Khabibulin will bring Stanley Cup to Minsk and play for the Lukashenko team

The Russian goalkeeper Nikolai Khabibulin, who won the Stanley Cup in the Tampa Bay Lighting NHL club, will bring this trophy next Saturday to the capital of Belarus. According to ITAR-TASS, the 31-year-old goalkeeper decided to present the most honorable trophy of this league in Minsk, where his wife and mother-in-law come from.

According to the NHL regulations, each of the players of the team who won the Stanley Cup has the right to take the prize for one day (not counting the time for transportation) for his homeland. Khabibulin at his request was made an exception to the rules, because he was born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). This is the first time that the Russian hockey player did not want to show the honorary prize to fellow countrymen and compatriots.

The pupil of the Moscow CSKA Khabibulin became the Olympic champion in the Russian national team in 1992 after which he left for North America. Nicholas then spoke for the Russian team only twice - in 1996 in the World Cup and at the 2002 Olympics. Recently, Khabibulin officially refused to play for the national team, which would take part in the next Rong World Cup.

It is planned that the Stanley Cup will be exhibited at the Minsk Ice Palace, where a demonstrative hockey match dedicated to this event will take place. It will play the champion of the country "Youth" and the team of Alexander Lukashenko. In addition to the president of the country, Khabibulin himself, as well as such famous Belarusian hockey players as defender Ruslan Saley, attacking Konstantin Koltsov and veteran Andrei Kovalev, will perform. Already announced the sale of tickets.

Anyone will be able to take pictures against the background of the Stanley Cup, which the next day will be exhibited on the central square of Minsk - October. Then the trophy will go to Kyiv - at the disposal of the striker of the "lightning" Ruslan Fedotenko.