One of the central stories of the game day on September 12, and perhaps of the entire first month in the KHL, was Evgeny Kuznetsov’s first meeting with Traktor after returning from North America. An evil twist of fate pitted the forward against his home club already in the second week of the regular season, also as an official home debut: on Thursday, SKA played on its home court for the first time this season. This match was also the first official one at the Ice Palace since January: the military team played the final of the last championship at the new SKA Arena, but was forced to return to Pyatiletok Avenue.
Reasons to come back here:
Why SKA will not play at the SKA Arena. There is no single reason, there are many more
An impressive landing party flew from Chelyabinsk to St. Petersburg: the two sectors allocated for it were almost filled to capacity, plus many fans of the “bears” were scattered throughout the rest of the arena. I went to the guest stand and talked to Traktor fans to see and hear how they first met their most famous student of the 21st century in a sweatshirt of another club. Spoiler: the main complaint against Kuznetsov is a broken promise.
Shortly before the opening match, I spoke to Anatoly, who lives in St. Petersburg but regularly attends meetings with Traktor as a guest fan: “He simply shouldn’t have promised to return to Chelyabinsk. Then there would be no questions. The claims are only about promises. It wouldn’t matter if instead of Traktor he had moved to SKA or any other club – the attitude would not have changed.
—Will the fans accept him if he wants to return? – I don’t think they’ll accept it.
—How will the invited sector react today? “I think he will be booed,” Anatoly added, pointing to a message from a friend from Chelyabinsk that read: “Kuznetsov is not interesting to the local public.”
The first reaction to Kuznetsov’s appearance on the ice, however, was not a whistle. A few seconds after he entered the site for the first turn, a lonely cry of “Kuzya, dear!” was heard among the crowd of Traktor fans. — to some extent, this reaction was the only one that could be heard directed at Evgeniy.
For a while it seemed that the Chelyabinsk team did not really care about the number 92 of the military team: he received the puck several times and even created a dangerous moment near Zach Fucale’s goal, throwing a shot between his legs, but the reaction of the fans only came to the goalkeeper’s save.
Evgeny Kuznetsov in the match with Traktor
Photo: Ilya Smirnov, foto.khl.ru
However, halfway through the first half, Kuznetsov took possession of the puck for the first time in a long time, and immediately a deafening whistle mixed with a buzz was heard. And it ended exactly at the moment when Evgeniy lost the puck.
“I understand the guys booing him, but I don’t encourage him,” Igor, the leader of the guest sector, commented on the situation. “Who am I to condemn Kuznetsov for his decision? However, I understand the negative reaction. If Evgeniy had not made promises or had immediately and honestly addressed Traktor fans and explained the situation, many would have understood. Half of our students already play in clubs in other cities.
I think he will not finish his contract at SKA and will sooner or later return to Traktor. I would not be surprised if Kuznetsov refused to be on the waivers list in October; this will be a typical situation for SKA.”
Igor’s friend Denis, who has been travelling for the black and whites for a long time, was more categorical: “Kuznetsov’s transition to SKA is a spit in the soul. I have a photo with him from the moment of his victory at the 2011 World Cup – I will not erase it. But I will no longer wear a T-shirt with his name. In my opinion, he has a way to make up for it with the fans – to bring the Gagarin Cup to Chelyabinsk as a Traktor player.
In the meantime, Kuznetsov is working on bringing the trophy back to St. Petersburg. The start, however, was a bit bad: SKA won only one victory in four matches and could not find a way to the opponent’s goal in the last two: Zach Fucale and the Chelyabinsk defense single-handedly dried up the St. Petersburg army team. For the second year in a row, Roman Rotenberg’s team played the first home game of the season “dry”: on September 12, 2023, after the meeting with Spartak, they missed exactly the same score of 0:3 at Ledovoy.
Related materials
SKA closed comments on the social network after the defeat in the match against Traktor
Traktor fans left the arena in high spirits, but Kuznetsov was in the opposite mood after the match: “It seemed like they were attacking and attacking, but the effectiveness was zero in the second game in a row. They held on and scored, but we couldn’t come back. Two tough defeats. We need to rework those moments; it’s in them that a real team is built. I think we will get the game going. I don’t want to look for excuses, I should add. So far, it’s neither here nor there.”
