Not every hockey player manages to go through the kind of school that Igor Valeev went through. Already at the age of 12, the striker left his native Snezhinsk to soon become one of the leaders of Traktor-81 and win gold medals at the national championship with the team. Five years later, Igor went overseas and played in various leagues in North America for seven seasons. Returning to Russia, Valeev received a severe injury and was actually left without hockey for a year. But the forward was not going to give up and, having gone through the crucible of the Major League and the Kazakhstan Championship, this season he again became a player of one of the best teams in the country.
I quickly became independent
Igor, you are originally from Snezhinsk. In one of your interviews you said that you started swimming there. How much did the acquired skills help you in hockey, and how, in general, can these two sports be connected?
In Snezhinsk I lived next to a swimming pool. A friend suggested that I try swimming. I started training and everything worked out: I won regional and regional competitions. At the same time I started playing hockey. A friend also invited me to the section. As soon as I arrived, they immediately gave me a stick and, one might say, everything began to work out here right away. Swimming didn’t help hockey in any way, I was just active since childhood. As for my further choice, my legs started to crack from the chlorine in the pool, so I had to stop swimming and stay in hockey.
Do your parents continue to live in Snezhinsk?
Yes, when they give me a day off, I try to get home right away.
At the age of 12, you moved to Chelyabinsk alone, without a family. Did you immediately feel independent?
Yes, somehow I didn’t think about it. I already knew how to cook then - my mother and grandmother taught me. They gave me a room in the Sports Palace at ChTZ, and I lived there. I was the first to be given a room there - I had a bed, a hotplate, a TV. The school was located opposite.
To what extent does this lifestyle leave an imprint on the future?
You become independent from an early age. I look at the children now and understand that at the age of 12 I would not have sent my son anywhere alone. Circumstances just happened then.
How quickly did you develop relationships with the guys on your team, and who can you call friends from that graduation?
The relationship went well right away. They received me normally. We talked a lot with Andrei Ivanov, Anton Borodkin, and several other guys.
What are the greatest successes you achieved while playing for Traktor-81?
We became Russian champions and won silver. So the year was quite successful in this regard. And the coach was Gennady Ivanovich Ikonnikov, who now works at Traktor as a service engineer.
In North America you need to be head and shoulders above the local players and only then will you play
At 17 you moved to North America. How long did the adaptation take?
The first year was difficult. The main problem was the language barrier, and I did not understand what the coach wanted from me. When I started speaking English and understanding my mentor and his hockey system, everything became normal.
Which Russian was next to you then?
Five of us left: Kostya Panov, Denis Zaripov, Anton Borodkin, Denis Kozyrev and Anton Molchanov. In the summer we trained together, and then, when the season began, we went to different teams.
According to statistics for one of the seasons in “ North Bay “You played 62 matches in the Ontario Junior League, scored 78 points with 175 penalty minutes. Have you often had to solve problems with your fists?
Yes, it happened. My agent just told me that if I play harder, I’ll get higher in the draft. So we had to throw off our gloves and stand up for ourselves and the team.
On YouTube you can find quite a large number of your fights. Is this a consequence of the North American career period?
You can say that. In Russia they don’t fight often; it’s mostly welcomed overseas. And now, probably, it’s not the same as ten years ago. There used to be a lot of fights.
Which of the current NHL stars did you manage to play against?
He took to the ice against the Staal brothers, Rick Nash, and Jason Spezza. Perhaps that's all.
What advice could you give to young guys who are now leaving for North America?
The most important thing is not to be afraid and not to be a coward. There is tougher hockey there, which you just need to adapt to and calmly do your job. Some guys start to feel uncomfortable there, because overseas there is a lot of power wrestling, and the coaches ask of you completely differently than in Russia, where hockey is more technical.
Many say that local coaches are not particularly welcoming to players from Russia. Have you encountered this?
It's simple. As I said above, you need to play power hockey and you need to adapt. North American coaches are used to everyone being tough. If a European or Russian comes to the team and is equal to the Canadian in level, but does not play strength, then the coach will sit him down. And if you are a head taller, then, of course, you will go out on the ice.
The main task of the fourth link is to give the leaders a break
After North America, you returned to Sibir, played 10 matches and broke your leg. Was this injury a turning point in your career?
I got injured while skating. Broke my tibia and was out for eight months. There was nothing that could be done about it, they put a plate on me - I still walk with it. After I recovered, I went to the preseason, but I was not in the best shape, and the coach said that I had little chance of playing after such a serious injury. I left Novosibirsk, I went into decline, and started playing in the Major League. As a result, I got into shape only after a year and a half.
You played in the “tower”, in Kazakhstan, this season you returned to Chelyabinsk. Were you glad to be home?
Undoubtedly. Home is home, my family and many friends live here.
Let's talk a little about the difficult history of our relationship with Gennady Fedorovich Tsygurov. Was there any resentment left towards him after he “unhooked” you from the composition of Traktor and Neftekhimik?
No, there is no offense, we are adults. Each person sees hockey in his own way and Gennady Fedorovich is, of course, a great coach.
You witnessed the transition of Russian hockey to the KHL-VHL-MHL vertical. Has much changed now organizationally?
It has changed both financially and in preparation plans. The whole structure was built much better than it was before. Now there is a certain level, and there is no such chaos. Everything is getting closer to the North American hockey leagues.
On October 1, you were registered for Traktor and the very next day you went to the game in Magnitogorsk. How were you received on the team?
I knew some of the guys from the team before – Kostya Panov, Lesha Vasilchenko. We had a good reception and went straight to the game, but it’s a pity that we lost.
Does number 98 mean anything or did you just choose from free ones?
I always played under number 29, but he was busy. They offered me a free room with a “nine”, so I took the 98th.
Did the coaching staff set any personal goals for you?
Play your hockey, give yourself completely to the fight, follow the coaching instructions. Still, they expect me to play harder and hit the body, which is what I try to demonstrate.
Which of the guys who play in the KHL in a strong manner can you highlight?
Artyukhin is a tough player, Leo Komarov often gets under your skin.
You mostly go on the ice with young guys. Do you give them any hints during the game?
Our task is not to miss, if there is a chance, to score, but mainly to help the first three lines, give them a break and trouble the opponent in his zone.
Any hobbies besides hockey?
I like to fish – I go sometimes in the summer. I play billiards. I read books according to my mood.
Do you prefer to spend the summer with your family in Snezhinsk?
Yes. I love spending time with my son and helping my parents.
Press service of HC "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
SNEZHINSK
- You come from Snezhinsk. Hockey town?
- Yes. When I started, we had many teams and players from there: Alexey Stepanov, Evgeny Teplyakov. Now a palace has been built there, but things have gotten worse. There's something to do with ice. They don't give it much. In times of good funding, players from Chelyabinsk and Kazakhstan came to Snezhinsk and played in the first league for the SKiCh team, the sports club named after Chkalov.
- And all the Snezhinsky boys dreamed of getting into SKiCh... Including Igor Valeev.
- I was swimming. I did great. And then a friend invited me to the skating rink. They gave me a stick and off we went. As a result, I gave up swimming and started playing hockey. Then I didn’t even know that you could make money with a stick and skates. I played for SKiCh, we came to Chelyabinsk for the Golden Puck. To strengthen me, they took me to the team of guys born in 1979, who were two years older than me. The specialists noticed, and I stayed in Traktor.
- At what age did you have the inspiration to switch from swimming to hockey?
- At 10. My legs began to crack from constantly being in the pool in water with chlorine. But I wanted to stay in swimming. After all, he won the championships of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions. However, due to problems with my legs, I had to give up swimming and concentrate on hockey.
- Snezhinsk seems to be a handball city. "Sungul" plays in the men's Super League.
- Previously, preference was given to hockey there, but now, yes, handball. The team performs well in the Super League. We recently won bronze medals.
- I see, follow the successes of “Sungul”.
- Yes, my friends play handball. Egor Evdokimov plays for the Russian national team, in Spain he scored goals for the locals for a long time, and became the national champion many times as part of “Chekhov’s Bears”. Now the team in the Moscow region has fallen apart, and a friend is looking for another club. Evdokimov and I started playing hockey together in Snezhinsk. It didn’t work out for him, he moved to handball, where Egor did much better.
- The average person knows about Snezhinsk only that it is a closed city, and there is a federal nuclear center there.
- The governor once came to us and said that Snezhinsk is a little Switzerland. The city is clean, located on the shore of a lake, there is little crime, everyone knows each other and considers it a resort. I love.
- Are there many FSB officers roaming the streets?
- They don’t wander around, but they are aware of everything that happens in Snezhinsk.
- Isn’t it scary to live next to a nuclear facility?
- Not at all. It seems to me that we have nothing serious there. The entire Chelyabinsk region is like this: Ozersk, Trekhgorny. The atmosphere is even cleaner in Snezhinsk. There are factories in Chelyabinsk.
COOKING
- How old were you when you moved to Chelyabinsk?
- At 12 years old, alone without parents. I was given a room in the Traktor ice rink at ChTZ. He was a pioneer. There was no hotel there. A gym and a trainer's room in it. Here they brought a bed, a wardrobe, a TV and an electric stove.
- At the age of 12, did you cook your own food on this stove?
- I cooked normally. Mainly navy pasta and potatoes with stewed meat, chicken soups.
- Do you still have the skills now?
- Otherwise.
- You are the cook in the family, not your spouse.
- I'm divorced. I have been cooking since I was 12 years old. I can make any dish. Salads. Or "Diplomat", for example. This is French-style potatoes with meat. You take it, lay it out in layers, add cheese, mayonnaise and put it in the oven. I can cook tacos. This is a Mexican dish.
- Exotic.
- When I lived in America, I dated a girl, Carolina, for four years. She's Mexican. So she taught me the national cuisine.
- Did the girl from Mexico speak Spanish?
- Yes, she is Spanish speaking. But when we met at school, we communicated in English. I was playing in juniors back then. And when I became a professional hockey player, we began to live together. I picked up a little Spanish.
ABROAD
- What prompted you to leave for Canada at the age of seventeen?
- The situation is such that there was no chance. Devastation began at Traktor. We seemed to be connected, but not so much. I received an offer from an agent to go to Canada. Like, you’ll be visible there, you can get drafted and go to the NHL.
- Who did you leave with?
- Zaripov and Kozyrev from Mechel, Panov, Molchanov and Borodkin from Traktor.
- Only Danis Zaripov, Konstantin Panov and you, it turns out, had a successful career. 
- Yeah. True, they are better than me.
- First impressions of another world?
- It was difficult to. Both in the team and in life. People are making fun of you, but you don't understand humor. Over time I got used to it. I began to speak, then understand the language. I got in and it became easier. I'm used to it. A year later I spoke English normally, but I also thought in Russian. And three years later, I began to think in the language of Shakespeare. Upon arrival in Canada, we were placed with families. We went to school and trained. Families cook and wash. I'm lucky. The family already had adult children. They didn't play hockey, but they were ardent fans. We went to the palace and got sick. Yes, there are all the fans there in Canada.
- When did you first feel nostalgia overseas?
- From the very beginning. I always want to go home. This desire has never left me in seven years in America. I tried to cope with nostalgia. I was always doing something: watching movies, training, going fishing. At that time, life there was different from ours. Everything is simpler, everything is there, the roads are clean, people treat each other with understanding. The standard of living, of course, was higher then. I don’t know how it is now. I haven't been to America for a long time. How he left in 2005. Didn't go again.
- You played three years in the junior leagues, and then the NHL draft procedure arrived.
- I didn’t go there. There was an agent.
- Were you horrified that St. Louis chose you? Russians were not particularly welcome there.
- So Yes. I had a dialogue with scouts of other clubs: Minnesota, Columbus, Detroit. And in the end I took St. Louis. Defender Alexander Khavanov was playing there at that time. I don't know why they chose me. I went to beginner camp. Showed himself. I was offered a contract and sent to a farm club.
- It was 2001. You have already moved to the USA. Did the states witness the terrorist attack in New York on September 11?
- Yes. We had one Francophone player on our team. Scary joker. He calls me at nine in the morning, we have a day off, and says, turn on the TV. I hang up. He calls back again: “Russia is bombing America.” I responded: “What nonsense?” I turn on the TV, and the towers are falling, I think: “Is it serious?” Then I went out into the street, and there I only learned that Russia had nothing to do with it. It was scary. There is panic on the streets, everyone is walking around talking only about this. Airports have closed, planes are not flying, all transport has stopped.
- When did you lose hope of playing in the NHL?
- In the third year of life overseas. Then there was a chance to get to St. Louis. They were counting on me. But in an exhibition match, I got a concussion in a fight. I was sent to a farm club for two months. After the injury I no longer felt comfortable. Then I understood everything.
- Did you try to get a green card, that is, a residence permit in the USA?
- And I already had it. Could become an American citizen. I appeared in the electronic database as a green card holder. All that was left was to come and get her in your arms. But I had to return to the USA and pick it up, but I didn’t go. And I don’t regret it at all.
RUSSIA
- How did you return to Russia?
- The agent reached an agreement with Sibir Novosibirsk, I arrived and signed a two-year contract. Started playing in the Super League. He played ten matches and broke his leg. I haven't played for eight months. The next year I came to Siberia for pre-season. A new coach, Sergei Kotov, has arrived. He was aware of my injury. At the training camp, I couldn’t really open up because of the long downtime, and Kotov fired me.
- AND?..
- Gennady Fedorovich Tsygurov invited me to Traktor. He called throughout the season. Arrived in Chelyabinsk,
signed a contract, but never played a single game. Tsygurov and I had a conflict, not a conflict, in short, we did not understand each other. The next day I come to training, the coach calls me and says that I am fired. “So you called me yourself! I haven’t played a single game in Traktor yet,” I answer. To which Tsygurov told me: “I have many players like you.” I trained for two months and then went to Avtomobilist. But the story did not end with Tsygurov. The season is over, he took charge of Neftekhimik and is calling me to Nizhnekamsk! Gennady Fedorovich invited me, probably to have fun and drive. He drove me and drove me, and I myself already realized that something was wrong here. I packed my things and left. - How did you end up in the major league?
- There were no offers in the Super League, although the agent was looking for options. After the injury, I couldn’t gain a foothold in the elite division; no one needed him. I traveled through the major leagues: Mechel, Tyumen Gazovik, Perm Molot. Then he moved to Kazakhstan. My good friend Dmitry Kramarenko played there. He called and said that the Kazakhstan championship has a good level. He played for two months in Temirtau for Arystan. And then coach Oleg Bolyakin invited me to Ust-Kamenogorsk to join Kazzinc-Torpedo. I spent the season there, the five of us did great, everyone was invited to Buran.
- It was not in vain that we moved to Voronezh. Where do you keep the silver medal of the VHL championship won last season?
- I haven't received it yet. There she is, in Voronezh. I didn’t go to the awards ceremony. In Voronezh they say: “Well, why do you need to go to the awards? Then you will receive it." “That’s right,” I answer, “why should I spend money on the trip.” I only saw the medal in a photograph.
- “Buran” owes you a lot of silver. After all, Igor Valeev scored a goal against Sputnik in overtime of the seventh decisive match of the playoff quarterfinals, after which it became clear that Voronezh would finish among the winners.
- The whole team fought throughout the entire “Bratina” rally. At first we had a stubborn fight in the series with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, then we played seven matches with Tagil. I was lucky in the final game against Sputnik. We entered the zone, the puck came off Ruslan Bernikov’s stick and bounced towards me. All that remained was to complete it. My second medal in the major league. He won bronze with Molot-Prikamye.
- Chelmet is the sixteenth team in your career. Isn't it too much?
- I don’t know why this is happening. Somewhere you don’t fit in and they fire you, somewhere they offer you more money, somewhere the conditions are better, somewhere you don’t succeed in the game and you look for another team. When Buran and I arrived in Chelyabinsk, I spoke with the executive director of Chelmet, Alexei Petrov. He said the team needs experienced players. At the end of the season, he left Buran and called Alexei Petrov. So I came home. Everything suits me. We have a good young team, capable of much, promising players. We will carry out the coaching task, and everything will be fine. We are not inferior to anyone in the game. We have a good chance of not only getting into the playoffs, but also performing well there.
SNEZHINSK
- You come from Snezhinsk. Hockey town?
- Yes. When I started, we had many teams and players from there: Alexey Stepanov, Evgeny Teplyakov. Now a palace has been built there, but things have gotten worse. There's something to do with ice. They don't give it much. In times of good funding, players from Chelyabinsk and Kazakhstan came to Snezhinsk and played in the first league for the SKiCh team, the sports club named after Chkalov.
- And all the Snezhinsky boys dreamed of getting into SKiCh... Including Igor Valeev.
- I was swimming. I did great. And then a friend invited me to the skating rink. They gave me a stick and off we went. As a result, I gave up swimming and started playing hockey. Then I didn’t even know that you could make money with a stick and skates. I played for SKiCh, we came to Chelyabinsk for the Golden Puck. To strengthen me, they took me to the team of guys born in 1979, who were two years older than me. The specialists noticed, and I stayed in Traktor.
- At what age did you have the inspiration to switch from swimming to hockey?
- At 10. My legs began to crack from constantly being in the pool in water with chlorine. But I wanted to stay in swimming. After all, he won the championships of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions. However, due to problems with my legs, I had to give up swimming and concentrate on hockey.
- Snezhinsk seems to be a handball city. "Sungul" plays in the men's Super League.
- Previously, preference was given to hockey there, but now, yes, handball. The team performs well in the Super League. We recently won bronze medals.
- I see, follow the successes of “Sungul”.
- Yes, my friends play handball. Egor Evdokimov plays for the Russian national team, in Spain he scored goals for the locals for a long time, and became the national champion many times as part of “Chekhov’s Bears”. Now the team in the Moscow region has fallen apart, and a friend is looking for another club. Evdokimov and I started playing hockey together in Snezhinsk. It didn’t work out for him, he moved to handball, where Egor did much better.
- The average person knows about Snezhinsk only that it is a closed city, and there is a federal nuclear center there.
- The governor once came to us and said that Snezhinsk is a little Switzerland. The city is clean, located on the shore of a lake, there is little crime, everyone knows each other and considers it a resort. I love.
- Are there a lot of FSB men roaming the streets?
- They don’t wander around, but they are aware of everything that happens in Snezhinsk.
- Isn’t it scary to live next to a nuclear facility?
- Not at all. It seems to me that we have nothing serious there. The entire Chelyabinsk region is like this: Ozersk, Trekhgorny. The atmosphere is even cleaner in Snezhinsk. There are factories in Chelyabinsk.
COOKING
- How old were you when you moved to Chelyabinsk?
- At 12 years old, alone without parents. I was given a room in the Traktor ice rink at ChTZ. He was a pioneer. There was no hotel there. A gym and a trainer's room in it. Here they brought a bed, a wardrobe, a TV and an electric stove.
- At the age of 12, did you cook your own food on this stove?
- I cooked normally. Mainly navy pasta and potatoes with stewed meat, chicken soups.
- Do you still have the skills now?
- Otherwise.
- You are the cook in the family, not your spouse.
- I'm divorced. I have been cooking since I was 12 years old. I can make any dish. Salads. Or "Diplomat", for example. This is French-style potatoes with meat. You take it, lay it out in layers, add cheese, mayonnaise and put it in the oven. I can cook tacos. This is a Mexican dish.
- Exotic.
- When I lived in America, I dated a girl, Carolina, for four years. She's Mexican. So she taught me the national cuisine.
- Did the girl from Mexico speak Spanish?
- Yes, she is Spanish speaking. But when we met at school, we communicated in English. I was playing in juniors back then. And when I became a professional hockey player, we began to live together. I picked up a little Spanish.
ABROAD
- What prompted you to leave for Canada at the age of 17?
- The situation is such that there was no chance. Devastation began at Traktor. We seemed to be connected, but not so much. I received an offer from an agent to go to Canada. Like, you’ll be visible there, you can get drafted and go to the NHL.
- Who did you leave with?
- Zaripov and Kozyrev from Mechel, Panov, Molchanov and Borodkin from Traktor.
- Only Danis Zaripov, Konstantin Panov and you, it turns out, had a successful career.
- Yeah. True, they are better than me.
- First impressions of another world?
- It was difficult to. Both in the team and in life. People are making fun of you, but you don't understand humor. Over time I got used to it. I began to speak, then understand the language. I got in and it became easier. I'm used to it. A year later I spoke English normally, but I also thought in Russian. And three years later, I began to think in the language of Shakespeare.
Upon arrival in Canada, we were placed with families. We went to school and trained. Families cook and wash. I'm lucky. The family already had adult children. They didn't play hockey, but they were ardent fans. We went to the palace and got sick. Yes, there are all the fans there in Canada.
- When did you first feel nostalgia overseas?
- From the very beginning. I always want to go home. This desire has never left me in seven years in America. I tried to cope with nostalgia. I was always doing something: watching movies, training, going fishing. At that time, life there was different from ours. Everything is simpler, everything is there, the roads are clean, people treat each other with understanding. The standard of living, of course, was higher then. I don’t know how it is now. I haven't been to America for a long time. How he left in 2005. Didn't go again.
- You played three years in the junior leagues, and then the NHL draft procedure arrived.
- I didn’t go there. There was an agent.
- Were you horrified that St. Louis chose you? Russians were not particularly welcome there.
- So Yes. I had a dialogue with scouts of other clubs: Minnesota, Columbus, Detroit. And in the end I took St. Louis. Defender Alexander Khavanov was playing there at that time. I don't know why they chose me. I went to beginner camp. Showed himself. I was offered a contract and sent to a farm club.
- It was 2001. You have already moved to the USA. Did the states witness the terrorist attack in New York on September 11?
- Yes. We had one Francophone player on our team. Scary joker. He calls me at nine in the morning, we have a day off, and says, turn on the TV. I hang up. He calls back again: “Russia is bombing America.” I responded: “What nonsense?” I turn on the TV, and the towers are falling, I think: “Seriously, or what?” Then I went out into the street, and there I only learned that Russia had nothing to do with it. It was scary. There is panic on the streets, everyone is walking around talking only about this. Airports have closed, planes are not flying, all transport has stopped.
- When did you lose hope of playing in the NHL?
- In the third year of life overseas. Then there was a chance to get to St. Louis. They were counting on me. But in an exhibition match, I got a concussion in a fight. I was sent to a farm club for two months. After the injury I no longer felt comfortable. Then I understood everything.
- Have you tried to get a green card, that is, a residence permit in the United States?
- And I already had it. Could become an American citizen. I appeared in the electronic database as a green card holder. It remained
just come and get it in your hands. But I had to return to the USA and pick it up, but I didn’t go. And I don’t regret it at all.
RUSSIA
- How did you return to Russia?
- The agent reached an agreement with Sibir Novosibirsk, I arrived and signed a two-year contract. Started playing in the Super League. He played 10 matches and broke his leg. I haven't played for eight months. The next year I came to Siberia for pre-season. A new coach, Sergei Kotov, has arrived. He was aware of my injury. At the training camp, I couldn’t really open up because of the long downtime, and Kotov fired me.
- AND?..
- Gennady Fedorovich Tsygurov invited me to Traktor. He called throughout the season. I arrived in Chelyabinsk, signed a contract, but never played a single game. Tsygurov and I had a conflict, not a conflict, in short, we did not understand each other. The next day I come to training, the coach calls me and says that I am fired. “So you called me yourself! I haven’t played a single game in Traktor yet,” I answer. To which Tsygurov told me: “I have many players like you.” I trained for two months and then went to Avtomobilist. But the story did not end with Tsygurov. The season is over, he took charge of Neftekhimik and is calling me to Nizhnekamsk! Gennady Fedorovich invited me, probably to have fun and drive. He drove me and drove me, and I myself already realized that something was wrong here. I packed my things and left.
- How did you end up in the Major League?
- There were no offers in the Super League, although the agent was looking for options. After the injury, I couldn’t gain a foothold in the elite division; no one needed him. I traveled around the Major League: Mechel, Tyumen Gazovik, Perm Molot. Then he moved to Kazakhstan. My good friend Dmitry Kramarenko played there. He called and said that the Kazakhstan championship has a good level. He played for two months in Temirtau for Arystan. And then coach Oleg Bolyakin invited me to Ust-Kamenogorsk to join Kazzinc-Torpedo. I spent a season there, the five of us did great, everyone was invited to Buran.
- It was not in vain that we moved to Voronezh. Where do you keep the championship silver medal you won last season?
- I haven't received it yet. There she is, in Voronezh. I didn’t go to the awards ceremony. In Voronezh they say: “Well, why do you need to go to the awards? Then you will receive it." “That’s right,” I answer, “why should I spend money on the trip.” I only saw the medal in a photograph.
- “Buran” owes you a lot of silver. After all, Igor Valeev scored a goal against Sputnik in overtime of the seventh decisive match of the playoff quarterfinals, after which it became clear that Voronezh would finish among the winners.
- The whole team fought throughout the entire “Bratina” rally. At first we had a stubborn fight in the series with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, then we played seven matches with Tagil. I was lucky in the final game against Sputnik. We entered the zone, the puck came off Ruslan Bernikov’s stick and bounced towards me. All that remained was to complete it. My second medal in the major league. He won bronze with Molot-Prikamye.
- “Chelmet” is the 16th team in your career. Isn't it too much?
- I don’t know why this is happening. Somewhere you don’t fit in and they fire you, somewhere they offer you more money, somewhere the conditions are better, somewhere you don’t succeed in the game and you look for another team. When Buran and I arrived in Chelyabinsk, I spoke with the executive director of Chelmet, Alexei Petrov. He said the team needs experienced players. At the end of the season, he left Buran and called Alexei Petrov. So I came home. Everything suits me. We have a good young team, capable of much, promising players. We will carry out the coaching task, and everything will be fine. We are not inferior to anyone in the game. We have a good chance of not only getting into the playoffs, but also performing well there.
