Nobody knew the exact time of the start of the lesson. It was planned that the Russian team would hit the ice at 13.15, but the whole team was detained for the official IIHF survey for almost twenty minutes.
It immediately struck me that the links were somehow unusual.
“Evgeni Malkin and Andrei Markov remained at the base,” Valery Konov, team doctor commented on the situation. “They have a cold.” There is no temperature yet, but the guys are acclimatized. We decided to give them a break.
Sergei Zinoviev did not work either, who hadn’t taken a throw-in in a match with the Finns due to problems with his biceps. He was also given a rest. Kazan forward is undergoing procedures and will be in perfect order by the next meeting.
By the way, a new employee was found in the team. Now Valery Konov is helped by a foreign manual therapist who does not speak a word of Russian. They say that he was recommended to hockey players in the RFU. This specialist worked with Guus Hiddink on the Korean team.
That is, the fourth place at the World Cup is practically guaranteed to us.
This time there was much less emotion on ice than the day before. In general, the training resembled a pre-game roll. A minimum of exercises: five played against each other, shot shoots, ran the baton.
The "red" link has changed beyond recognition. Mozyakin and Korneev played with Frolov, Kovalchuk and Gonchar. In the “blue” five Ilya Nikulin moved to the position of the central striker, and Sergei Nemchinov worked in tandem with Vitaly Proshkin on the defensive.
Nemchinov became so accustomed to the role of defender that he even tried to start a fight with one of the rivals, fortunately, comic. In general, it was clear that the players had nowhere to put energy. Brawls (with smiles, without blood) flared up on every piece of ice.
Alexander Ovechkin did not go to the site when they started to shoot bullets.
- Injury, Alexander? - were interested in him.
- Why? - the forward shrugged. - It's okay. I just didn’t want to.
- And what is it on your shoulder sticking out of the "net"?
- So it's a shield.
Ovechkin was in yellow shoelaces, but in red skates. It looked weird.
“Yes, my red laces were torn,” Ovechkin was upset. - But by the next match everything will be fine.
He already wanted to go to the locker room, but he was stopped by Vyacheslav Bykov. The head coach is tired of making excuses that, according to some, Ovechkin is being used incorrectly.
“Alexander, come here,” he called the hockey player.
He dutifully approached.
- Tell me, are you comfortable with the role in the team? - Bykov asked sternly, involuntarily emphasizing the word "satisfied." In addition, he barely winked at the hockey player.
“Satisfied,” Alexander rapped out.
Well done, then, will be in the starting lineup in the next match.
“You see,” Bykov spread his hands.
But few believed in the sincerity of Alexander’s answer.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov, probably, have passed the period of acclimatization and have already begun to allow themselves to be careless about journalists. When they were asked for an interview, they promised that they would answer all the questions only after they changed clothes. And then they disappeared and left for the base. In the NHL they would be fined for such a large amount. This, by the way, is an alarming bell. Until now, there have been no problems with hockey players.
Instead of the legionnaires, Igor Zakharkin, Bykov’s assistant, went to the press and said for the thousandth time that the headquarters was not going to change the combinations of links.
“It's normal when one five plays better and the other worse,” he specified. - So in all teams.
In the evening, the Russian team has a concert. Murzilki International will come to them. As stated on their website, the first success for the Autoradio DJs came when they sang the song “Blue Moon” by Boris Moiseev.
Players of the national team should take care of themselves in the evening.
Alexey Shevchenko