Mountain hockey

The black-and-white appeared in Zlatoust unexpectedly as team management decided to somewhat widen the geography of the trip. Zlatoust is home to several great players, including Igor Varitsky, currently the general manager of Vityaz, and Alexander Rozhkov, the head coach of Chelmet.

The event took place at the new Taganay Ice Palace. As usual, before the game, everyone in attendance had a chance to participate in competitions and win memorable prizes.

As soon as the team arrived, Semyon Kokuyov, Konstantin Klimontov and Alexei Petrov took to the arena lobby to participate in an autograph session and a photo op.

The game between Traktor and Miass City began at 4 pm local time. Traditionally, young players from local hockey school Taganay first tried to beat Artyom Borodkin and Danil Gubarev, and then attempted to score penalty shots past Vasili Demchenko who, by the way, celebrated his 22nd birthday on March 16.

As an exception to the rule, this game consisted of three periods 20 minutes each. The game remained scoreless for quite a while, but as soon as Traktor opened the score, this contest turned into a seesaw. The final buzzer registered the score of 9:4, with the black-and-white getting a ‘dubya’.

Traktor’s Danil Gubarev:
- This was our third stop during this trip. Hockey-wise, Miass City was the most difficult challenge for us. The event was great: everyone had so much fun today! I want to thank the hosts for the invitation!

Miass City’s Sergei Stepanov:
- It was a great event. I have never faced a professional team because I am from Miass, and I haven’t had a hockey school. Playing against pros is a great experience. We tried to put on our best performance and not to allow Traktor to score a lot. I think we managed to do that (smiles). Anyway, the most important thing was to get as much positive emotions from playing against a professional team as possible.

After the main course, the fans in attendance got a dessert in the form of shootouts. Miass City was unable to upset Demchenko while Osnovin and Klimontov managed to light the lamp.

After a photo with all participants of the game, a huge crowd gathered around Deron Quint to take photos with him or ask him to sign some merchandise. By the way, Q did not turn down anybody.

We would like to remind you that the next stop on team’s way through the region is Snezhinsk, where the black-and-white will be headed on March 19.