Igor Grishin did not pull “Spartak” – Sport – Kommersant

The head coach of Spartak Igor Grishin left the post of his own free will. The reason for the resignation of the 56-year-old specialist was the unsatisfactory results of the team in the regular season of the Continental Hockey League (KHL). The Red-Whites fell to ninth place in the Western Conference and currently do not get into the playoffs, before the start of which there is very little time left. Aleksey Zavarukhin has been appointed acting head coach.

Shortly before the end of the KHL regular season, Spartak nevertheless decided to change the head coach. The bold experiment with the appointment of Igor Grishin, who had never worked at such a high level before, failed or turned out to be at least premature.

Recall that Igor Grishin headed Spartak during the current season, in mid-November last year, when Boris Mironov resigned due to unsatisfactory sports performance. Prior to that, Mr. Grishin led the Spartak farm club – the Resurrection Khimik, playing in the All-Russian Hockey League. In addition to Khimik, the coach had only Ufa’s Tolpar and HC Ryazan under his belt.

Debuted 56-year-old Grishin in Spartak promisingly. In the first nine matches under his leadership, Muscovites won eight victories and repeated the club record in the KHL, winning six times in a row. And hockey in their performance, as they say, was pleasing to the eye. It seemed that such Spartak would definitely have no problems getting into the playoffs.

However, there was a major setback in December when the team went on a six-game losing streak. Everything was initially attributed to a complicated calendar, but subsequent events showed that the crisis was of a deeper nature.

As a result, the red-whites left the playoff zone, sliding to ninth place in the Western Conference. And after they lost four more matches in a row, including to league outsiders Sochi and Kunlun, the club’s management and head coach finally came to the conclusion that the situation required urgent intervention.

Until the end of the regular season, Spartak, who scored 58 points, has nine games left. He is three points behind eighth-placed Minsk Dynamo with one game in reserve. Moreover, the Muscovites will play the next match against the Belarusian club on its site. It is clear that this confrontation will be superprincipled.

However, at the finish of the championship, Spartak will face many trials, including three matches with Dynamo Moscow. And now Alexei Zavarukhin, who previously assisted both Mironov and Grishin, now has to pull the team into the playoffs, and now has become the acting head coach. Well, Igor Grishin will continue to work in the system of the Spartak club and, according to sports director Roman Belyaev, will develop young players.

Alexander Ilyin