Translated material
Snowman's new house
The Eurotour stage starts tomorrow at the ice palace on Khodynka
Tomorrow in Moscow, at the Khodynka Ice Sports Palace, built specifically for the May World Cup, the Russia-Sweden match will kick off the third stage of the Eurotour - the Channel One Cup. In Soviet times, the traditional December tournament with its legendary mascot the Snowman was known as the Izvestia Prize, then it was renamed the Baltic Cup (1997-2003), ROSNO Cup (2004-2005) and now held under a new name.The Russian national team under the leadership of Vyacheslav Bykov has not yet lost a single one of the six matches of the Eurotour, having achieved an overall victory in both past stages - the September “Ceske Poyishtovny Cup” and the November “Karjaly Cup”. Moreover, in Finland our team played without the players from the top three of the super league Danis Zaripov - Sergei Zinoviev - Alexey Morozov. Bykov had a preliminary agreement with the management of Ak Bars that he would not involve these hockey players in the national team for the Finnish stage, but before the Moscow tournament, all three were again called up to the national team. Alas, in the last round of the Super League before the break, in a match with HC MVD, Zinoviev was injured and will not be able to go on the ice for some time. Vityaz forward Alexander Korolyuk was also out of action. Instead, Bykov promptly recruited Albert Leshchev from Khimik near Moscow and the smallest (168 cm tall) CSKA forward Alexei Simakov.
This competition is special for several reasons. They are held in a new arena and in the year of the 60th anniversary of Russian hockey, this is the anniversary, 10th edition of the Eurotour, and besides, the tournament in organizational terms should become a dress rehearsal for the 2007 World Championship. Despite the fact that hockey players playing in the NHL will be involved in the national team for the May forum, many of the current roster have a chance to play at the World Championship.
By tradition, one of the matches of the Eurotour stage will take place in another country. On Thursday the Finns will play the Czechs in Helsinki. On Friday both teams will move to Moscow, and on Saturday the hockey players from Suomi will meet with the hosts. On the last day of the week, Vyacheslav Bykov’s team will play against the Czechs. In 2004 and 2005, the Russians won the ROSNO Cup, but before that, for three seasons, the main prize was sent abroad - to the Czech Republic (2001, 2002) and Finland (2003).
At yesterday's press conference in Moscow, the head of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF), Vladislav Tretyak, expressed confidence that none of the Russians playing in the NHL will refuse to defend the country's honor at the World Championship. Tretyak added that, in principle, even defender Sergei Zubov is ready to play for the national team, who for a very long time, for reasons of principle, has not put on the national team sweater. True, neither Tretyak nor Bykov’s assistant Sergei Nemchinov specifically said anything about how the roster rotation would turn out compared to the Channel One Cup. The FHR President emphasized his desire to see a player from the Super League one of the three goalkeepers of the Russian national team at the World Championship. So far, Vasily Koshechkin from Lada and Ak Bars goalkeeper Alexander Eremenko are vying for this post.
As for the new, as yet unnamed arena on Khodynka, the Moscow government that owns it is going to either announce a competition for the best name for the sports palace, or sell it to business structures. Any Moscow club that has entered into an agreement with the owner can rent ice for home Super League matches. The organizers presented a new tournament trophy, made in a modern style. The cup was made in two copies. The smaller version will be a challenge prize, and the main one will be awarded at the award ceremony, but will remain in Moscow.
In the overall EuroTour standings, Russia went far ahead of its closest competitors - 16 points out of 18 possible. Sweden and Finland have seven points each, and the Czech Republic has one less. Bykov has the opportunity to become the first Russian coach under whom the team will win three stages in a row. And after that, you can aim for the “Grand Slam” - win the main prizes at all stages and win the final match, in which the teams that took 1st-2nd places will meet.