CSKA captures Mayor's Cup; Nazarov's second trophy. August 18 preseason

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup

Neftekhimik emerged victorious in the Ufa tournament thanks to a closely-fought win over Admiral. Hosts Salavat Yulaev held onto second place despite a surprise shootout defeat to Lada Togliatti.

Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk) vs. Admiral (Vladivostok): 3-2 (0-1, 3-1, 0-0)

Photo: 18.08.17. The Republic of Bashkortostan Cup - 2017. Admiral (Vladivostok) - Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk)

Neftekhimik head coach Andrei Nazarov:

“Once again, I want to thank the organizers of this tournament in Ufa. Everything is top class, and our opponents gave us sparring of the highest level. I cannot deny that I am happy at winning this trophy and that we accomplished our mission, but we won't kid ourselves. Every line has been making mistakes, in offense, in defense, and in goal, so we'll leave memories of the two tournament victories behind us on the bus, and then get fully prepared for the start of the season.”

Admiral head coach Alexander Andriyevsky:

“Both in today's game and in the tournament as a whole, we have lacked consistency, which is a cause for concern. Overall, we've had ten preseason games, and at this stage it is more important that all of us are fit, healthy, and ready to put our training into practice. We'll stay here in Ufa until the 22nd, when we open our season with the game against Salavat Yulaev, so as not to waste any time with unnecessary travel.”

Goals: 0-1 Blum (Alexandrov, 4.31); 1-1 Hanzl (Rau, Sexton, 24.13); 1-2 Sabolic (Tkachyov, Blum, 26.16); 2-2 Hanzl (Sergeyev, Rau, 28.10); 3-2 Avtsin (Nestrasil, 38.46)

Goaltenders: Yezhov – Serebryakov

Salavat Yulaev (Ufa) vs. Lada (Togliatti): 1-2 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)

Salavat Yulaev head coach Erkka Westerlund:

“It was quite a good game. We created a lot of scoring chances, but unfortunately, we failed to convert them into goals. But we now have four good lines, and we are ready for the season.”

Lada Togliatti head coach Artis Abols:  

“We achieved this victory over Salavat Yulaev today because the guys were organized and showed commitment, and because Lazushin had a great game in goal... We are ready for next season and we will be trying to win in every game.”

Goals: 0-1 Babenko (Belousov, Gurkin, 37.33), 1-1 Hartikainen (Loginov, Kemppainen, 59.33), 1-2 Belousov (shootout)

Goaltenders: Kareyev – Lazushin 

Final standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1 Neftekhimik 3 9-5 8
2 Salavat Yulaev 3 7-6 5
3 Lada 3 8-8 4
4 Admiral 3 7-12 1

Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament

Hosts Avangard surged ahead in the Viktor Blinov Memorial Tournament with a third successive victory. The Omsk men defeated Avtomobilist 2-0, thanks to goals from Maxim Mineyev and Dmitry Kugryshev, while at the other end, Dominik Furch kept the Yekaterinburg Men off the scoreboard. In the early game, Amur's star summer signing Alexander Frolov hit the game-winner to bring victory for the Khabarovsk Men over Barys, after the Astana Men had bounced back from 0-2 down to level the match. 

Barys (Astana) vs. Amur (Khabarovsk): 2-3 (0-2, 2-0, 0-1)

Barys head coach Evgeny Koreshkov:

“Once again, we allowed two unnecessary goals, and were lacking in concentration in the first period. Then we had a good second period in which we fought back and leveled the score, but we were a little disjointed at the start of the third and that's why we lost the game... My main objective was to have a look at our first reserves, and we saw all we needed.” (courtesy of HC Barys press service)

Amur head coach Andrei Martemyanov:

“The tournament was a good one, and superbly organized. We really enjoyed it. And I'm pleased that we've won our last two games in regulation time. Today, we had a total failure in the second period, but I like the way we played in the first and third, especially the perseverance the guys showed in the final period to recover from the mistakes in the second.” (courtesy of HC Avangard press service)

Goals: 0-1 – Byvaltsev (Lyutov, 8.05, PPG), 0-2 – Vyacheslav Ushenin (Vladislav Ushenin, 19.31, PPG), 1-2 Polokhov (Pushkaryov, Trivino, 23.38, PPG), 2-2 Belgibaev (Nikulin, Gurkov, 36.17), 2-3 Frolov (Zohorna, Kamalov, 51.19).

Goaltenders: Kudryavtsev – Metsola

Avtomobilist (Yekaterinburg) vs. Avangard (Omsk Region): 0-2 (0-0, 0-1, 0-1)

Goals: 0-1 Mineyev (25.38), 0-2 Kugryshev (Zhukenov, Fisenko, 52.19)

Goaltenders: Ustinsky – Furch

Standings:
Place Team Games Goals Points
1. Avangard 3 11-3 9
2. Avtomobilist 3 5-3 6
3. Amur 4 7-10 6
4. Barys 3 7-8 3
5. Ugra 3 4-10 0

Mayor of Moscow Cup

A Geoff Platt goal set CSKA on the way to beating crosstown rival Dynamo and sealing victory in the 2017 Mayor of Moscow Cup. It was the Army Men's third straight win, but they were made to fight every inch of the way by a spirited and determined Dynamo. The Blue-and-Whites answered Platt's goal with strikes from Markovin, Sidlyarov and Komarov to take a 3-1 lead, but the Army Men showed similar resilience. A goal from Popov halved the deficit before the half-hour mark, and a third-period strike from Konstantin Okulov took the game to overtime, in which Okulov completd his double and secured the silverware.
In the earlier game, Spartak won by a single-goal margin for the second successive game, inflicting a third straight defeat on Vityaz.

Spartak (Moscow) vs. Vityaz (Moscow Region): 2-1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)

Vityaz head coach Valery Belov:

“I congratulate Spartak on a deserved victory. Maybe we could have been on top, but our offense was lacking in sharpness today and that prevented us from winning. We haven't been consistent in this tournament. We've had some good periods and some bad, but if you don't play well for the whole game you can hardly expect a positive result.” (courtesy of Championat)

Goals: 1-0 Nikontsev (Voronin, 14.06, SHG), 1-1 Mankinen (Horak, Rissanen, 26.45, PPG), 2-1 Komaristy (Mirnov, Provolnev, 35.41)

Goaltenders: Bespalov – Saprykin. 

Dynamo (Moscow) vs. CSKA (Moscow): 3-4 (0-1, 3-1, 0-1, 0-1)

Photo: 18.08.17. Moscow mayor cup. CSKA (Moscow) - Dynamo (Moscow)

CSKA head coach Igor Nikitin:

“It was a tough game, and our third in four days. The guys had one eye on the forthcoming Championship and were not fully focused on the preseason. Dynamo played very well today, but our guys were great in the way they pulled themselves together and dug out a victory.” (courtesy of Championat)

Dynamo Moscow head coach Vladimir Vorobyov:

“Congratulations to CSKA on this win. It was a good match, and very entertaining for the fans. I'm sorry we didn't quite do enough, but I was pleased with our movement and our commitment. Yes, we are a young team and we make mistakes, but we are working on it. At times our penalty killing let us down.” (courtesy of Championat)

Goals: 0-1 Platt (Okulov, Ozhiganov, 10.30, PPG), 1-1 Markovin (Sidlyarov,23.36, PPG), 2-1 Sidlyarov (Markovin,Yefremov, 25.27, PPG), 3-1 Komarov (28.28), 3-2 Popov (Anton Burdasov, 29.09), 3-3 Okulov (Marchenko, 49.57, PPG), 3-4 Okulov (Sergeev, 62.10).

Goaltenders: Bocharov - Sorokin. 

Place Team Games Goals Points
1. CSKA 3 9-4 8
2. Spartak 3 5-6 6
3. Dynamo 3 9-10 4
4. Vityaz 3 5-8 0

Friendly match

Metallurg (Magnitogorsk) vs. Zauralye (Kurgan) 1-2 SO (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Goals: 1-0 Shenfeld (Bobryashov),1-1 Mushtayev (Pervukhin), 1-2 Petrov (shootout)