Home team happiness and Spartak’s perfect summer
The final full week of pre-season action saw four more tournaments decided – and three of them were won by their host clubs. One of that trio went through the entire pre-season campaign with a 100% record. But now the preparations are almost over, and attention shifts to the start of the regular season on Friday.
Host clubs triumph
The final pre-season tournaments of the summer came to an end this weekend – with three wins for home fans to celebrate. First, Traktor won the Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup, defeating Metallurg, Ak Bars and Lada for a 100% record through the tournament. Then, later on Saturday, SKA won a de facto gold medal game against Severstal to secure the Puchkov Tournament in St. Petersburg. Strikingly, SKA came from behind to win three of its four games in that contest. Finally, Sunday saw the Mayor of Moscow Cup final, with Spartak defeating CSKA 3-1 at its home arena, Megasport.
SKA, Traktor win home tournaments
Barys wins in Omsk
After a disappointing performance at the TANECO Cup in Kazan, Barys bounced back to win the Blinov Cup in Omsk. Andrei Skabelka’s team got a helping hand when Salavat Yulaev forfeited the game between the teams, but followed up with wins over Avangard, Neftekhimik and Lokomotiv to deservedly take the prize. New signing Riley Barber caught the eye with two goals in the decisive 4-3 victory against Avangard.
Spartak undefeated
It wasn’t just about lifting the trophy in Moscow. Spartak’s 3-1 win over CSKA on Sunday means that Alexei Zhamnov’s team went through its entire summer program without defeat. The Red-and-Whites played seven games and won all of them in regulation. The goal differential over the month was 26-11. No other team could match Spartak’s run of form, with the next best results coming from Traktor with one loss in seven games. Lokomotiv also had seven wins, but played 10 times. Ak Bars had the leading scorers of the summer. Vadim Shipachyov led the way with 11 (1+10) points, ahead of Stanislav Galiyev on 10 (5+5).
Spartak wins Mayor of Moscow Cup
SKA vs Sibir – birth of a rivalry?
Most rivalries in the KHL stem from geographical proximity. This season, though, SKA and Sibir might make an exception. The teams played a stormy encounter in the Puchkov Cup, with 87 PIMs and SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg banished from the bench late in the second period after an angry exchange with his opposite number David Nemirovsky. Rotenberg was unrepentant after the game, complaining that the former Torpedo head coach garnered his experience in “some kind of beer league in Canada.” Nemirovsky, who played 91 NHL games plus 373 in the Russian Superleague and KHL before coaching at Admiral and Torpedo, declined to comment on Rotenberg’s outburst, but this could brew into a more substantial feud when the teams meet again on KHL duty on Sep. 17 in Petersburg and Sep. 27 in Novosibirsk.
Galchenyuk to SKA
Rotenberg had happier things to talk about after securing the services of Alex Galchenyuk. The 29-year-old, who was the #3 pick in the 2012 NHL draft, looks set to be the first choice center in Petersburg this season. It’s the end of a long history: the first rumors that Galchenyuk, whose father Alexander was a distinguished player for Team Belarus, might come to the KHL swirled in 2015. This summer, he was also on the radar of Lokomotiv and Salavat Yulaev, but was persuaded to move to Petersburg – perhaps influenced by his father’s season with SKA in 2002-2003.
Chinese women promoted to the elite
In recent seasons, Kunlun Red Star has entered a women’s team in Russia’s Women’s Hockey League, enjoying some notable success. The Dragons won’t be involved in 2023-2024, but the legacy of the KRS connection was evident this week when Shenzhen hosted Women’s World Championship Division IA. China won all five games, powering to a gold medal and completing back-to-back promotions. That means next season China will play in the top division of international hockey for the first time since 2009. The Lady Dragons were backstopped by former KRS goalie Tiya Chan, who had two shut-outs and a GAA of 1.20 in the tournament. The leading scorers were home-grown players whose careers were rebooted by the club’s rise: Kong Minghui had 5 (4+1) points and Fang Xin 4 (2+2).
Coming up
There are still a couple of warm-up games to be played early this week, but the main attraction is Friday’s Opening Cup clash between defending champion CSKA and last year’s runner-up Ak Bars. The curtain-raiser will take place in Moscow and promises to be a fascinating encounter. The Ak Bars offense is even stronger than last season, following the arrival of Dmitrij Jaskin to join the likes of Vadim Shipachyov and Alexander Radulov. CSKA, meanwhile, has almost the same roster as last year. Goalie Ivan Fedotov returns to replace Adam Reideborn in the only significant change.
