Here’s a rundown of the top hockey events for August 21, 2024.
Gatiyatulin: I understand and accept why Ak Bars fans treated us with caution. Ak Bars head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin shared his emotions about his appointment to the Kazan Club and stated that he is ready for a new big challenge in his career.
— According to the hype in the media and on social networks, the summer was hot for Ak Bars. “I understand and accept why the fans were wary of our arrival. Ak Bars is a top-level club and the fans are used to appointing a top-level coach with a title. Everything is honest here, and what is happening around… It is inspiring, or maybe it is just exciting me. If we win, the reaction will change. This is the challenge we were talking about. In recent years I have encountered negativity at Traktor, but the situation there was different,” Gatiyatulin said in a conversation with the championship correspondent Pyotr Tereshchenkov.
Full version of the interview:
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“We are lying there, listening to Shufutinsky… That guy didn’t like it.” Gatiyatulin, whom you didn’t know.
Salavat Yulaev signed a one-year contract with forward Petr Khokhryakov
Salavat Yulaev signed a one-year contract with forward Petr Khokhryakov, the KHL press service reports. The forward previously played for the Ufa club, and last season he played only 12 matches for Khabarovsk Amur due to injury.
Khokhryakov is the winner of the Gagarin Cup as part of SKA St. Petersburg, the champion of the Universiade. Previously he played for Chelyabinsk Traktor, Ufa Salavat Yulaev, Omsk Avangard and Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik. In total, the 34-year-old forward played 700 games in the Kontinental Hockey League, in which he scored 180 (85+95) points.
Last season, Khokhryakov played 12 games, scoring one goal and providing two assists with a utility rating of -1. The forward was injured in October and will be out for the rest of the season.
Demidov’s brace helped Russia U23 beat Sochi in a tournament match in St. Petersburg
The opening match of Puchkov’s pre-season tournament took place in St. Petersburg, where the Russian U-23 team defeated HC Sochi 4-2.
It should be noted that the Sochi club quickly scored two goals and took a 2-0 lead: Maxim Fedotov and Dmitry Timashov scored. Then the Russian national team took the initiative and scored four goals in a row. The author of the double for the Russian national team was forward Ivan Demidov. Gleb Petrov and Artur Brovkin also scored one goal each. The team’s goal was defended by goalkeepers Egor Zavragin, Nikita Tulinov and Sergei Ivanov.
Ak Bars beat Kunlun by a narrow score at the St. Petersburg tournament
Today, August 22, a match between Ak Bars and Chinese Kunlun Red Star was held at a tournament in St. Petersburg. The Kazan team won 1:0.
The team did not score a single goal in the first two periods. In the third twenty minutes, Semyon Terekhov opened the scoring of the match with assists from Daniil Zhuravlev and Alexey Marchenko. As it turned out, this was the only goal of the match.
Siberia beat Barys at the pre-season tournament in Omsk
In Omsk, at the pre-season tournament “Fonbet Blinov Cup”, the match between “Sibir” and “Barys” was played. The Novosibirsk team won the match with a score of 4:0.
Forward Pavel Gogolev scored a brace for Novosibirsk Sibir. Alexey Yakovlev and Trevor Murphy each scored one goal. Sibir goalkeeper Anton Krasotkin scored the shutout. Barys’ goal was defended by Vladimir Nikitin.
Traktor overcame a 2-4 deficit at the end of the match against Lokomotiv, but lost on penalties
Traktor and Lokomotiv played a match for the Blinov Cup in Omsk at the G-Drive Arena. The Yaroslavl team won the penalty shootout 5:4.
In the 14th minute of the first half, Yaroslav Likhachev opened the scoring with assists from Daniil Tesanov and Alexander Volkov. In the last minute of the period, Nikita Tertyshny equalised the score with assists from Vladimir Tkachev and Artyom Schuchinov.
In the fourth minute of the second half, Nikita Tertyshny put the Chelyabinsk club ahead with assists from Alexander Kadeikin and Charles Robinson. After 10 minutes, Daniil Booth made it 2:2. In the 17th minute of the half, Maxim Berezkin scored the third goal for the railwaymen with assists from Stepan Nikulin and Raul Akmaldinov. In the 54th second of the third twenty minutes, Daniil But scored a double after an assist from Alexey Kozhevnikov, making the score 4:2. At the end of the match, Vitaly Kravtsov reduced Traktor’s deficit to a minimum, and 42 seconds later Dylan Sikura made it 4:4.
The NHL said in which countries league games could be played in the coming years
National Hockey League (NHL) Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has discussed which countries could host league games in the coming years.
“We have a list of places where we would like to bring teams, where we want to develop markets. Before we had a rotation: Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, but I think this will change in the short term.
Probably everyone has some kind of priority market in mind. I think we want to get back to London. I think the players and the NHL Players Association want to get back to London and play there. Germany and Switzerland are probably the leading candidates for regular season games in the near future.
“We’ve had issues in Australia with producing good quality ice and we need to make sure we overcome those issues because we don’t want to put players at risk, especially in the preseason. But it was still a positive experience,” Daly said, according to the NHL website.
Washington forward Strome: Ovechkin to break Gretzky’s record next season
Washington Capitals forward Dylan Strome believes Alexander Ovechkin can break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL scoring record next season. Before he can repeat the record, the Russian has 41 goals left to score.
“I definitely think so. He had a lot more 40+ goal seasons than non-40 goal seasons. Everyone wrote him off for the first 40 games last year and he really took off in the second half of the season. So I expect a lot from Ovi, which we got in the second half of last season. We’re all waiting for this and we’ll be ready. Of course, I’ll try to give him a pass.”
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Does Washington think Ovechkin will break Gretzky’s record in the new season?
“This guy can’t be counted out. He has one of the best shots, if not the best shot, in the NHL. There are some guys with really good shots, but in my opinion, he’s in the top five. I see this every day. Any time a guy can shoot like that, it’s up to the guys around him to get him the puck, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Strome said.
