It turns out that the level of the rival Ak Bars in the final was not in vain doubts. Indeed, the composition of the groups turned out to be very uneven. The Finnish champion, who secured the finals in one game, was simply no match for the Russian champion on Sunday evening.
“Leopards” at the beginning of the game looked just great. They played aggressively, intensively, tried to pressure, tightly held each Finnish player. And this did not stop them from playing great combinations. And the Finns from such creative power quickly “sailed”.
The cup could be awarded even after the first period. What happened in the future was boring (second period), and then pleasant (third), but a formality. In twenty minutes, the first five Ak Bars rivals elegantly packed and prepared for takeaway. In the third period, the rest merely painted mocking autographs on it.
I must say that the “leopards” pretty much helped goalkeeper KIC Mijika Wiikman. What really frightened him with the left bar of his own goal that he simply shied away from it to the right, it’s hard to imagine. The authors of the first two goals, Zinoviev and Zaripov, simply imported the puck for the ribbon in the absence of the Finnish goalkeeper at least at a distance of visibility. And when Morozov scored, Wiikman moved to his left post, but somehow cautiously and left Alexei enough space to send the puck there.
There are doubts about the justice of the first goal of Kazan. Zinoviev scored with a skate - a fact. The defender simply pushed him into the gate - also a fact. But did Sergey do a foot movement? It seemed to be doing. The referee of the match Vladimir Schindler after watching the video counted differently. But, as in the case with yesterday's meeting between Ak Bars and Lugano, the claims against the Czech referee are ridiculous. With such a final score!
In the second period, the Finns nevertheless came out with a certain determination to fight. Did not work out. “Barca”, although slowed down, their line bent steadily. Focused on defense, played strictly and accurately. The Finns began to break into rudeness, but even in this they did not succeed and quickly calmed down. Strömberg harshly met at the end of the second period of Morozov, but during the break Alexei returned to normal. The remaining attempts to physically influence Kazan did not have any effect at all.
Well, in the final third of the match was already uniform mockery. It makes no sense to talk about goals in detail, although all of them were very beautiful and were the result of very interesting combinations. Thrown exclusively defense players: Nikulin, Pervyshin and Shchadilov. So it happened to Kazan in this tournament: if not the first link scores, then the defenders are sure to. Nikulin began this tradition, having distinguished himself twice in the match with Fairostad. And of the fifteen goals of Ak Bars in St. Petersburg, ten scored the first five, the remaining five - defenders from other links.
Russian clubs took three Champions Cups out of three possible. A year later, the tournament will be held again in St. Petersburg. Probably the last time. Because the IIHF decided to revive the Euroleague. And this last Champions Cup should also be won. We will wait until April, when the Russian championship finishes, and find out who we will hope for in January 2008.