Konstantin Barulin: The Hero of Mytishchi
KHL.ru continues its series looking at the league’s legends. Today we’re talking about the career of one of our best goalies, World Champion and Gagarin Cup finalist Konstantin Barulin.
From the second tier to the national team
Konstantin Barulin had just turned 21 when he career took off. In 2004-2005 he played in the VHL for Gazovik Tyumen. That summer, he moved to Spartak where he was expected to be the third goalie. However, during pre-season he overtook Andrei Medvedev. Then, just three games into the season, an injury to first-choice Tyler Moss thrust young Barulin into the team. Nobody knew what to expect.
The youngster started with a win, 4-1 at Salavat Yulaev. He started the next 19 games, and performed strongly enough to be considered for a call-up to the national team. When Moss recovered from injury, the Canadian was no longer the automatic starter. Instead, he and Barulin shared the role.
Barulin was invited to the training camp ahead of the World Championship, although he could not complete a fantastic journey from the VHL to the World Championship in a single season. In the end, he was not selected for the final roster. Nonetheless, Barulin had everything ahead of him. The following season he had every chance of being Spartak’s undisputed first choice goalie. Unfortunately, financial problems prevented the Red-and-Whites from keeping their team together. The club folded and Barulin moved to Khimik.
Konstantin Barulin 596 games, 258 wins
Sep. 5 2008 KHL debut for CSKA
Nov. 12 2008 First KHL shut-out against Metallurg Novokuznetsk
Jan. 10 2009 First KHL All-Star Game
29.07.2010 Signed a two-year contract with Atlant
So close to the cup
In the previous season, Khimik moved from Voskresensk to Mytishchi and, that summer, built a whole new team. There was a whole new goaltending stable, with Barulin joined by Vitaly Kolesnik, who had been with the Colorado organization. Konstantin could not get in front of the Kazakh goalie in his first two seasons. As a result, he went to CSKA, where he knew Vyacheslav Bykov from his involvement with the national team. In Moscow, Barulin was first choice. However, it wasn’t a great time for CSKA, which won just one play-off series in two years. In 2010, Barulin returned to Mytishchi, where Khimik was now known as Atlant.
The 2010-2011 season was Barulin’s best, even though it got off to a slow start. Atlant lost six of its first nine games, and head coach Nikolai Borshchevsky was sacked. He was soon replaced by Milos Riha, who just left Spartak, and the management steadily rebuilt the roster, adding the likes of Jan Marek, Fyodor Fyodorov, Vadim Yepanchintsev, Andrei Zyuzin and Jaroslav Obsut.
The team quickly climbed the table. Atlant got hot – from Nov. 30 until the end of the regular season, it lost just six out of 26 games. So a strong playoff campaign was no surprise.
That campaign featured one of the most dramatic games in KHL history: game seven of the second round series between SKA and Atlant. The home team was up 2-1, but with five to play a schoolboy error from Jakub Stepanek sent an attempted clearance straight to Alexander Nesterov, who tied the scores. In overtime, the visitor got the winner and advanced. At a glance, it showed how, in the playoffs, the goalie is more than half the team.
Barulin was almost faultless at the other end. In the semi-finals, Atlant faced a Lokomotiv team that led the Western Conference throughout the regular season. The roster included Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rahunek, Alexander Korolyuk, Alexander Guskov, Ivan Tkachenko, Jori Lehtera and many more talented players. But none of them could do much with Riha’s team and its goalie. After recovering to trail 2-3, it looked like Lokomotiv might have found a way back. But Atlant slammed the door in game six, crushing Loko 8-2. After the game, Riha kissed the Arena Mytishchi ice. The fans were ready to carry the twin heroes of the first three rounds – the goalie and the head coach – all the way home from the arena.
In the final, Atlant had little chance despite the reliable game of its goalie. Salavat Yulaev was just too good that season. The Radulov-Thoresen-Grigorenko troika was one of the best the KHL has seen, and it was reinforced with three more strong lines. The same was true of all the defensive partnerships. Atlant battled hard, with three of its losses coming in one-goal games. It was no accident that Barulin, despite finishing on the losing side, was selected MVP.
The following year, Atlant and SKA again met in the second round. This time, the Petersburg team came out on top, having recruited Riha during the summer. At the end of the season, Barulin signed a three-year deal with Ak Bars, but he played just two years in Kazan.
Barulin arrived as the club was rebuilding. In 2011, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov left to take over at Team Russia. In 2013, long-serving forwards Alexei Morozov and Danis Zaripov moved on. Those changes affected the results. In 2013 Ak Bars reached the Conference final, but the following season ended in a first-round loss to Sibir. That prompted widespread changes, including a new-look goaltending team.
April 2 2011 Helped Atlant reach the Gagarin Cup final
16 April 2011 Named playoff MVP
May 20 2011 Named KHL Goalie of the Year
May 20 2012 Helped Russia win the World Championship
Sep. 18 2018 Played his 500th KHL game
Second in games played by KHL goalies
Third in KHL games won
Fourth in KHL shut-outs
World Championship gold (2012), silver (2015) and bronze (2007) medals
KHL Goalie of the Year 2011
Playoff MVP 2011
KHL All-Star 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019
World Championship medals
Bilyaletdinov returned to Ak Bars in 2014, just as Barulin moved to Avangard. Their paths crossed in the 2015 playoffs, when another powerful Kazan team defeated Omsk on its way to another Gagarin Cup final.
However, it was playing for Bilyaletdinov that earned Barulin his greatest honor – a World Championship win. He wasn’t the first-choice goalie during Russia’s 2012 triumph, but Konstantin played and won two games in that tournament.
Barulin’s first World Championship was in 2007. However, he was the third goalie at that tournament and never got on the ice as Russia took bronze. In 2015, as understudy to Sergei Bobrovsky and Anton Khudobin, Barulin completed the set as the Russians claimed silver.
In 2011, after playing the Gagarin Cup final with Atlant, Barulin was Russia’s starting goalie at a World Championship. Injury ruled out Evgeny Nabokov, giving Konstantin his chance. However, this was the twilight of the Bykov era and Russia’s medal run was coming to an end. In Slovakia, Russia lost five games out of nine and its biggest win was a 6-4 struggle against lowly Slovenia. It was no surprise that Bykov left the team after that tournament.
Barulin had one other notable achievement – World Junior gold in 2003. From that team, every player went on to play at the highest level, with varying degrees of success. One of those whose career was less spectacular was Medvedev. At Junior level, he was the clear #1. However, as we’ve seen, a few years later Barulin overtook Medvedev at Spartak.
After Avangard, Barulin played in Sochi for four seasons, then had a spell at Neftekhimik. Next, he went to Europe. The goalie is still playing, currently in Sweden’s third league, where he recently extended his contract for another season.
Dossier
Konstantin Alexandrovich Barulin
Born Sep. 4, 1984 in Karaganda
Career: Gazovik Tyumen (2000-2005); SKA (2003-2004); Spartak (2005-2006); Khimik (2006-2008); CSKA (2009-2010); Atlant (2010-2012); Ak Bars (2012-2014); Avangard (2014-2015); Sochi (2015-2019); Neftekhimik (2019-2021); Pardubice (CZE, 2021); Boras (SWE, 2021-present).
