Jan Bulis: we have to make it 2:0 before series moves to Astana
Jan, today is the last day
before the playoffs begin. How are you feeling?
Feeling good, thank you. The preparation is in full swing. The most important
thing is to win two home games and take a 2:0 lead before the series moves to
Kazakhstan because everyone knows Barys plays very well on the home ice.
What is your impression of Barys from the two regular season matches that
Traktor faced them in?
The away match was not so difficult; we quickly scored three times, and Barys
imploded. However, in the second game in Chelyabinsk, we missed a step and lost
0:3; it was a very different match. In fact, Barys is on a roll as of late;
they got the victories over several leaders, so the series won’t be easy by any
means.
What teams do you think may be called top contenders for the cup?
It’s not easy to say. SKA is having a great season so far; they focus on the
defense and do not allow too many pucks. It was different in the last two
seasons… Dynamo Moscow looks great too. As for the East, we play decent hockey
(laughs); plus Ak Bars and Avangard, they are always in the mix.
This year teams from Czech Republic and Slovakia made it to the playoffs.
Have you been following Lev’s and Slovan’s success?
Yes I’ve tried to follow them, especially Lev because they are a team from my
home country. I like Slovan too; they have been consistent during the regular
season, thus they easily made it to the playoffs. By the way Western conference
was more interesting in this respect; teams were vying for the final spot until
the very last game. As a result it was Atlant that got the coveted 8thspot; I thought they had no chance, but they did. On the other hand, there are
strong teams like Dinamo Minsk and Donbass that missed the playoffs.
Do you think that Salavat deliberately won the last game against Dinamo
Minsk to avoid the playoff encounter with Traktor?
No, I don’t. Dinamo needed a win to jump into playoffs, so they fought hard. As
for Salavat, we would have a hard time against them in the playoffs; they are a
strong team, just like many that Eastern conference has.
Did you have any analysis of Barys’ game?
Not
yet, but we are going to. We will watch the tapes and analyze their game.
Barys’ Canadian players have impressive stats. Does the team have any secret
weapon that will help against them?
We’ll see about that.
