Following Kharlamov’s footsteps
Chebarkul is arguably the ‘hockeyest’ town of the
region after Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk. This city is well known for the
local team called Zvezda and its most famous player, Valeri Kharlamov, who
spent a sizeable part of his career here. Therefore, local hockey arena is
named after the legendary #17.
Folks started gathering around the arena at 11 am.
Just like a week earlier in Pervomaysky, they participated in several
competitions, bought memorable little things and listened to groovy modern
music.
Around noon, Traktor finally arrived to the arena. Fans lined up to get
autographs from Pavel Francouz, Filip Novak, Martin Ruzicka, Danil Gubarev and Artyom Borodkin. Plenty of selfies and signed merchandise was a
huge payoff for those who were patient enough.
Due to huge interest to the game, the organizers had to introduce an entrance
fee. However, its amount was very low, and this was done only in order to have
some sort of control over the entrance process. All the proceeds will go to
hockey schools of Chebarkul.
Before the game, a little warmup took place as the entire line from Cherbakul’s
local hockey school Molot tried to outplay Alexei
Petrov and Semyon Kokuyov; then,
he tried to score a shootout to Pavel
Francouz. To their credit, not only were young guys on equal footing with
the professionals, but even tried to copy some of the moves that Pavel Datsyuk pulls off on a regular
basis.
On March 12, two men from the Traktor team system celebrated their birthdays.
Traktor’s Vice President Sergei Gomolyako congratulated team’s physician Vadim Chupa and longtime veteran Deron Quint.
The starting faceoff was made by one of the pioneers of hockey in Chebarkul, Anatoli Patuk. Mr. Patuk not only was instrumental in bringing Zvezda back
to life, but also had been working as a coach for 39 years. Right now, Patuk,
79, is officially retired from active coaching.
Zvezda played with three lines, one of which consisted of the professionals,
the other two – of the veterans and younger players, which is understandable
because for most of them this is a chance of a lifetime. This time around, the pros
decide not to mess about and controlled the early portion of the game, ending
the first period with a three-nothing lead. After the break, both teams decided
to exchange goals, and much to the delight of the fans in attendance, the final
score was 11:4, with the black-and-white getting a win.
Just like a week ago, the final buzzer gave way to skill competitions. Here, Zvezda
was able to cut the margin a little, and the final score was 13:7.
Traktor’s D-man Filip Novak was amused with his first experience of an event
like this:
- I loved this game. We had a lot fun, and so did the fans, I am sure. Back
in Czech Republic, we had these games against the fans, but I don’t remember
the pros going against the amateurs. After a mediocre season that we’ve just
had, Traktor needed something to sweeten this pill, and I hope that there will
be more Traktor fans in the cities where we have already played or will play in
the future.
One of Zvezda’s best players of the game, Vladimir
Ionov admitted that the visit of Traktor is a huge deal for a small town
such as Chebarkul:
- All that we got from this event is positive emotions. It is great to play
against a KHL team on home ice. I was also pleased to see Sergei Gomolyako,
whom I saw in action when I was a kid. This game is a big show for Chebarkul,
and it lived up to the hype. Many of these fans see Traktor players for the
first time in their lives. For me personally, this is one of the best days in my
entire hockey career.
A little reminder that the next stop on team’s way through the region is
Snezhinsk, where the black-and-white will be headed on March 19.
