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The Russian team won the next stage of the Eurotour
The Russian national ice hockey team became the first in both competitions one round before the end of the Swedish Games and one stage before the end of the Eurotour. However, no one could match Vyacheslav Bykov’s team in terms of composition, the result is logical. The last stage of the tournament will take place in the Czech Republic at small venues. And there, hockey players playing in the Russian league will fight for a place in the squad that will go to the World Championships in Canada.The central event in the life of the Russian national team is the debut of goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov. The Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey player has already been called up to the banner of the national team. But one day he fell ill on the eve of the tournament and was sent home. Before the World Youth Championship, he was released to prepare for a more serious tournament, but Sergei Nemchinov did not use his services, explaining that there were stronger goalkeepers. Varlamov was a little upset, which became clear from his performance for Lokomotiv, but then he pulled himself together and returned to his previous level. Here came an invitation from Vyacheslav Bykov.
Semyon took the ice against the Finnish team (5:0) and played flawlessly (then he was released for the third period against the Czechs (2:4), and again he never capitulated). At the same time, he was loaded to capacity with business. With the Finns, the Russian team for some reason fell out of favor with the main referee of the meeting, Swede Thomas Anderson, and sat on the penalty box for almost half of the match. The Finns, who were pleasantly surprised by converting the majority in the first match against the Czech Republic, this time could not come up with anything extra during the play. Including thanks to the excellent actions of Semyon Varlamov.
Semyon's confident play, however, will not affect his chances of going to Canada. The bet will be placed on others. Vyacheslav Bykov will wait for goalkeepers who will be released from the NHL (though an agreement will still have to be reached with them). If two people agree, then the third will be Alexander Eremenko. And if there is only one, then they can take Varlamov, although there is also Dmitry Yachanov.
Despite two victories and overall success, there were enough problems in the team's performance. The main one is in defense. Even the always reliable Vitaly Atyushov wilted without his regular partner Evgeny Varlamov. By the way, according to our data, it is this pair of defenders who are practically guaranteed tickets to Quebec and Halifax. Daniil Markov, at one time considered the strongest destroyer in Russian hockey, does not look like himself at all. It is clear that he has a lot of desire to complete a huge amount of work, but the player is let down by the fact that he has never done some things in his life, but now for some reason he is doing them.
Konstantin Korneev, Bykov’s favorite, also played poorly. His childhood mistakes especially hurt the team in the final match against the Czech Republic. Alexey Emelin was frustrating because he accumulated penalty minutes out of the blue. His appearance on the ice is guaranteed to mean that the team will sooner or later be in the minority. This player just has that style. The highly qualified IIHF referees are not comfortable with him.
The invitation to the team of Sergei Peretyagin, whose talent was always visible only to the national team's coaching staff, also did not materialize. At least the appearance of a player from SKA was greeted with surprise even before the Eurotour stage in Moscow. Of the guys playing at home, Kirill Koltsov could help the team, but he has a conflict with the head coach, which is unlikely to be resolved by the beginning of May. This means we’ll have to see who becomes available in the NHL. True, there are not very many strong hockey players there who play defensively.
It’s great that Fedor Fedorov finally scored a goal in an official match for the first time in a month and a half. But the powerful and technical striker now needs to remember his scoring skills in the Russian Championship. Otherwise, he risks not going to Canada, although he has the necessary skills to play on small ice. However, the way he played the first match of the Swedish games against the hosts (4:3), makes his chances of getting into the squad scanty. It is no coincidence that in the next meeting he sat on the bench.
Four forwards have proven themselves to be the best - Oleg Saprykin, Sergei Mozyakin, Maxim Sushinsky and Andrey Nikolishin. The latter, despite his 35 years, turns out to be irreplaceable as a destructive forward. He plays almost perfectly in the minority and insures defensive players. The national team has always lacked such people. As for Oleg Saprykin, even if he only has one goal to his name, the team needs him for another reason. The activity of the CSKA player is so high that the opposing defenders are simply exhausted chasing him.
By and large, Vyacheslav Bykov discovered only Nikolishin, who was not invited to the national team due to his age. In addition, the coach will monitor NHL defensemen more closely. But there is no news in this.