Last week, Kazan hosted one of the brightest summer events in Russian hockey. The most titled player in the history of the Continental Hockey League, the world’s only five-time winner of the Gagarin Cup, Danis Zaripov, spent his farewell match, saying goodbye to his playing career, surrounded by two dozen stars. of Russian hockey. Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Pavel Datsyuk, Sergey Mozyakin, Vasily Koshechkin and many other true symbols of the last decades of Russian hockey flew to the capital of Tatarstan to take part in the farewell to the 42-year-old master.
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A year earlier, in his native Krasnoyarsk, two-time world champion Alexander Semin had organized the same match as part of the Russian national team. The farewell matches are gradually beginning to return to normal and become a beautiful tradition in Russian sports. But there are many more top stars who have recently completed their careers and deserve such an honor in our sport. And many of them were personally present in Kazan and Krasnoyarsk and saw how beautiful it must be. Who is first of all worthy to celebrate and organize a farewell party?
north. Sergey Mozyakin (42), retired in July 2021
Actually, Zaripov himself acted as a kind of spoiler in his press conference, announcing a farewell match in Magnitogorsk next year in honor of Sergei Mozyakin.
“Farewell party in Magnitogorsk? I am sure that there will be such a match. Next year. But it will be in honor of Sergei Mozyakin. We already planned this year, but due to some circumstances they postponed it to next year, ”Zaripov said.
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Mozyakin, 42, is the top scorer in KHL history. He has 756 (351 + 405) points in the regular season and 172 (68 + 104) points in the playoffs. The striker also has many other records, in particular, he is the leader in the number of goals scored, assists and points in the Russian championships.
In 2014 and 2016, Mozyakin won the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg. As a player of the Russian national team, the striker became the world champion in 2008 and 2009, the winner of the hockey tournament at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. After completing his career, Sergei joined the administrative headquarters of the Magnitogorsk club, taking the post of director of development.
north. Pavel Datsyuk (45 years old), played last match in March 2021, retired in June 2022
The world hockey wizard played his last official match two years ago in the KHL playoffs for the 2020/2021 season. Throughout the next year, Datsyuk was constantly tormented by the question of continuing or ending his career, but the distinguished striker, as if frozen, turned away from the thorny issue. This continued just before Semin’s farewell match, at which Pavel Valerievich nevertheless admitted the obvious fact: his hockey career came to an end.
pavel datsyuk
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Now the Olympic champion and two-time Stanley Cup winner is invariably asked about organizing his farewell party. And during Zaripov’s hockey farewell, a hockey student from Yekaterinburg hinted that such a meeting really should take place in the future.
“And who said that Datsyuk would not do this? He can. Where will the match take place? In Yekaterinburg. There is a time for everything,” Datsyuk, who holds the position of player development manager at Avtomobilist, said in an interview with Match TV.
v Alexander Eremenko (43), retired in March 2022
The legendary goalkeeper of Dynamo Moscow announced the end of his brilliant career immediately after the end of the 2022 Gagarin Cup second round series with CSKA. In the post-game press conference, the starting goalkeeper announced that he was saying goodbye to hockey and then did not change his mind. Eremenko, 43, owns a wealth of achievements in the capital’s club’s history.
The most significant of which is the record for the number of seasons (17) he spent at Dynamo Moscow. Alexander shares first place in this nomination with Valery Vasiliev and Alexander Maltsev. Only current Blue and White captain Andrei Mironov (10) can surpass this achievement, but to do so, the 29-year-old defender will need to play for his home team for another eight years.
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The six-time Russian champion, three-time Gagarin Cup winner, two-time world champion is one of the most titled players in KHL history. But Alexander did not even stutter about holding a farewell match on a public field. Eremenko never liked more attention from the media, and his natural modesty is unlikely to allow the legendary goalkeeper to remind his home club of organizing such a gathering.
But why shouldn’t the management of the capital team take the initiative and give their ward a worthy hockey farewell? Meanwhile, Eremenko continues to work for the benefit of hockey Dynamo, being the head of the club system for the formation of goalkeepers.
v Vasily Koshechkin (40), retired in March 2023
For the 40-year-old goalkeeper, the last KHL season was the last of his career. Koshechkin spent the 2022/2023 season already in the status of the reserve goalkeeper of Metallurg Magnitogorsk, replacing the Canadian goalkeeper Eddie Pasquale. Following the series loss to Avangard, the 2018 Olympic champion announced that his career was over.
Vasily Koshechkin
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
“We’ll see [по поводу прощальной игры]Now that the season has started, it’s hard to spend during it. We’ll probably do it next summer, when everyone’s free. Now I enjoy life without hockey, there is something to do. First of all, give time to the family, to the parents. Therefore, now I want to live a family life, ”Koshechkin said in an interview with TASS.
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H. Ilya Nikulin (41), retired in July 2020
Ilya Nikulin left hockey very quietly and imperceptibly. The three-time world champion as part of the Russian national team hung up his skates in 2019, after which he quickly left the information field. Even the official statement about the end of the hockey player’s career was finally made by his agent Yuri Matveev. “Ilya finished his career. He devoted enough time to hockey, and now he is engaged in business, ”Matveev said.
The four-time champion of Russia, the two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup, left a truly bright mark on Russian hockey, but, apparently, he is so tired of this sport that now he does not want to be associated with it in any way. shape. Apparently, it was precisely for this reason that Ilya was not even among the participants in Zaripov’s farewell match, although Danis himself included Nikulin in the symbolic team of partners throughout his career.
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north. Ilya Kovalchuk (40 years old), played the last match in April 2021, did not announce his retirement
The most interesting situation occurs with 40-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk. For now, the striker, who ranks fifth in the list of the best Russian snipers in the NHL, played his last official game of his career back in April 2021. Then Avangard, led by Bob Hartley, broke the CSKA resistance in the sixth match of the KHL playoff final, for the first time in the history of the Omsk club, having managed to win the coveted Gagarin Cup.
At the time, the 38-year-old forward did not renew his contract with the Hawks. Two years have passed since then, during which Kovalchuk has not made an official announcement of his retirement. In several interviews, the striker continues to avoid this issue, handling with enviable composure not saying anything in particular. Approximately so, having completed his career, Datsyuk also behaved. But Elijah has a temporary gap in front of Paul. He turned “only” 40 years old, and there is still time to return to the ice.
Ilya Kovalchuk
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
At the same time, it is obvious that the last real chance for a hockey player to resume his career is to sign a contract with Spartak, which was led by Alexei Zhamnov this spring. It’s no secret that Kovalchuk and Zhamnov have long been friendly relations. It is no coincidence that it was Ilya who was appointed general manager of the Russian national team at the 2022 Olympics, when Zhamnov was coaching the national team.
But Kovalchuk himself stubbornly continues to keep the veil of secrecy, without making official statements both about his desire to return to the ice as a player, and about his intention to arrange a farewell match. “I wish Spartak good luck this season. And I won’t think about my return, we’ll see. Why are we discussing this now? Let’s talk about the present,” says Kovalchuk.
