Sibir sinks champion, makes history. Eastern semi-finals, Day 5

(2) Sibir 3 (3) Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 Sibir wins the series 4-1 Sibir overcame a wobble to clinch a 4-1 series triumph over Metallurg, dethroning the reigning Gagarin Cup holder and reaching the Conference Final for the first time in the club’s history. With victory in sight in this series Sibir returned to Novosibirsk and welcomed goalie Alexander Salak and forward Alexei Kopeikin back to the roster for the biggest hockey game ever to be played in the Siberian capital. Another sell-out crowd gathered, desperately hoping that tonight would be the night their heroes confirmed its passage through the second round of the play-offs and exceeded last season’s achievement of reaching this stage. But those fans were made to sweat on it before they could celebrate. The first period was scoreless, tense. Magnitka knew it had no margin for error and played a cautious game that kept chances to a minimum at either end. Then a penalty for Vyacheslav Belov gave the visitor the ...