“Salavat Yulaev” got drunk on caviar and crabs and gave a super match

Before this match, many expected problems in the game of the Ufa team. “Salavat Yulaev” flew back and forth across Russia. The route is not for aerophobes – Mytishchi near Moscow, then Astana in Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk, Ufa. And back towards Novosibirsk, only much further – to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, to play four matches with local, inconvenient, motivated opponents. And then from there back to Ufa. After such flights, it seems that you continue to fly. What kind of hockey is there – lying and whining with breaks for sleep is the expected activity.

On top of this came the unpleasant news that the accounts of the Ufa club were blocked for debts. Players don’t like this. They don’t play in Ufa out of love for our rap, rock, luxurious ruts and roads that peel off after six months. They are here for money and victories.

And the Lada is a stone cracker. You’ll be tired of trying to figure it out. This team has been among the leaders for a long time, and even now it may well become fourth in the East Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League, and then make some noise in the playoffs.

Tolyatti players play competently. They can pull anyone by the nose. The team has a strong coach Oleg Bratash. One of those who is interesting to talk to after the game at a press conference.

But this time the guests could claim little. “Yulaevites” even started throwing into the corner of the goal, and not at the goalkeeper or past. It’s kind of crazy, but they really did it. Not always, of course, but very often. What seemed like a pipe dream suddenly became a reality.

Ufa missed first. Gorgeous horseback throw by Sergei Shumakov in a quick counterattack. 0:1.

But quickly enough it became 1:1. This is Daniil Ogirchuk, who, after a three-month exile, was released to the farm club during a Far Eastern trip; he added a goal here to his three assists there. Yaroslav Tsulygin missed the goal, but Ogirchuk caught the rebound from the boards onto the nickel, calmly hitting the empty target, 1:1.

Maybe it was this guy who taught the Yulaevites how to throw? Or maybe he didn’t teach me, he just threw well, and the green guys got jealous, too, and decided to pay attention to this important hockey element.

After the game I asked Daniil Ogirchuk:

– Are you offended that they didn’t call you for so long? Now everyone is happy with you, happy with what you show on the ice.

– There is no resentment in any way. This is a stage, you just had to go through it.

– Do you have a dream to show yourself in the playoffs in such a way that you can outshine even the foreign players and score a lot of points?

– I have a dream to gain a foothold, to go as far as possible.

– Is there really no secret dream of becoming a hero?

– All my secrets will remain with me.

– But a spark flashed in his eyes.

– The main thing is that there is a spark.

In the second period, Salavat Yulaev played five against three. And when the fourth Togliatti player came out, Joshua Livo accurately shot the near corner with one touch, 2:1. Here it is necessary to note not only the Canadian’s shot, but also Alexander Sharov’s excellent pass – already the 29th in this championship.

The next goal is a masterpiece. Danil Alalykin saw that the defending opponents were not attacking him behind the goal, put the puck on his hook and threw it into the top corner, 3:1. The goalkeeper missed the beginning of this moment. The goal turned out to be beautiful. These are called lacrosse goals, but it would be better for hockey players to choose their own sonorous name. But it turns out that the term came from a much less popular sport. It turns out undignified.

Danil himself said the following about his goal:

– We play hockey, we need to surprise the viewer somehow. He dedicated the goal to his friend, Rodion, he also scored for the national team.

This goal inspired the team to score two more. At first, Sasha Khmelevsky distinguished himself not without luck. “Yulaevites” ran away two on one, Joshua Livo passed to Ivan Drozdov, the Belarusian’s shot was parried by goalkeeper Alexander Trushkov with his shield, but the rebounded puck hit the skillful sniper, 4:1. Khmelevsky’s 25th goal this season!

The fifth goal was scored by defender Alexey Vasilevsky in the last minute of the second period. They ran away with their namesake Pustozyorov two to one. The forward made the most convenient pass – and the defender threw it under the crossbar, 5:1 and the fifth goal of the master who returned to his home club.

“Lada” lost the period with a score of 0:4. This gave the Togliatti head coach Oleg Bratash a reason to joke about his team with an anecdote:

– The player asks the coach – why are they throwing a chair at us? He answers – you rush too! But I can’t, it’s liquid. So today we had loose stools. Therefore, we could not rush back, at most we could only spit back. It’s encouraging that we talked to the team during the second break, it became a kind of pill. The chair was secured a little and the third period was won. This is encouraging. Of course, I say this figuratively…

And here I would like to object to the visiting coach. “Lada” does not have loose stools. The team is skillful, plays smart, and is dangerous. “Salavat Yulaev” was just very good. And Tolyatti residents need to stop moving away. Five fouls in a game is too much. Why are there so many fines, I ask Oleg Bratash. Here is the answer:

– This is a violation of discipline. Today this is one of the main reasons for our defeat. The opponent was faster, we couldn’t keep up, plus these deletions. Unforced unjustified deletions…

Judging by the periods, Lada played a draw in the first game, and won the third game entirely, scoring and not conceding – in the minority, Evgeniy Groshev intercepted the puck, ran away and famously threw it into the corner. Only in the second period was there a failure. This happens all the time.

If Ufa and Tolyatti meet in the playoffs, the series will be interesting. And this 5:1 will be just an incident from the last regular season. Although Bratash is still modest. He claims:

– We are not in a position to choose desirable or undesirable opponents. We really assess our capabilities. Our goal is to get to the playoffs and, I hope, we will get there, and then we will try our best. We have no time for choice, no time for fat…

Viktor Nikolaevich Kozlov did not want to give away secrets at the press conference. I said I had good teachers. Perhaps Tomi Lamsya taught him to smooth out the corners.

– Regarding acclimatization after the flight. It should be on the fourth day. This is your next game against SKA St. Petersburg.

– We shouldn’t have acclimatization, we lived according to Ufa time.

– But long-distance flights always have an impact.

– Hockey players are used to flying. We are constantly on planes and adapted.

-You yourself don’t feel anything yet?

– I personally don’t. The guys are happy with the match and are in good physical and mental condition. Well, of course, flights take their toll. But this is no excuse for the fact that you flew for seven and a half hours a few days ago.

– How do you manage to work with the attackers, what do you guess they start throwing? What’s the secret? Many people have already forgotten about Ogirchuk that he is in the system, after the injury you let Alalykin play a lot, and then it was felt that he would soon finish, and he started.

– We’re not guessing. We know Alalykin, he has been working for several years, we know his potential, he made his partners better with his play – so he played. Ogirchuk showed himself in Toros. He scored from different positions. He has a scoring instinct, the attack does not stop on him, he constantly finds partners to continue. What matters is how much the player has the desire to get better every day. We are watching this. He comes to the palace – and we see what he does, how he does it, how he trains. Whether it develops or not.

– What is the secret of such a super game? Has the ice gotten better? Did you eat caviar in the Far East?..

– I think so, yes, we got some protein, crabs, caviar, smelt.

– And the special fan in the stands? – I tried to extract something about the winner of the Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, Arina Sabalenka, whom I noticed after the game with the wives and girls of the Yulaevites.

– Today all the fans were great. It was a good atmosphere, and I seriously say this is passed on to the team.