“Instead of balloons and running empties.” Non-standard Larionov prepares Torpedo for the KHL season
Aug 20, 2023 11:45 AM UTC Audio Version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Nizhny Novgorod left the holidays late, left the tournaments and actively played with the VHL teams.
The main phenomenon of the last KHL season is Torpedo. Igor Larionov’s team, consisting of young and mostly unknown hockey players, promoted a special philosophy in relation to the game and everything that surrounds it. The spectacular attacking style has become a hallmark of the club, attracting additional attention from fans and allowed it to reach the second round of the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
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This summer, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod again chose the original path. For the first time after a break, the Torpedo team met only on August 1, half a month after most of the rivals. Previously, Larionov actively pushed for the North American concept, insisting that players should prepare themselves for the start of training camp.
“They get good money and they have to prepare. We cannot burn fat for a month and a half, as they said in the Super League. These are people who get a lot of money. They don’t look at how much a car costs at a car dealership. They are looking at how much it costs to train with a personal trainer to be ready for the season,” the professor said in September.
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Another “trick” in the Torpedo calendar is the lack of tournaments. The team does not fight for the cups of famous veterans or presidents of someone’s republics, but simply plays control matches. The list of opponents is also unusual: the car manufacturers play four of the six pre-season games with teams from the VHL. Previously, Nizhny Novgorod lost to Amur and Voskresensky Khimik (4:6); On August 18 and 19, they won two victories over Diesel (2: 1 and 3: 2), and today Metallurg Novokuznetsk will be tested.
The last match with “Diesel” ended in an extremely unusual way. The Torpedo team led by one goal, and to hold it, they let go of five defenders at once in the final minute.
“Five defenders in the last minute of the game is a great experiment. Pure improvisation,-Larionov appreciated his movement very much. “We did it intentionally to shake up the guys, to give them a chance to enjoy the finish.”
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The defender of “Torpedo” called the most difficult of Larionov’s requirements.
After the results of the first meeting with the Penza team, Larionov carefully, but unambiguously “walked” through the traditional methods of preparing for Russian hockey: “We do not try to put much emphasis on whether we win or lose It was important here to look at the interactions of the youngsters with the experienced players and give them the opportunity to make a functional normal for each link to play for 20 minutes these are pretty good numbers to get in through the game instead of lobs and running empty – to play hockey.
At the end of August, Torpedo will continue to play. The team will go to Minsk, where they will meet with the local Dynamo and the Admiral.
