On several occasions the KHL was on the verge of creating truly magical scenarios. HC MVD and Atlant reached the final and the “policemen” reached the seventh game. The final match of the main series of the season came the “Lion” of Prague, a strong team, but formed quickly and systematically, which disappeared shortly after its surprising campaign. However, every time the daring losers were sooner or later stopped, the Gagarin Cup was taken by the best recognized clubs, and no miracle happened.
“Metallurg” is, of course, also a recognized and eternal top-level club. But this is if we are talking about a name. In terms of filling, the current “Magnitogorsk” is much closer to HC MVD and “Atlant” than to itself in the “fat” times of the mid-2010s, when Magnitogorsk took its first trophies in the KHL with names powerful in the coaching staff. bridge and in the locker room.
I don’t understand how Metallurg did this now. Yes, a parallel can be drawn with the championships of Dinamo Moscow in 2012 and 2013, when many also did not understand how to win cups with the Tsvetkov, Kokarev, Soins… But that Dinamo was successful for several years, including the formation of a important part of the future The “golden” team under the auspices of HC MVD went through big bumps and unpleasant defeats. Oleg Znarok has been building a winning band for more than a season. And Magnitogorsk had nothing a year ago. Basically scorched earth. And now there is the Gagarin Cup, and for me it is a real miracle, the most surprising and sudden triumph in the history of the league.
Related materials
Video
Bravo, Magnitogorsk! Bravo, Razin! Metallurg won the third Gagarin Cup in its history
No, really, how did they do it? A year ago, Metallurg parted ways with Ilya Vorobyov, who personified a whole era of Magnitogorsk hockey and, in fact, entered perestroika. We optimized the budget, stopped spending to the ceiling, invited coach Andrei Razin to a long-term contract, incredibly promising, but which did not have the slightest success in the cup. Under Razin, an almost completely new team was formed, which already during the season acquired an incredible appearance: a mixture of former Severstal hockey players, yesterday’s players from MHL and VHL and several experienced guys from the previous core who earned more, but At the same time, especially in the regular season, it didn’t make a difference. “Metallurg” started the season strongly, but I, for my part, had no doubt that in the current championship this is a team that is not up for great things.
Because what big problem can there be with Vovchenko, Petunin, Geraskin, who could not lead Severstal to at least the second round of the playoffs? With Press, who last season wasn’t even close to being considered an elite defender by most, but he still consistently scored goals home? With Mikhailis and Zernov, who spent a significant portion of the regular season “carrying panties,” on solid contracts? With Yurov and Grebenkin, guys, although talented, but with little playoff experience? With Karpov, who fades more and more with each new season? With Johnson, whose only skills are neutral play and the ability to create traffic in the backfield, is that not enough for a foreign player? Finally, with 21-year-old Nabokov as the main goalkeeper? But this is not serious! Other KHL Gagarin Cup contenders have not gone anywhere, some are strong in the system, others in the composition, and in Magnitogorsk they recreated the same Severstal.
Related materials
Video
Inconceivable. The “golden” goal of the KHL final was scored by guys who were expelled from their previous club
And in Magnitogorsk, by the way, they also understood that in the first season of a new life it was almost impossible to qualify for the Gagarin Cup. Razin was given carte blanche and given time to form a team, and Andrei Vladimirovich himself did not promise them a trophy before the start of the regular season at a meeting with fans. Everyone seemed to understand that Metallurg would for some time leave the group of applicants to start major construction… That meeting with fans took place in August, and eight months later the Gagarin Cup arrived in Magnitogorsk. And I don’t understand how this happened.
I don’t understand how Razin’s bet on his old acquaintances, in whose great abilities probably only he believed, worked so clearly. I don’t understand how in one season he not only revealed a tremendous amount of young players, but turned them into difference-making team leaders. I don’t understand how in a single season he gave Magnitka not only his style, his game model, but also his psychology. For Nikitin at Lokomotiv this took years.
There are many things I don’t understand. But that’s my problem. But Razin always had confidence in himself, he knew what, how and with whom he could achieve it. Having moved to a place imbued with a special atmosphere of great ambitions and victories, he immediately gave maximum results.
Therefore, the triumph of Magnitogorsk is an inexplicable miracle. For many. But it is unlikely for his creator, who probably knew in troubled Saratov that he was some kind of magician.
