Spartak for the defeat in the first round match. Moreover, the score of the meeting turned out to be exactly the same, a mirror image - 5:1. Jaromir Jagr accomplished a real feat. At the end of the first period, a puck hit him in the face. In the locker room, the star legionnaire received several stitches on his broken lip, but the forward, despite the pain, decided to return to the game and for the sixth time in a row did not leave home ice without a point in the scoring list according to the “goal plus pass” system: with a wrist shot he hit the goal of Andrei Medvedev.
In the 38th round, for example, none of the four in the basement of the table scored a single point. However, one underdog team continues to attract increased attention. Perm "Hammer", where hockey players continue to strike due to wage arrears, played their second match with a youth team. Surprisingly, the juniors managed to open the scoring in the game against the Kazan “world team”, falling apart only at the beginning of the second period. The guests were never able to complete the defeat: the completely unnecessary removal of Ilya Kovalchuk at the end of the meeting led to two goals for the Perm team in the majority. The 3:7 defeat is quite a decent result for the untested debutants. In the next two matches in Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk, the youth will face new challenges. The strike of the main team is not over yet.
Match results: CSKA - Neftekhimik - 5:3, Molot-Prikamye - Ak Bars - 3:7, Severstal - Sibir - 1:0, SKA - " Metallurg (Nk) - 1:3, Avangard - Spartak - 5:1, Khimik - Lokomotiv - 1:2, Metallurg (Mg) - Salavat Yulaev " - 2:0, "Dynamo" - "Lada" - 0:4.
Leading: Dynamo - 78 points (37 games), Metallurg (MG) - 71 (37), Lada - 66 (35), Ak Bars - 65 (36), Severstal " -- 58 (36).