Forward of the Russian national team Alexei Simakov set up a club for himself under the supervision of journalists. He began to file down the stalk. Nothing worked out. Some of the reporters undertook to help.
- Alexei, tell us about the episode with your participation at the end of the CSKA match - “Chemist”, - the hockey player asked cheerfully. Everyone knew what was being discussed. He did not hit the empty net.
“Well, you,” Alexei was embarrassed. - It’s better not to remember such a thing.
Nevertheless, the player of the national team was brave enough.
“Recently, there was a similar case in the NHL,” he began. - The attacker went to the empty net, did not hit with a meter, and the opponent scored a goal in a reverse attack. So it is here.
- Didn’t hit the gate?
- Exactly. He threw from an uncomfortable hand and missed. And immediately an attack went on our gates. Well, at least there was no goal. They would have hammered - burned out of shame. I don’t understand how I didn’t get it.
Alex stopped cutting the stick and thought.
“Most importantly, there was absolutely nothing to the gate,” he said to himself.
However, after a couple of seconds, he forgot about that unfortunate episode and again set to work.
Hockey players in Novogorsk live on a rather strict schedule. On Monday at 9 am they had theoretical classes. What Vyacheslav Bykov was trying to explain to them at such a time remained a mystery. None of the players could remember anything.
Then there was a lesson on ice. Due to the fact that Ak Bars played on the eve of the national championship match, the team lacked defenders. I had to retrain Denis Parshin. It turned out, admittedly, not bad.
This is not to say that the team was heavily driven. They practiced the game in the majority (without much success), in equal compositions (but there were goals already), they ran the baton (who won is incomprehensible).
“We don’t need to heavily load hockey players,” said Igor Zakharkin, the second coach of the team. - We understand that they are tired. Training was more likely to raise the emotional background.
It seems that Russian players have trouble with emotions. For example, goalkeeper Vasily Koshechkin refused to participate in the Swedish Games for a hitherto unknown reason - moral fatigue.
- I talked with Vasily and understood him. He said that he was mentally and physically tired, Vyacheslav Bykov explained this situation. But it was evident that the coach himself did not fully understand it.
Before the tournament, the team is in real trouble with the goalkeepers. The main thing is Konstantin Barulin, because Alexander Eremenko, apparently, will miss the Swedish Games because of an injury, and Semen Varlamov the third day can not bring down the temperature. The training was attended by CSKA Nikita Bespalov. But he is unlikely to be taken to Stockholm.
And a completely wild situation happened with Sergei Zinoviev, who was "very tormented by the trauma." As soon as the hockey player waited for the official announcement of the squad (and changes are made there only in force majeure circumstances), he immediately recovered and took part in two matches for the club.
“I'm used to trusting players,” Bulls shrugs. - If they say that the injury, I believe.
Although it is hard to believe that an injured hockey player makes four assists in one match.
Some kind of catarrhal disease was discovered in Alexander Korolyuk, who also has an ailment right before the training camp of the national team. Apparently, you can’t count on Korolyuk in the future.
At a meeting with reporters, Sergey Nemchinov took the floor, talking about negotiations with Russian NHL hockey players. According to him, no one refused to participate in the World Cup.
“I talked with many,” explained Nemchinov. - He spoke not only about hockey, but also about extraneous things. Still, I played with some, we have common themes and in addition to hockey. And everyone said that he didn’t mind playing for the national team.
This does not concern only Sergei Fedorov.
“I left him messages on the answering machine twice,” the trainer shared. “But he never called back.”
It is not clear why Fedorov needs the team. About 10 years ago, he could have helped ...
“Yes, we haven’t invited anyone to the NHL team yet,” Vyacheslav Bykov suddenly admitted. - What for? Saying "would you play if ..." is not serious. We will conduct these conversations later.
It is clear that there will be very few NHL players in the team.
Alexey Shevchenko