Agidel wins women’s title
Agidel Ufa won the Russian Women’s Hockey League for the fourth time. In Sunday’s decisive game, a 3-2 win over Dynamo Neva was enough to clinch victory in the best-of-five series and regain the title it last won in 2021.
Over the course of the season, Agidel has undoubtedly been the strongest team in the league. Top of the regular season table by a big margin, the girls from Ufa made their way to the grand final. There they faced a Dynamo Neva team in its first ever championship final after it surprised second seed Biryusa Krasnoyarsk in the semi-final.
However, Dynamo made things difficult for all-conquering Agidel. The teams shared the opening games in Ufa. Then, after Agidel went up 2-1 in the series, Dynamo responded with a dramatic shoot-out success in game four to set up a winner-takes-all showdown in Bashkortostan today.
Agidel started that game strongly, with Ilona Markova opening the scoring in the second minute. The same player added an assist to her account to help Ksenia Tyurina double the lead on the power play.
However, Dynamo hit back. Oxana Bratishcheva struck, also on the PP, to make it 2-1 at the first intermission. Then Bratishcheva tied it up in the second period. Now the game, and the entire season, was in the balance. Both teams had chances to win it, but with little over three minutes to go Agidel found the decisive goal. The home team forced a turnover, Maria Batalova shot from the blue line and Elizaveta Rodnova got the vital touch in front of Diana Farkhutdinova’s net to make it 3-2.
“It was tough to get back in front because 2-2 is a slippery scoreline,” said Markova after the game. “But we scored, thanks to some great work on the slot. We did what we had to do, and that’s why we won.”
The game was played in front of a bumper crowd of 3,200 fans at Ufa’s Sports Palace and the support and atmosphere was not lost on the players.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, it was unbelievable,” said Markova. “I guess we needed to come back here and give these fans a game five.”
Defender Anna Sibanova added: “It was a difficult season. We’re really grateful to everyone for today’s game. The fans played a huge part in this win, so thanks to them for that support.”
Olga Sosina, one of the most experienced players on the team, reflected on a challenging playoff campaign.
“We had our ups and downs, we had everything,” Sosina said. “If you weren’t on this team, you’ll never really know how we worked for this, how we battled. But we did what we set out to do!”
Sosina was also named playoff MVP. She had 10 (4+6) points to lead the post season scoring, just as she topped the charts in the regular season with 56 (13+43). And her team enjoyed a clean sweep of the individual awards. Goalie Anna Prugova won the best netminder award after posting nine shut-outs, including three in the playoffs, while Batalova was named best defender. Valery Davletshin, who returned to women’s hockey after an eight-year absence to take charge of Agidel in the summer, was named coach of the year.
