After the triumphant performance at the Karjala Cup, Russian hockey players are expected to have equally good results at the second stage of the Euro Hockey Tour. Additional pressure comes from the fact that this stage will take place in Russia, and the final match with Finland will be held at more than 60,000 football stadium “St. Petersburg”.
Naturally, the coaching staff took into account the importance of a successful performance at the First Channel Cup and therefore decided to return to the long-tried scheme, calling under its banners mainly players from two army teams. As a result, more than two-thirds of hockey players (21 out of 29) were representatives of SKA and CSKA, while their greatest concentration was in the attacking line. Only three of the 17 forwards do not protect the colors of one of the aforementioned teams - Alexander Kadeykin with Anton Burdasov (both - “Salavat Yulaev”) and Andrey Loktionov (“Lokomotiv”).
The defensive line of immigrants from other KHL teams turned out to be much larger. They were not bad in the Finnish tournament Alexey Vasilevsky (Avtomobilist), Victor Antipin (Metallurg), Andrei Pedan (Ak Bars) and Alexander Elesin (Lokomotiv). The diarchy of army clubs in the goalkeeper's position was slightly shaken by the goalkeeper of Avangard, Igor Bobkov.
At the same time, a number of hockey players returned to the national team, who were directly involved in winning gold medals at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Among them are Moscow army player Sergey Andronov and SKA players Nikita Gusev and Pavel Datsyuk, who also took a break during the Karjal Cup.
Formerly, the coaching staff has repeatedly reproached the fact that the national team has evolved into a get-together from hockey players CSKA and SKA. One could have expected that this choice of Ilya Vorobyov would again become the object of condemnation and criticism, but this time the decision of the mentor was accepted with understanding. Thus, the two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov said that the specialist had no choice but to take the best of the best.
“The normal composition, hockey players from the strongest clubs. Many representatives of SKA and CSKA? You see, now they are the best, and who else to take? This is the coach's business, conclusions will be made later, who is better, who has played worse. Naturally, experts trust their athletes, but there is nothing to say about the Moscow army team, they are in the first place, ”Sport24 quoted Kozhevnikov as saying.
Also in the national team appeared Burdasova. On the eve of the Finnish stage, the forward scored an excellent move and chalked up 18 (13 + 5) points in 24 meetings, but, to the surprise of a number of experts, was not called to the national team. In the following seven meetings, he was noted only by two (1 + 1) points, but nevertheless he turned out to be in the application for the First Channel Cup.
“They said that Anton will be called to the home tournament, he needs to be checked. Yes, he is clogged, but now he began to act more carefully with him, this is a normal thing. Burdasov and now different goals. Of course, not in such a mode as at the start of the season, but he still deserves to play for the national team, ”concluded Kozhevnikov.
Vladimir Plyushchev, the former head coach of the Russian national hockey team, noted the call of the forward Salavat Yulaev. According to him, he is pleased that Burdasov and Bobkov were in the national team.
“These are the guys with whom I happened to work and become the silver medalists of the youth world championship. All the others are also very good players, and as for the prevalence of St. Petersburg and Moscow army team, we apparently remembered the experience of the Olympics. Perhaps somewhere Ilya Vorobiev decided to experiment a bit. CSKA is leading in the West, so the mentor chose not to be cunning, but to take those who look convincing, as well as those who are worthy of their team, ”Ivy explained to the Championship.
According to the mentor, currently Vorobyov is engaged in forming the backbone, which will represent the Russian team at the upcoming world championship. In this regard, the coaching staff invited the team veteran Datsyuk, as well as proven leaders in the person of Gusev and Kaprizova.
“I want to show aerobatics. All home tournaments stand out. Playing youth and losing big would probably be a disrespect to their fans, ”added Ivy.
Another topic for discussion was the lack of Vadim Shipachev and Dmitry Kagarlitsky in the national team. This season, the Dynamo Moscow hockey players demonstrate an enviable performance and are among the top five scorers in the Continental Hockey League (KHL). In 35 meetings, the ex-forward Vegas Golden Knights scored 36 (10 + 26) points, and his partner scored 34 (13 + 21).
“You need to understand what goals are pursued. If you need to win the First Channel Cup, this is one thing, if we are preparing the national team for the World Cup - another. If we look with the sight at the Olympiad - this is the third. For example, they did not take Shipachev and Kagarlitsky, but they are stronger than many players. Why haven't they been called? There can be two reasons: either they are so sure and they have nothing to check, or they simply don’t count on them, ”said the former general manager of Salavat Yulaev, Leonid Weisfeld.
At the same time, he also positively assessed the call to the national team of Burdasov and expressed the opinion that, on the whole, the squad seemed logical to him.
“If you look at a glance, then I personally have no special questions. I can not say that I was surprised by something. Goalkeeper brigade is logical. We have two goalkeepers - Shesterkin and Sorokin. Koshechkin is probably not particularly interested in the national team, ”concluded Weisfeld.