Translated material
Khimik's claims
The Moscow region club is ready to revise the table of ranks of the capital region
This week all Super League clubs returned from vacation. As if not wanting to interfere with the World Cup, immediately after it ended, the CSKA players were the last to get down to business. However, the start of pre-season training so late by Russian standards does not at all guarantee that the best club in the capital region based on the results of the last season will lead in the next season. Why? The answer is simple - the Moscow region Khimik appeared on the horizon, which became the king of off-season transfer purchases, acquiring a good half of the army team.Only since last season, after the main team of the region moved from distant Voskresensk to Mytishchi, which can be reached from the metro in 15 minutes, “Khimik” can be considered a club in the capital region. And now Khimik should be considered as a team with serious claims to one of the leading positions in the Super League.
Just two years ago, no one had a variety of options for answering the question: “Who is the strongest in the capital?” Dynamo Moscow, which in the summer of 2004 brought under its banner a stellar NHL company led by Datsyuk, Markov, Afinogenov, Samsonov and Chubarov, became the champion of Russia, ahead of the much more eminent Ak Bars.
Now, especially after last year’s relocation of the “blue and white” to the middle of the table and their ninth place in the championship, the disposition in the capital has changed. Of course, we should not forget that Dynamo and its workaholic mentor Vladimir Krikunov, who was torn on two fronts with the national team, won the European Cup. That the famous club, the first champion of the USSR, has not received a salary since November. That the players in the playoffs simply wanted to finish the season quickly, and not leave their strength on the battlefield. Dynamo still ended the season, and taking into account the above, heroically. Moreover, they have not lost their mentor, on whom, let me call a spade a spade, now depends no less than half of the life of the entire club. Sponsors have finally come to Dynamo again, and the club, at the very least, will pay the players’ salaries.
“At the very least” is already a metaphor for today. Because if today’s score were shown to the champion team of six years ago, the jaws of those players who took to the ice, as it now seems almost for nothing, would definitely drop. And yet, this spring, Dynamo was surpassed by its two closest neighbors - CSKA and Khimik. So formally, they are now the leaders in the capital. After all, the main team of the Moscow region, due to the proximity of Mytishchi to Belokamennaya and the employment of more than half of the city in Moscow, is logical to attribute specifically to the capital region.
“It’s okay, we will still compete this year,” Dynamo coach Vladimir Krikunov assured the Vremya Novostei correspondent. - I think that this season we will definitely not be the worst among Moscow clubs. After all, many left CSKA. True, our losses are great, because Sushinsky moved to St. Petersburg. But we managed to retain other players - Kharitonov and Kulyash, as well as Vyshedkevich and goalkeeper Eremeev, whom other clubs literally snatched from us with pincers. True, if we include our closest neighbor, Khimik near Moscow, in the confrontation between Muscovites, then it will be out of competition. Mytishchi residents now have too rich a selection of players.”
Indeed, Dynamo’s acquisition of only Osipov from Neftekhimik, the same one who at one time in CSKA in the trio with Mozyakin and Emeleev was trained by maestro Tikhonov himself, and the return from loan of two or three average hockey players does not outweigh the cup of Khimik’s newcomers. . Here is one of the best strikers of the past season, ex-army man Mozyakin, and national team defense players Bykov (Dynamo) and Khomitsky (CSKA), who, by the way, still wants to try his hand overseas. These are defender Titov and goalkeeper Barulin from Spartak, who were recruited to the national team before the World Cup in Riga.
What can we say if not the weakest players from across the Atlantic are coming to the “yellow-blues”! For example, Nikolai Zherdev from Columbus, who made a splash a few years ago with wonderful hands and dribble, who, hopefully, will not only start the season in Russia, but will also remain in the Super League. And Colorado goalkeeper Vitaly Kolesnik is worth it! It is not without reason that the governor of the Moscow region, Boris Gromov, set the goal for Khimik to win medals in the coming season, and a year later to take gold. The club, in the hands of the new venerable coach Pyotr Vorobyov, if it develops at the same rapid pace, may well cope with such super-tasks as today.
Well, what about CSKA and Spartak? The army team has lost too many to, like a year ago, claim a place in the top five. Well-known forwards Dobryshkin, Kudermetov (both from Metallurg Magnitogorsk) and Epanchintsev (Khimik MO) can make up for the losses to some extent. But let’s be honest, you won’t get far up the mountain just on their shoulders.
The “red and whites”, by some miracle still remaining in the super league after declaring their own default, have lost the main protagonist of their mysterious salvation. The new general director of the club, Vadim Melkov, died in a plane crash near Irkutsk last Sunday. He was the main link between the new owners of the team and all the hockey personnel of the club. It’s difficult to understand what will happen to Spartak now. But if everything works out, then, speaking of the composition, there are much more serious losses in the team than acquisitions, and even those smell of mothballs.
The situation is difficult now in Krylya Sovetov, which after a while is returning to the class of the strongest. It is unclear where the team will play. After all, the owners of the sports palace of the same name from the VILS company are not ready to let the team there for free in the future. That’s why the club’s leaders, not getting a chance to meet with the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov at Tverskaya, 13, are chasing him literally all over the country. Last week they rushed after Luzhkov all the way to the Altai Territory.
But will the capital’s mayor, following Spartak, help another hockey club? After all, the owners of VILS are asking as much as 20 million dollars for the palace. Although with this money it is quite possible to build a new modern skating rink, though not in Russia. If Luzhkov doesn’t help, there will still be a blank in the column of Krylia’s acquisitions. What can we say then about the result?