It is almost impossible to resist them. Link of Kazan “Ak Bars” Danis Zaripov - Sergey Zinoviev - Alexey Morozov is now, of course, the strongest in the championship. For three, they already have almost thirty points, and in fact in the championship even the first round did not end. Who will stop them?
Vladimir Krikunov, the head coach of Dynamo, with his inherent humor, said that only Siberia could do this, hinting at the victory of the Novosibirsk team in-person meeting (this was the only defeat of Kazan in normal time). But in reality, the coach of each club, before meeting with Ak Bars, is thinking about how to cope with the leading link of the opponent. The recipe has not yet been found. This is evidenced by statistics. Morozov, for example, did not score points in only two games out of 14, Zaripov in only three, and Zinoviev in four.
- Sergey, maybe it's time to finish the championship and hand you gold medals?
- It's too early. All spring will show. The rewards are based on the results of the playoffs, not the regular season. And the playoffs are still far away. There, one was already handed over last year ...
- Are you afraid of a repeat of the story with Metallurg, which, sweeping everyone in the regular season, overcame in relegation matches?
- I would not compare Ak Bars with Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk is still not very lucky last season. I hope that this does not happen to us. I’m an optimist, I hope only for the best. Only I do not like to predict something there.
- You can calm down. Victories are given to you very easily.
- Well, what does it mean easy? We are not throwing goals into the empty net. The thing is that we have a more played, well-coordinated team than our rivals. And we are serious about each opponent. Yes, and to ensure that we do not "fall asleep", should be the coaches, managers of the club. I’ll tell you that the success of Ak Bars is a merit not only of players who go on the ice. Every club employee does everything so that we win.
“No one can find antidotes against your link.” But suddenly your coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov decided to help everyone, who in one of the games transferred you to the third link. Why is this?
- The coach should also try, experiment. It was necessary to see what would happen if, for example, I get other partners. None of us are safe from injuries. It is always better to have not one strike link, but three strong fives.
- Who is the strongest in your link? Are the roles somehow distributed?
- Stronger? You need to go to the gym and pull the bar to check it out.
- You probably win?
- Oh, I don’t know. But seriously, there are no leaders in our top three. All equal hockey players, all do rough work. And our effectiveness is the merit of the whole five. Not to say the whole team. We do not consider ourselves to be some kind of stars there.
- Do you talk to each other outside the ice? Usually players of the same three love to spend free time together.
- We all five more often, of course, talk together, discuss games, hockey issues. But hardly need to spend with each other all the time.
Alexey Shevchenko