Lectures of Professor Larionov: the season in the KHL started without rocking

In a separate kind of hockey art with a light hand, or rather, easy language Roman Rotenberg turned post-match press conferences of the head coaches of the KHL teams. Well, Igor Larionov with his speeches to journalists constantly proves that it is not for nothing that he was nicknamed Professor. So after the meeting with “Admiral”, which St. Petersburg won in a series of bullies with a score of 6: 5, he reminded reporters about the legendary final series of the Canadian Cup forty years ago. There, too, all the matches ended with a score of 6: 5, which became customary for SKA. Before the victory over the "Admiral" in the match with 11 abandoned goals, the army from the Neva lost to the "big brother" - CSKA.

“These results drive hockey,” said Professor Larionov. A lot of fans (I’m talking about women) want to see this kind of hockey. Weak men may not be able to withstand such stress, give them 6:1 or 6:2, but we can’t.

After that, the head coach of SKA decided to shine with erudition in the field of football and remembered the already legendary phrase: “The Brazilian team can score as much as they can, and the Brazilians themselves – as much as they want.” As Professor Larionov rightly noted, Brazil is no longer a favorite, and his team is still very far away from the Spanish football team and there is much to work on.

Such figurative comparisons make the very thought of analyzing the SKA game seditious. Meanwhile, despite the generally positive results of the opening matches, questions remain. In the first month of the regular championship, the army men from the Neva seemed to set out to demonstrate their capabilities in all their glory. Defeats combined with a bright combination game alternated with failures and insane rescues.

Failing to achieve success with the St. Petersburg team in his first season in SKA, Larionov received carte blanche to continue work and build a new team. From the beginning of the season, he made it clear that this process will not be long-term.

“We don’t want to be a team that’s been built for five, six or seven years,” he told his team. - No time, guys

At the presentation of the SKA before the start of the season, the head coach of the team clearly formulated the goal for the season: to bring the Gagarin Cup to St. Petersburg.

Boring hockey team Larionov in the opening matches is not exactly called. The main striking force of the SKA was a bundle of Sergey Plotnikov – Nikolai Goldobin. In 2020, Goldobin, nicknamed Kolya-Gol, left the NHL, where they did not want to renew his contract in Vancouver. Goldobin has already changed four teams in the KHL, and everywhere the forward, who turns 31 this week, was asked about a possible return to the overseas league.

With the game that Kolya-Gol showed in previous seasons, this question was hardly relevant. But in the current Goldobin just rose. In the meeting with the Admiral with two abandoned washers and two assists Nikolai was the best in the SKA. With such a game and in the NHL can be seen.

The coaching staff of the SKA groped a shock ligament: in a duet with Koley-Gol, team captain Sergey Plotnikov performs. Also quite a noticeable figure in the opening matches of the army from the Neva. Only the third attacker in the strike link Professor among his "students" and "graduate students" can not find. Tried Zakhar Bardakov and Valentin Zykov, Scott Wilson and Rocky Grimaldi, but finally decided yet can not.

American Legionnaire Grimaldi, who started the season in the first or second link, in Chelyabinsk was in the fourth, in Astana did not play at all, and against CSKA unexpectedly came out again together with Goldobin and Plotnikov - and was marked by the first puck abandoned this season. In many ways, the rotation of links is forced. Swedish Legionnaire Linus Weissback is out for about two months. In the first match of the season, he was injured by Bardakov. Returned to Astana, and against CSKA the match again did not finish. After the meeting with the Admiral, Larionov was asked the question: when will it be possible to see Bardakov returning from the NHL this summer?

“The information on him, frankly, is not encouraging,” Larionov replied. Two doctors made different diagnoses. We'll hear from the third on Monday. Everything is not as good as we would like.”.

During the first matches, Larionov always shuffles and pairs of defenders. Add to this that both goalkeepers, Sergey Ivanov and Artemy Pleshkov, alternate mistakes with saves and reflected bullites. In short, SKA is only looking for its game, which will lead to the Gagarin Cup. Professor Larionov at press conferences recalls the NHL and the experience of working with the best coaches of the strongest hockey league. According to the head coach of the SKA, they regularly consult with him and ask questions about the potential and prospects of the recently moved overseas ex-army.

This season, the SKA Arena, its nominal owners, after whom the world’s most spacious hockey palace was named, are shared with the Shanghai Dragons. After the game with the Admiral, Larionov stated with a sense of deep satisfaction that 14.5 thousand spectators gathered in the stands on Saturday. This, of course, is more than the match against Lada (according to the official report, it had 8,642 spectators), but it is a long way from last season’s figures. At that time, the 20,000-strong audience did not satisfy the leaders of the club.

As it turned out, the closure of the nearest metro station to the SKA Arena, allegedly because of which the army from the Neva last season spent in the Ice, is not the main thing. It's just that the club is not using all the means at its disposal to attract and even lure hockey fans. Not up to last year’s attendance and “Shanghai Dragons”, registered in St. Petersburg. They regularly gathered more than 9 thousand spectators, and now only for the match against Dynamo Minsk came 7 thousand. True, the derby with SKA was attended by 14 thousand fans of the two teams.

At the presentation of “Dragons” on the eve of the season, the journalist of “MK in St. Petersburg” asked the president of the “Chinese” club Ilya Kovalchuk, who played six seasons in the KHL as part of the SKA, whether for his current team meetings with the army from the Neva will be a derby.

“I really hope they will,” Kovalchuk replied. Having played for SKA, I was convinced how much I love hockey in St. Petersburg. The city has to have two teams in the KHL, two strong teams.

As Kovalchuk noted, for the Dragons, the rivalry with the SKA is a real challenge. "The Army Club has a great tradition and it would be right to call it a big brother," he said. We will share one arena in the season, and we will have to constantly intersect. If you manage to compete with SKA this season, it will be cool. We will play six games against each other in the regular season.

The first of them has already taken place and ended with a convincing victory of the SKA - 7: 2. But after that, the Dragons issued a winning streak of four matches. And in the fifth caught a point in Cherepovets, losing to Severstal only in a series of bullies. After the starting period, Kovalchuk’s squad entrenched itself in the playoff zone of the Western Conference.

Although for the leaders of the KHL, the main task is the transition of the Shanghai club to the Eastern Conference.

“This is one of the challenges facing the club, in which the leadership of the KHL is actively involved,” Kovalchuk said at the presentation of the team. The League is interested in the Dragons moving to Shanghai. Although this season we will play in St. Petersburg, there are several games planned in China. To date, we are fully focused on making Dragons their own in St. Petersburg, where a huge number of students from China and specialists in various fields from China. We will do everything possible to make the trip to the Dragons matches a holiday for them.

If we talk about the prospects of leaving for Shanghai for permanent residence and play, then the leadership of the second St. Petersburg club has not yet taken any concrete steps. Well, do not consider such an appointment to the post of general director of the hockey club Alexander Tserkovny, who worked for a long time in a similar position in the basketball “Zenit”! One of his achievements, the top manager called the appearance of the official page of BC Zenit in Chinese. It did not bring any dividends in terms of advertising contracts or attracting an additional audience of fans, but there is something to report for.

After the failure of Zenit in last year’s championship of the VTB United League, when St. Petersburg, who had the second budget in the League, lost both the semifinal playoff series and the series for the 3rd place, the basketball club did not renew the contract with Tserkov. And he almost immediately got a job in hockey. It raised a lot of questions. If the Church is such a cool sports manager, then why was he not given the opportunity to correct the mistakes made in the basketball “Zenit”? And if he’s not such a great sports manager, how was he entrusted with such a responsible position in the Shanghai Dragons? After all, he was not familiar with the specifics of hockey until now.

The regular championship in the KHL is long. Professor Larionov has the opportunity to form a combination of fives and put the game not only for the representatives of the “stronger sex” of fans, but the new Director General of Dragons has the opportunity to prove themselves and prove that the people who appointed him to this post were not mistaken.