The season of the Bashkir Hockey League has started in Ufa

The opening of the Bashkir Hockey League season took place at the Ufa Arena. In the new season, six teams will take part in the republican tournament.

Another tournament has appeared in mass sports in Bashkortostan. It is no secret that there are quite a few amateur teams in the republic, created on the basis of various departments, large enterprises and organizations. Some enter various amateur leagues, but the majority participate only in departmental sports days and tournaments. The Bashkir Hockey League sets itself the task of uniting such teams in one championship.

The championship was held for the first time last year under the name of the United Hockey League. In the first season, only four teams took part, but in the new season, after rebranding, six teams have already entered the league. Deputies of the Kurultai of Bashkiria play in the Uralets team, republican power engineers are represented by the teams of BGK, BPGC and BashRTS, oil pipeline workers are represented by Transneft-Ural, and law enforcement agencies are represented by the UFSIN team.

“This is not the limit: we will definitely recruit teams,” says Anton Matryonin, vice-president of the BHL, deputy of the Bashkir parliament. – In the republic there are good teams from Gazprom, Lukoil, and other large organizations. We will prepare for the next season and develop the infrastructure. We need to create conditions for people to make it interesting, much like in the KHL. We all know that in our republic everyone loves hockey and Russia in general is a hockey country. We will develop, show by personal example to children and everyone who loves sports that today you can come and play hockey, regardless of skills and age. There are even girls on our team! Adelina Zagidullina and Yulia Krasnova. Well done girls – they came and practiced, today they took part in the match.

The opening ceremony of the tournament and the symbolic face-off were attended by honored guests: Deputy Minister of Sports of the Republic Elsa Karamurzina and the President of the BHL, Kurultai deputy Denis Nazarov, under whose leadership the Astrum group of companies became the title partner of the championship.

“I’m sure that in a couple of seasons we will be able to bring our Bashkir Hockey League to one of the best amateur leagues in the country,” Mr. Nazarov did not hide his ambitious plans.

In the opening match of the championship, last season’s champion of the EHL RB “Uralets” and the team of the Bashkir Generating Company met. The match took place on the main ice rink of the republic with a fairly large number of spectators. It immediately became clear that the struggle this season would be serious. By the middle of the meeting, the people’s representatives were leading 4:2, but the power engineers were able to rally and equalize the score, and then snatch victory in a series of post-match shots. 5:4b – the opening cup was added to the trophy cabinet of HC BGK.

“I have only positive impressions, emotions are running high,” the captain of the BGK HC, and off the ice, the director of the Zatonskaya CHPP Andrei Ozerov, was pleased with the result. – The game was tense and very interesting. I am grateful to the guys that we were losing, but we were able to pull ourselves together and came to victory. We were invited to this league, and we could not miss this chance to participate. Is it always possible to gather busy people? It works even without any questions. We have everyone who wants to, there is no need to force anyone. The guys come with pleasure. Whoever is not on shift that day is all on the site.

“The season has started well,” Uralets captain Anton Matryonin is not upset by the result. – Of course, we almost put the finishing touches on the game. Last season we also lost the opening match to the Federal Tax Service team by a large margin, but won in the final. This seems like a good sign for us. Today we showed a good game and the will to win.

Mr. Matryonin said that there are many new faces in the league:

– It is clear that the guys are prepared, even their age. There are also guys who started training from scratch. In our team, we try to mix beginners with strong players and help each other. It’s a team sport, and that’s the unifying power of hockey.

“You probably noticed how emotional the match turned out,” Olympic fencing champion Adelina Zagidullina shared her impressions of her debut in hockey. – Lots of abandoned goals, penalties and even a fight! I think the audience liked it. We were a little upset that we lost in a shootout, but train, train and train some more! Everything will come. The most important place in my heart is, of course, given to fencing, but I like hockey. I have been following him for many years, supporting Salavat and going to all the games. All that remains is to learn how to play in a decent manner. It’s difficult, of course, but the team supports me – helps and teaches me.

In the other two matches of the first gaming day, such a fight did not work out. Oil pipeline workers from Transneft-Ural confidently dealt with the power engineers of the Bashkir Electric Grid Company – 8:1. And the serious men from the Federal Penitentiary Service left no chance for their rivals from BashRTS – 8:0.

BCHL championship matches will be held on weekends on the ice rinks of the Ufa Arena until the end of April. Admission to the games is free for spectators.