Translated material
Powerlessness of the grassroots
In Moscow, Traktor failed to get close to the playoff zone
Yesterday's 48th round of the Super League championship was fraught with two intrigues. First, will the recently appointed coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, American Paul Gardner, be able to extend his winning streak to five matches? Second, how will the situation change in the fight for 16th place, which allows you to count on participation in the playoffs? As a result, Gardner continued his winning streak and has not yet experienced defeat in Russia; “Kuznya” and “tractor drivers” remained with their own. Metallurgists are still in the playoff zone and are three points ahead of the Chelyabinsk team in 17th place.Paul Gardner became the ninth foreign coach in the history of the Russian Super League. Of the remaining eight mentors, only Canadian Mike Krushelnicki (“Vityaz”) is currently working in our country. “Lokomotiv” is the sole leader in the number of invitations to “Varangian helmsmen”. The Czech Vladimir Vuytek, who was already fired from Ak Bars Kazan, worked more than successfully with this team. After his move to the capital of Tatarstan, the key post in Loko was occupied by the Slovak Julius Shupler and the Finn Kari Heikkilä. To complete the picture, we should remember the deceased Czech Ivan Glinka (“Avangard”, season 2002/03), his compatriots Milos Rzhiga (“Chemist”, 2005/06), Marek Sikora (Magnitogorsk “Metallurg”, 2003-2005) and the head coach of the same Magnitogorsk, Canadian Dave King, who was already released this season.
Gardner replaced Nikolai Borshchevsky in Yaroslavl, who during the current season took the place of Vladimir Yurzinov Sr. Two resignations of the club's head coaches during one championship is an extremely unusual case, especially considering that 16 of the 19 participants in the three-round super league tournament make it to the playoffs. The owner of a luxurious wheat mustache, 60-year-old Gardner, from 1976 to 1986, played as a center forward for the NHL clubs Colorado, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Washington and Buffalo and scored 203 goals in 463 matches. At the end of his playing career, the American headed the AHL team Newmarket Saints for four years (1986-1990), and missed the playoffs three times; he worked in the same league as an assistant head coach for the Baltimore Skipjacks, Portland Pirates, and From 1998 to 2003, he worked at the NHL club Nashville, also as an assistant. The pages of Gardner’s coaching biography do not look impressive, however, the Loko executives chose this specialist and they were not mistaken!
Under Gardner, the “railroad” team defeated Magnitka (3:0) and Ak Bars (4:1) on the road, and upset Khimik (4:2) and Avangard (4:3) on home ice. It turns out that Loko’s victims in the last ten days of January were all the teams that held the first four places in the standings as of yesterday morning. The result is more than impressive. It seemed that in the 48th round a respite awaited the Yaroslavl team, because a hopeless outsider, Krylya Sovetov, arrived to visit them. However, Muscovites did not accept the role of resigned victim assigned to them in advance. “Wings” opened the scoring, and after the first period the scoreboard indicated equality of forces - 1:1. Loko still prevailed, but the victory turned out to be unconvincing.
Among other events on Tuesday, notable were the second consecutive defeat of the current champion, the tournament leader of the current Ak Bars, and the return of striker Andrei Gubin to Severstal. During the last period of additional applications, he left Krylia Sovetov. The capital club considered his transfer unauthorized after the player made his debut for the Cherepovets team, but eventually withdrew his claim from the arbitration court.
Results. Super League. 48th round. "Salavat Yulaev" - "Sibir" - 4:1, "Severstal" - "Ak Bars" - 4:3, "Lada" - "Amur" - 2:0, "Neftekhimik" - " Metallurg Mg - 1:2, Dynamo - Traktor - 2:0, CSKA - Khimik - 2:1, HC MVD - Avangard - 2:5, Lokomotiv " - "Wings of the Soviets" - 3:1, SKA - "Metallurg" Nk - 7:3. The leaders are : Ak Bars - 93 points (43 games), Avangard - 90 (44), Metallurg Mg - 84 (44).