KHL 3x3 Round 15: Sibir roars to Superfinal victory

Sibir was the big story of round 15 of the KHL 3x3 Championship, winning the Supergame for the first time and moving off the foot of the Winline Division. Traktor picked up most points in the round but remains second in the standings behind Ak Bars.

Story of the Round

Sibir made a bold case to be named the most progressive team of this stage of the season. In its previous appearance, the Siberians cracked the top two for the first time and didn’t stop there. In the 15th round there was more success as the team moved off the foot of the Winline Division. While Dinamo Minsk now has six games in hand, a clear trend is emerging. And it’s all adding up to a serious battle for a Superfinal spot as we approach the end of the regular season.

Forward Gleb Zyryanov underlined his status as one of the sharpest shooters of the season, putting up 12 (10+2) points this time. Alexei Krivchenkov’s top forward scored in all six of his team’s games and moved into the top five scorers for the competition. Less notable, but no less valuable, were defensemen Alexei Ryzhikh and Ilya Samsonov, while Sergei Gritsenko moved to fourth in the league for assists. In addition, Semyon Kokaulin and Vladimir Mikhalyov gave an extra edge to Sibir.

A strong performance in this round finished with Sibir’s victory over Traktor in the Supergame. For the first time, the million-ruble prize is heading to Novosbirsk. 

Player of the Round

Sergei Shumakov (Traktor)

Shumakov missed the previous round and that affected Traktor’s results as his team struggled without him. Rested, the master returned and showed his class with six goals in two games, including four on Barys. The following day Shumakov was the difference-maker in the game against Salavat Yulaev, tying the scores and converting the decisive penalty shot. He finished the round with 12 (9+3) points.

A powerful round was only slightly spoiled on the final day. Shumakov had 10 shots in the game against Ufa but did not pick up a point. Then, as Sibir defeated Traktor in the Supergame, he was limited to just one assist.

And when Shumakov fell silent, so did the rest of his team: a strong Chelyabinsk performance throughout the round wasn’t enough to claim the final crown of Supergame victory. 

Debutants of the Round

Before this round, Sibir lost a couple of key players. First-choice netminder Vladmiir Tabatchkov was abruptly called up to the senior team for the playoffs, and leading forward Artyom Mishkin was out injured. Youngsters Semyon Kokaulin and Vladimir Mikhalyov were called up to replace them. Mikhalyov is a great prospect, full of tricks. He attempted to scored between his legs and then tried a lacrosse goal. He finished with a decent return of 8 (5+3) points. Kokaulin also adapted fast to a new forward, playing four games from six and stopping an impressive 86.9% of shots faced – a great return in 3x3 hockey.

In a previous round, Ak Bars did well after drawing on the club’s depth. This time, Sibir did much the same.

Game of the Round

Barys 8 Salavat Yulaev 9 SO

Barys had it tough ahead of this game. Not only were the Kazakhs playing back-to-back, they suffered an 11-1 hammering against Traktor just before. That’s the biggest victory recorded so far in 3x3 play.

At the start, it looked like Salavat would continue to pile on the punishment: after barely a minute the score was already 2-0. But then Barys rebounded strongly and got up 5-2 by the middle of the second period with Vyacheslav Kolesnikov scoring a hat-trick. Now it was Salavat’s turn to come back, making it 5-5. From that point on, the game swung from one team to the other. Barys looked to have it won, but in the very last second Ilya Chmelevski scored a penalty shot to tie it at 8-8.

That brought a shootout and only Stanislav Golovanov found the net to give Salavat Yulaev the verdict.

Photo of the Round

On Sunday, Traktor’s 3x3 team was playing at the same time as the first team was on the ice in Vladivostok to settle its Gagarin Cup playoff series against Admiral. Back-up goalie Nikita Tsirkul kept up to date with events beside the Pacific, following a stream of the game while sitting on the bench.