In the name of Maitre

This game was dubbed the Game in Remembrance of Valeri Belousov as the Maitre became famous in both opposing teams. As previously mentioned, Anvar Gatiyatulin made his debut in Traktor’s interim head coach capacity.

Before the game, the memorial plate commemorating the life of Valeri Belousov was opened near the entrance of the arena. Belousov’s widow Nina, his linemate Anatoli Kartayev and Deputy Governor Yevgeni Redin marked this momentous occasion with kind-hearted speeches.

A symbolic faceoff was made by Valeri Belousov’s first coach, Yuri Churekov, who traveled from Novouralsk to Chelyabinsk to celebrate the life and career of his famous pupil.

New coach – new attacking and defensive lines. Traktor’s top line consisted of Ruzicka, Pestunov and Chistov. The second line saw Popov move to the center; his wingmen were his longtime partner Anton Glinkin and Maxim Yakutsenya. Rybakov’s line remained unchanged, while the fourth attacking line included Kruchinin, Osnovin and Penkovsky. As far as defensive pairs are concerned, Novak returned to the lineup to accompany Pervyshin in the second D pair. Plus, Nikita Zhuldikov landed a spot on the lineup after returning from the Subway Super Series.

Traktor looked a little bit nervous at the very top of the game, and this resulted in a quick opener scored by Wojtek Wolski. The black-and-white quickly regrouped and spurted forward. Rybakov and Kruchinin had their chances to tie the game, but Koshechkin made sure this would not happen. After a commercial break, during which video snippets highlighting Valeri Belousov’s greatest achievements were shown, Traktor was left shorthanded but withstood heavy onslaught from Mozyakin and Co. After a while, Rybakov once again could have tied it up, but his shot missed the corner just by a whisker. As the fans were heading for the concession stands, Sergei Mozyakin doubled visitors’ lead with a blistering wrist shot.

Early in the second, Bogdan Potekhin upset Traktor for a third time in this tilt. This prompted Traktor to put enormous pressure in the attacking zone, and boy oh boy, it would not do justice to the black-and-white to say they had a lot of scoring chances; they had scoring chances GALORE, but literally nothing went in. What can anything on God’s green Earth can explain how Shinin, standing all alone near the empty corner of Koshechkin’s net, sent the puck wide?

Pretty much nothing changed in the third stanza; Traktor sought scoring chances, Magnitka managed to keep the game at their desired pace. Around mid-period mark, Denis Osipov further extended the goal margin in visitors’ favor. The black-and-white deserved at least one goal in this game, and it was scored by the ever-gritty Rybakov line. The proverbial first pancake is always lumpy, and so was the case tonight for Traktor and Anvar Gatiyatulin. However, should the black-and-white continue to get invested in every second of any hockey game like they did tonight, things will certainly be looking up for the Chelyabinsk hockey team.

Game details

TRAKTOR vs. METALLURG Magnitogorsk – 1:4 (0:2, 0:1, 1:1)
Goals: Wolski, 1 (0:1); Mozyakin (Wolski), 20 (0:2); Potekhin (Koshechkin, Kaletnik), 22 (0:3); Osipov (Wolski, Mozyakin), 49 (0:4); Gubarev (Rybakov), 53 (1:4).

TRAKTOR
Francouz;
Quint (C) – Borodkin, Chistov – Pestunov (A) – Ruzicka;
Pervyshin – Novak, Glinkin – Popov – Yakutsenya;
Shinin – Klimontov, Gubarev – Rybakov – Kokuyov;
Petrov (A) – Zhuldikov, Kruchinin – Osnovin – Penkovsky.

METALLURG
Koshechkin;
Lee (A) – Antipin, Mozyakin (C) – Kovar – Wolski;
Batyrshin – Bereglazov, Osala – Filippi – Zaripov (A);
Khabarov – Tereshchenko, Platonov – Kharytinsky – Potekhin;
Kaletnik – Osipov, Kosov – Zhelezkov – Timkin.

Shots on goal: 28 (8+13+7) – 17 (7+6+4).
Faceoffs won: 24 (5+10+9) – 20 (8+5+7).
PIM: 2 (2+0+0) – 16 (0+2+14).
Shots blocked: 10 (7+2+1) – 14 (4+6+4).
Hits: 17 (7+6+4) – 21 (11+7+3).
PP goals: 0-0.
Ice time: Borodkin (20:51), Yakutsenya (19:21), Ruzicka (18:25) – Lee (26:40), Mozyakin (18:53), Filippi (18:41).

Referees: Vladimir Bukin (Moscow Oblast), Maxim Sidorenko (Minsk, Belarus).
Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev (Perm), Alexander Otmakhov (Yekaterinburg).

November 25, 2015. Traktor Arena n.a. Valeri Belousov, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Attendance – 7500.