Top 10 Best Faceoff Heads for Lacrosse: Expert Recommendations and Reviews

What are the best faceoff heads for lacrosse in 2024. How do you choose the right faceoff head for your playing style. Which features are most important in a faceoff head. Read our expert guide to find the perfect faceoff head.

Understanding the Importance of Faceoff Heads in Lacrosse

Faceoffs are a crucial element of lacrosse, often determining possession and potentially the outcome of a game. The right faceoff head can give players a significant advantage in this specialized position. But what exactly makes a faceoff head different from a standard lacrosse head?

Faceoff heads are designed with specific features to enhance a player’s ability to win draws. These include:

• Wider scoops for improved ground ball pickup
• Flexible materials to allow for quick clamping
• Durability to withstand the intense pressure of faceoffs
• Specialized shapes to improve leverage and control

Understanding these key features will help players and coaches make informed decisions when selecting the best faceoff head for their needs.

Top 10 Faceoff Heads for 2024

Based on extensive testing and player feedback, here are our top picks for the best faceoff heads in 2024:

1. Brine Clutch Elite
2. STX Duel U
3. ECD DNA
4. Under Armour Command Low
5. StringKing Mark 2F
6. Warrior Burn FO
7. Maverik Tactik 2.0
8. Nike CEO 2
9. East Coast Dyes Weapon X
10. Epoch Dragonfly 2

Each of these heads offers unique features and benefits for faceoff specialists. Let’s dive deeper into the top three choices to understand what sets them apart.

In-Depth Review: Brine Clutch Elite

The Brine Clutch Elite consistently ranks as the top choice for faceoff specialists. Why has it earned this prestigious position?

Key Features:

• Extremely lightweight design
• Optimal balance between flexibility and durability
• Wide scoop for improved ball control
• Customizable stringing options

The Clutch Elite’s standout feature is its stringing hole placement, allowing players to customize their pocket location. This versatility accommodates various faceoff styles, from jamming to clamping, raking, or scooping.

Is the Brine Clutch Elite suitable for all skill levels? While it offers advantages for experienced players, its customization options make it adaptable for developing faceoff specialists as well. The lightweight design aids in quick reactions, crucial for winning draws at any level of play.

STX Duel U: A Specialized Faceoff Weapon

The STX Duel U is purpose-built for faceoff success. What makes it stand out in the competitive world of lacrosse equipment?

Notable Features:

• Wide top for improved clamping and scooping
• Rigid yet flexible design
• Shorter throat plug for enhanced leverage
• Durable construction for intense faceoff battles

One unique aspect of the Duel U is its shorter throat plug, allowing players to choke up on the stick for increased control. This design element can provide a significant advantage in faceoff situations where every fraction of a second counts.

While the STX Duel U offers exceptional performance, its higher price point may be a consideration for some players. Does the investment justify the performance gains? For serious faceoff specialists looking to gain every possible advantage, the answer is often yes.

ECD DNA: Innovation in Faceoff Head Design

The ECD DNA represents a new approach to faceoff head design. How does it compare to more established models?

Key Innovations:

• Unique flex points for improved ground ball pickup
• Reinforced sidewalls for durability
• Optimized scoop angle for quick ball control
• Lightweight construction without sacrificing strength

ECD’s approach to the DNA focuses on creating a head that excels in all aspects of faceoff play. The strategically placed flex points allow for quick clamping while maintaining the strength needed for intense faceoff battles.

How does the ECD DNA perform for players transitioning from attack or midfield to faceoff specialist roles? Its balanced design makes it an excellent choice for players who need versatility in their game, offering strong performance in faceoff situations without sacrificing effectiveness in other areas of play.

Choosing the Right Faceoff Head: Key Considerations

Selecting the perfect faceoff head involves more than just picking from a list of top-rated options. What factors should players consider when making their choice?

Important Factors:

• Playing style and preferred faceoff technique
• Level of competition
• Personal strength and physical attributes
• Budget constraints
• League or school regulations

How do these factors influence the selection process? A player who relies heavily on quick clamping might prioritize flexibility, while one who favors a more physical style might lean towards durability. Understanding your own playing style and strengths is crucial in selecting the right faceoff head.

Additionally, consider the level of play. High school players might have different needs compared to collegiate or professional athletes. Always check league regulations to ensure your chosen head meets all requirements.

Stringing Techniques for Faceoff Heads

The way a faceoff head is strung can significantly impact its performance. What stringing techniques are most effective for faceoff specialists?

Popular Stringing Methods:

• Traditional pockets for enhanced feel and control
• Mesh pockets for consistency in various weather conditions
• Hybrid setups combining elements of both

Many faceoff specialists prefer a tighter, more responsive pocket near the throat of the head. This configuration allows for quick ball control upon winning the clamp. However, personal preference plays a significant role in stringing choices.

Should faceoff players string their own heads or rely on professional stringing services? While learning to string your own head can provide a deeper understanding of your equipment, professional stringing ensures consistency and can be beneficial, especially for newer players.

Maintenance and Care for Faceoff Heads

Proper maintenance is crucial for extending the life and maintaining the performance of your faceoff head. What are the best practices for caring for this specialized equipment?

Essential Maintenance Tips:

• Regular cleaning to remove dirt and debris
• Proper storage to prevent warping
• Periodic re-stringing to maintain optimal pocket shape
• Inspection for cracks or damage after intense games

How often should a faceoff head be replaced? This depends on factors such as frequency of use, playing style, and the level of competition. High-level players might replace their heads more frequently, while recreational players can often use the same head for multiple seasons with proper care.

Remember, a well-maintained faceoff head not only lasts longer but also performs better, giving you the edge in crucial game situations.

The Future of Faceoff Head Technology

As lacrosse continues to evolve, so does the technology behind faceoff heads. What innovations can we expect to see in the coming years?

Potential Advancements:

• New materials offering improved flexibility and durability
• Advanced manufacturing techniques for more precise designs
• Integration of data-tracking technology
• Customizable heads tailored to individual player metrics

How might these advancements change the faceoff game? Improved materials could lead to heads that offer both increased flexibility for clamping and enhanced durability for extended use. Data-tracking capabilities could provide valuable insights into player performance, allowing for more targeted training and strategy development.

As the sport continues to grow in popularity, we can expect to see increased investment in research and development, potentially leading to groundbreaking innovations in faceoff head design.

In conclusion, choosing the right faceoff head is a crucial decision for any lacrosse player specializing in this position. By considering factors such as playing style, level of competition, and personal preferences, players can select a head that enhances their performance and gives them the best chance of success on the field. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting your journey as a faceoff specialist, the right equipment can make all the difference in your game.

10 Best Faceoff Heads 2021

Home » More » 10 Best Faceoff Heads 2021

In the past few decades, the game of lacrosse has been one of the fast growing sports in both popularity and number of schools with an accredited team. It is a highly competitive sport, with specialized positions that each require their type of lacrosse head. This is especially true for players that need to line up for a faceoff.

To have success in a faceoff, you will need speed, determination, skill, and only to use the best faceoff heads. Using the best equipment will help to guarantee that all of your hard work will pay off for your team.

However, since there are so many faceoff heads available, which ones are the best?

Luckily, for you, we have tested some heads and would like to detail them for you here in this guide. At the bottom of this article, you will also find in-depth reviews of what we have found to be the top three faceoff heads.

Top 10 Faceoff Heads Table

Choose Your Faceoff Head Wisely

When you are looking for the best faceoff heads, there are a few criteria to keep in mind.

• Unstrung or Pre-Strung. When purchasing any new head for lacrosse, you have the option to have it strung beforehand or to do it yourself once you receive it. This comes down to personal preference.

Some players prefer to string their heads themselves to ensure that it is done exactly to their liking. However, if you are newer to the sport and are unsure how to do this, you may want to find a pre-strung head.

• Flexibility. To have success during a faceoff, you need to be able to get to the ball before your opponent does. Sometimes, this means scooping up a ground ball. If your faceoff head is too rigid, you will have a difficult time getting under the ball quickly, which would probably mean a lost faceoff.
• Head Size. Lacrosse heads made with faceoffs in mind usually have a narrow bottom and wide top. This allows for a larger scooping area to gain control of the ball. The larger the area, the more scooping or pinching surface you will be able to use.
• Head Strength. During a faceoff, you will be pushing, pulling, digging, scooping, and chopping. You do not want a head that is not built to stand up to lots of abuse.

Top 3 Best Faceoff Heads Reviews

In the world of lacrosse, Brine has made some of the best faceoff heads available. After all of our tests, the Clutch Elite is THE best available. Extremely lightweight, it balances flexibility and durability perfectly. It offers a wide scoop that makes it perfect for digging out possession during a faceoff.

Another key feature for the Clutch Elite is the placement of its stringing holes. Thanks to its design, users can place the mesh in such a way that allows them to pick the location of the pocket. This allows for customization based on preference as well as on field position and faceoff style.

The custom pocket placement will allow players to string the head in the way that best fits their skill level and faceoff style. Whether you choose to jam, clamp, rake, or scoop, this head will help you to perform at your best and gives you the best chance of winning.

Summary. The Clutch Elite is truly just that, elite. It offers customizable pocket location and a lightweight design that doesn’t compromise strength.

The STX Duel U is a head that is designed specifically with faceoffs in mind. It has a myriad of features that will help you to win that next all important draw to give your team the advantage.

First of all, the head has a vast top that allows players to clamp or scoop up the ball quickly. This extra coverage area made it work well during our faceoff drills and enabled us to gain possession. Secondly, it features a rigid design that still allows for enough flexibility to easily get under an opponent’s stick or to get control over a ground ball.

It also features a shorter throat plug that allows players to choke up on their stick a bit more than other heads. This gives you added strength while you are jockeying for position and possession, enabling you to get the leverage your need to win your faceoff more times than not.

The only thing that kept this head from being our number one pick is its price tag. It was more expensive than our top pick, which might make it a non-starter for some consumers.

Summary. An impressive, and expensive, faceoff head designed for faceoffs. Rigid and durable overall, it still allows for plenty of flexibility. The shorter throat plug lets you choke up on the stick more, providing much-needed leverage.

This faceoff head is the most expensive, and least customizable, of our top three. As such, it is more of a fit for intermediate and advanced users who know what they want in a faceoff head and have no need to change an already successful formula.

It features a smaller amount of string holes than our other top picks, which again, lends itself to users who understand and love the configuration that it offers. The head features an incredibly durable sidewall and super flared face, which helps to gain possession during a faceoff. It had less flexibility because of its durability, but we still found it adequate for winning faceoffs successfully.

Summary. While the Warrior Blade OG is a great, durable faceoff head, it does have some drawbacks. The price tag, as well as its lack of customization options, keep it from being ranked higher on our list.

» Face Off – how to 3D model your own head

Hi! Thanks for reading. This post looks better in our award-winning app, Tips & Tricks for iPhone.

All too often, we take the capabilities of our iPhones and iPads for granted. But every time you use satellite navigation, live translation, or 4K video recording from a rectangle that fits in your pocket, you’re proof of how far technology has come. We’re essentially living in a sci-fi future, only instead of flying cars, we’ve developed Snapchat face filters.

Every now and again an app comes along that seems so technologically advanced, it rips you out of your bubble of complacency and reminds you of that fact. Bellus3D is exactly that, an app that can do with your phone something that would have been impossible just a few short years ago: instantly capture a detailed three-dimensional scan of your face.

Sure, you may not have a practical reason for doing so – but who doesn’t want to show their friends and family an uncanny virtual representation of themselves? And if you’re looking for inspiration, you could always use the model to produce your own action figures or transplant yourself into a videogame. (That’s a whole other tutorial, though.)

Scanning your face is incredibly easy, but you will need the right technology for it to work. No longer is a wallet-wrenchingly expensive 16-camera rig necessary for this kind of thing, but you will need an iPhone equipped with a TrueDepth camera. That means any iPhone with Face ID – the same array of sensors used to verify your face at login is used here.

To start, download Bellus3D free on the App Store and open it up. Create an account when prompted – this is necessary to save your scans.

Bellus3D

You’ll be greeted with a red face-shaped silhouette covering a live feed from the front camera. Position your face so the silhouette turns green, and then choose the type of capture you’re after: Face, Face + Neck, or Full Head.

The first of these essentially captures a mask of your face, but tends to leave a hole in the top of your head where hair should be. The second scan takes slightly longer, with the added benefit of capturing your chin and crown. The last option automatically fills in the blank, uncaptured parts around the back in an attempt to produce a complete head model. This is more difficult to do well, so unless you particularly need the back of your head we’d recommend plumping for Face + Neck mode.

When you’re ready, you’ll want to look directly into the camera and keep your hand as steady as possible. Glasses and other accessories should be removed, and long hair should be tied back for best results. Tap the shutter button and then slowly rotate your head along with the on-screen instructions. Timing is important here, and it can take a few tries to get optimal results – but each scan only takes a matter of seconds so it’s easy to rinse and repeat.

Once your scan is complete, it’ll be saved to the My Models section. You can tap and drag on the screen to view yourself from every angle, and pinch to zoom.

Hit the Effects button for a few more treats: Motion, which moves the model in line with the movements of the device; Light, which adds a light source you can move around the scene; and Surface, which shows your 3D model as a plain mesh without the photographic texture.

When you’re done playing with your model, you have a few choices for saving it. To export a hi-resolution 3D file for manipulation elsewhere, you’ll have to shell out. Bellus3D charges $5/£5 for unlimited exports during a 24-hour window. So make sure to get all your scanning done before paying.

Casual users, however, may not have any need for the actual 3D files themselves. If you just want to show off your 3D model, the best bet is to capture a screenshot for a still image, or record your screen while manipulating the model for a video showcasing multiple angles. That way, you can set a creepy ‘uncanny valley’ version of yourself as your social media profile without spending a dime!

2021 Announcement | Holiday Face-Off

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Gazelle Group is pleased to announce that the inaugural Holiday Face-Off college hockey tournament will be held at Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

The field for the event, which will be played from December 28-29, 2021, consists of Wisconsin, Providence, Bowling Green, and Yale. Semifinal play will take place on Tuesday, December 28 with the Championship game and third-place game on Wednesday, December 29. Matchups and game times will be announced at a later date.

General public tickets for the Holiday Face-Off will go on sale at 12:00pm (CT) on June 17 with single-day and tournament packages available. For additional information, follow the Holiday Face-Off on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@holidayfaceoff).

“We are excited to begin what we believe will be the top national men’s college ice hockey tournament in the country,” says Rick Giles, president of the Gazelle Group. “For us to be able to attract four of the most distinguished programs in the nation shows that these programs want to compete against the very best and we plan on continuing to bring together the best teams in college hockey to play at one of the finest venues in the country, Fiserv Forum. “

“We are proud to bring major college hockey to Fiserv Forum as we continue to offer a diverse list of events at the arena,” said Fiserv Forum and Bucks President Peter Feigin. “Milwaukee has a rich history of college hockey tournaments, and we look forward to continuing the tradition by hosting the Holiday Face-Off at Fiserv Forum.”

College hockey in Milwaukee has a rich history. The city has hosted the NCAA men’s Frozen Four on three occasions – 1993, 1997, and 2006. In 2006, Wisconsin won its most recent National Championship on the Bradley Center ice.

In addition, from 1989-2003, Wisconsin hosted the Badger Hockey Showdown at the Bradley Center, averaging over 26,000 fans a year during that span.

THE FIELD

Wisconsin (Head Coach: Tony Granato, Big Ten Conference)
2021 and 2017 Big Ten Coach of the Year and 2018 U.S. Olympic Team coach Tony Granato leads his alma mater in his sixth season as Wisconsin head coach … six-time national champions, the Badgers are the defending Big Ten regular-season champions entering the 2021-22 season … Cole Caufield, the 2021 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner as the nation’s top player in 2021 led the nation in goals and points before helping the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup semifinals that are currently taking place … UW returns seniors Tarek Baker, Tyler Inamoto and Josh Ess for a fifth season and welcomes 10 newcomers including 2021 NHL Draft first-round prospect Corson Ceulemans … the Badgers also return Big Ten All-Rookie Team goaltender Cameron Rowe, a 2021 Mike Richter Award nominee for the nation’s best goaltender

Providence (Head Coach: Nate Leaman, Hockey East)
Nate Leaman finished his 10th season as head coach of the Friars in 2020-21, where he has guided the Friars to nine-consecutive winning seasons, 203 victories, two Frozen Four appearances (2015, 2019) and one national championship (2015). Providence will welcome back two of its three top scorers from last season – Parker Ford (7-12-19) and Patrick Moynihan (6-9-15). In goal, Jaxson Stauber started the final 23 games in 2020-21 – posting a 2.24 GAA and .916 save percentage with four shutouts in being named a Mike Richter Award finalist. Two-time captain Michael Callahan will return for his senior season, leading a defensive group that returns all six starters from a year ago.

Bowling Green (Head Coach: Ty Eigner, WCHA)
Ty Eigner will embark on his third season at the helm of the Falcons in the 2021-22 season, taking over the role prior to the 2019-20 campaign after serving as an assistant on the staff for nine seasons. During the 2020-21 season, Bowling Green reached as high as No. 5 in the polls and has been able to tally at least 20 wins in each of the last seven seasons. The Falcons will compete in the newly reestablished CCHA this season with a slightly new look on the bench with the addition of Assistant Coach Stavros Paskaris, as well as having 11 new players join the program, consisting of eight freshman and three transfer.

Yale (Head Coach: Keith Allain, ECAC Hockey)
The Bulldogs, who did not compete in 2020-21, last played in March of 2020, ending the season with an ECAC Hockey playoff series victory over Union at New Haven. Yale, the 2013 NCAA Champions, recently named senior blueliner Graham Lillibridge as its 2021-22 captain. The team from New Haven has a long history of playing holiday tournaments in the Cheese State. The last time the Bulldogs skated in Wisconsin, they beat Ferris State and then tied the Badgers 2-2 in the 2010 Badger Showdown Championship Game at Madison. Yale’s last appearance at Milwaukee was the 1998 Badger Showdown at the Bradley Center, where the Elis beat Wisconsin 4-2 and then fell to Bowling Green in the Championship contest.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato:
“Wisconsin hockey has great history in Milwaukee from the Badger Hockey Showdown and the NCAA championships at the Bradley Center. It’s been 15 years since we played in the city, so we are extremely excited to return.”

“When we were approached to play in the tournament, it was an easy decision. Fiserv Forum is a beautiful building and Milwaukee is a great hockey town so we feel lucky. We’re really looking forward to a great experience for our student-athletes and fans.”

Providence head coach Nate Leaman:
“Our program is eager to participate in the inaugural Holiday Faceoff in Milwaukee after Christmas. Competing against a field consisting of Wisconsin, Bowling Green and Yale will provide a tremendous challenge and one we are looking forward to.”

Bowling Green head coach Ty Eigner:
“We are really looking forward to being a part of a first-class event with some of the best teams in college hockey. Milwaukee is a great city and we have heard nothing but good things about Fiserv Forum.”

Yale head coach Keith Allain:
“It’s always fun going to Wisconsin for a tournament because it is such a great hockey state, one that takes great pride in its teams. The great field of teams in this tournament adds to our excitement about playing in Milwaukee. Our goal is to win championships and this is the first one on the list.”

About the Gazelle Group
The Holiday Face-Off is produced by the Gazelle Group of Princeton, N.J. The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation, and sponsorship consulting. In addition to the Holiday Face-Off, Gazelle produces numerous nationally-recognized college basketball events, such as the Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project, the Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper , the Gotham Classic, the Sunshine Slam, and the College Basketball Invitational. For more information on the Gazelle Group, please visit www.gazellegroup.com.

About Fiserv Forum
Fiserv Forum is a preeminent sports and entertainment arena in downtown Milwaukee that opened on Aug. 26, 2018. Designed by Populous, Eppstein Uhen Architects and HNTB, the venue offers incomparable sightlines, customer service, technology and amenities. Fiserv Forum includes 17,385 seats for basketball, 15,178 for hockey and up to 18,000 for concerts, with 34 luxury suites and three clubs. The world-class arena is home to the NBA’s Milwaukee’s Bucks and the Marquette University men’s basketball team and also hosts a diverse variety of year-round events, including major concerts, family shows and other sports and entertainment events. Fiserv Forum is the anchor of the surrounding 30-acre Deer District neighborhood, which is Milwaukee’s premier location for people to live, work and play. Founding Partners for Fiserv Forum include Fiserv, BMO Harris Bank, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, Johnson Controls, MolsonCoors and Motorola.

For more information on Fiserv Forum, please visit: fiservforum.com.

Gina Gershon Wanted a Bald Head for Her Final Scene in ‘Face/Off’

Just when you thought John Woo’s classic 1997 action movie “Face/Off” couldn’t have gotten any stranger, imagine if Gina Gershon suddenly showed up at the end with a bald head?

The actress, who played Sasha Hassler in the movie, revealed during a Facebook Live chat with Business Insider on Wednesday that when she was notified that the script was being rewritten so her character would be added into a scene at the end of the movie, she went to Woo and tried to convince him to let her do the dramatic change to her look.

“They were like, ‘We’re going to bring you back after your brother dies,’” Gershon said. “Then I got this brilliant idea, or I thought it was a brilliant idea, I said, ‘When I come back, since my brother died’ — and it’s Nick and he’s got the shaved head — ‘I want to come back and I want my head to be shaved.’”

For those who are not “Face/Off” fanatics, or haven’t seen the movie in years, here’s a refresher.

Gina Gershon and Nicolas Cage in “Face/Off.”

Paramount

Gershon’s Sasha Hassler character is the ex-girlfriend of terrorist Castro Troy (Nicolas Cage) and the brother of Dietrich Hassler (played by Nick Cassavetes), who supplies bombs to Troy. Following one of the bloody shootouts toward the end of the movie, Dietrich is killed. So Gershon felt the best way for her character to pay tribute to her fallen brother, who had a bald head, was to sport her own when she dramatically returns in the movie.

John Woo wasn’t into it.

“I came in and I’m so excited and I said, ‘So John, I come out, and you don’t know who it is, and all of a sudden my head’s bald. Like Cassavetes.’ And he went ‘No, no, no.’ Right away. His face had this look like I was insane,” Gershon said.

This is how the scene ended up. Now just imagine all of this with Gershon’s head shaved:

Celebrating its 20th anniversary earlier this week, “Face/Off” was a major hit, earning over $245 million worldwide. But what has built its fandom over the last two decades is the movie’s insane gun fights — which Woo had featured in his Hong Kong movies and finally was allowed to do in a Hollywood movie — and outlandish performances by stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, who play two men who undergo facial transplant surgery. It seems Gershon really wanted to get in on the crazy.

“Everyone shot me down and to this day I still think it’s a good idea,” she said of the bald head.

But would she have used a cap or gone method and shaved her head?

“I probably would have done a cap,” Gershon said. “But I don’t know, I didn’t care at that point. If they said, ‘Yes, but only if you shave your head,’ I would have said, ‘Great, do it.’”

Watch our entire chat with Gershon below, who was visiting to promote her latest movie, “Inconceivable”:

Boston’s 2 remaining mayoral hopefuls face off in debate

BOSTON (AP) — Boston City Councilors Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu drew sharp distinctions between their campaigns as they faced off Wednesday in the first head-to-head televised debate of the final stretch of Boston’s mayoral contest.

Whoever wins on Nov. 2 will make history as the first woman and first person of color to be elected mayor of Boston.

On the issue of housing, Essaibi George criticized Wu’s proposal to bring back rent control after voters backed a 1994 ballot question banning the policy statewide.

Essaibi George said Wu is making promises she can’t deliver on as mayor and that any change in rent control policy would be up to state lawmakers.

She also said rent control could harm smaller landlords who are key to providing housing.

“Rent control is not the answer. It is not the fix to the challenges here in the city,” Essaibi George said, adding that the city should focus on other strategies like helping potential homeowners with their initial down-payment. “Rent control has failed,” she added.

Wu said the housing situation is so dire the city needs bold answers, like rent control. Wu, who also backs down-payment assistance, said there are residents across the city afraid they can’t afford to stay in the neighborhoods they helped build.

“It’s not enough to sit back and wait while people get pushed out,” she said during the debate on WBZ-TV. “We need rent stabilization.”

The two also clashed on the best way to help respond to an area of the city near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard with a tent city that’s become the region’s most visible symbol of the opioid epidemic.

Essaibi George said the city needs to look at a range of choices, from finding a place to help house the people there to rebuilding a bridge to Long Island that was demolished in 2015 after it was deemed unsafe. City officials want to open a substance use recovery center on the island.

“We have to act,” she said. “It could be my child. It could be Michelle’s child tonight in a tent set on fire.”

Wu said she also believes the city needs to act quickly. She said in her first 100 days she would audit every city-owned building to see if there are housing opportunities for the people sleeping in tents.

“We need to move quickly to have a public health led approach,” she said adding that the proposal to rebuild the bridge to Long Island, which has run into opposition from neighboring Quincy, is a multi-year project at best.

The two also sparred on other issues, such as education and policing.

Both candidates backed efforts to have mental health officials aid police responding to emergency calls that might include people with mental health issues.

Wu, whose mother struggles with mental health challenges, said she’s “felt the terror of what could go wrong with an armed police officer” responding to a call. Essaibi George said as a member of the city council she helped push for the extra support for police.

Wu’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan. Essaibi George describes herself as a first-generation Arab-Polish American. Throughout its long history, Boston has elected only white men to the top office.

The winning candidate will be sworn in Nov. 16, just two weeks after the election.

The city’s acting mayor, Kim Janey, was sworn in March 24 as the Boston’s first female and first Black mayor after former Mayor Marty Walsh stepped down to become U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden.

Wu, 36, and Essaibi George, 47, defeated other mayoral hopefuls — including Janey — in a preliminary election last month meant to winnow the field to two. All are Democrats. Mayoral races in Boston do not include party primaries.

Wu, who has led the race in recent polls, has racked up a series of high-profile endorsements, including from Janey, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a former member of the Boston City Council. Essaibi George has pulled in endorsements from a range of labor unions.

Essaibi George, a lifelong resident of the city who taught at East Boston High School, has also said Wu’s Chicago roots are relevant to a lot of voters. Wu was born in Chicago and moved to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Essaibi George has stressed her Boston roots.

Ken Schott’s ECAC Hockey Faceoff Selections 2021-22: Week 2

David Trestick got off to a great start in the 2021-22 ECAC Hockey Faceoff Selections. He posted the best record of Week 1, going 8-1-3. His only loss was last Saturday’s pick of Clarkson over Alaska Fairbanks.

Ryan Fay, Rich Large, GB-BE-ME and Kevin Sokolski each went 7-2-3.

I was in a group of players who went 6-3-3.

Here is a look the standings after Week 1:

David Trestick 8-1-3 19 points

Ryan Fay 7-2-3 17 points

Rich Large 7-2-3 17 points

GB-BE-ME 7-2-3 17 points

Kevin Sokolski 7-2-3 17 points

Achilles 3-7-5 6-3-3 15 points

Harvey Kagan 6-3-3 15 points

Jim Kalohn 6-3-3 15 points

Richard Derrick 6-3-3 15 points

Me 6-3-3 15 points

Togany 5-4-3 13 points

Andy Weise 5-4-3 13 points

Rowena Watson 5-4-3 13 points

Dutch Crazy 5-4-3 13 points

Brian Unger 5-4-3 13 points

RedLiner36 5-2-2 12 points

Matthew Ruffini 4-5-3 11 points

Towell68 4-5-3 11 points

Dan Dickinson 3-6-3 9 points

Christopher Chadwick 2-7-3 7 points

Time for my Week 2 selections. There are nine games to pick between Friday and Tuesday. Your picks must be in by 7 p.m. Friday. Email your picks to [email protected].

Here are my picks:

FRIDAY

Colorado College at Union — Union 2, Colorado College 1

Canisius at RPI — RPI 3, Canisius 1

Merrimack at Colgate — Colgate 5, Merrimack 1

SATURDAY

Colorado College at Union — Union 3, Colorado College 1

Canisius at RPI — RPI 5, Canisius 2

Merrimack at Colgate — Colgate 4, Merrimack 2

St. Lawrence at RIT — St. Lawrence 4, RIT 3

No. 7 Quinnipiac at Vermont — Quinnipiac 6, Vermont 3

TUESDAY

Canisius at Clarkson — Clarkson 4, Canisius 0

More from The Daily Gazette:

Categories: College Sports, Sports

Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George Face Off in Debate – NBC Boston

Boston City Councilors Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu drew sharp distinctions between their campaigns as they faced off Wednesday in the first head-to-head televised debate of the final stretch of Boston’s mayoral contest.

Whoever wins on Nov. 2 will make history as the first woman and first person of color to be elected mayor of Boston.

On the issue of housing, Essaibi George criticized Wu’s proposal to bring back rent control after voters backed a 1994 ballot question banning the policy statewide.

Essaibi George said Wu is making promises she can’t deliver on as mayor and that any change in rent control policy would be up to state lawmakers.

She also said rent control could harm smaller landlords who are key to providing housing.

“Rent control is not the answer. It is not the fix to the challenges here in the city,” Essaibi George said, adding that the city should focus on other strategies like helping potential homeowners with their initial down-payment. “Rent control has failed,” she added.

Wu said the housing situation is so dire the city needs bold answers, like rent control. Wu, who also backs down-payment assistance, said there are residents across the city afraid they can’t afford to stay in the neighborhoods they helped build.

“It’s not enough to sit back and wait while people get pushed out,” she said during the debate on WBZ-TV. “We need rent stabilization.”

The two also clashed on the best way to help respond to an area of the city near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard with a tent city that’s become the region’s most visible symbol of the opioid epidemic.

Essaibi George said the city needs to look at a range of choices, from finding a place to help house the people there to rebuilding a bridge to Long Island that was demolished in 2015 after it was deemed unsafe. City officials want to open a substance use recovery center on the island.

“We have to act,” she said. “It could be my child. It could be Michelle’s child tonight in a tent set on fire.”

Wu said she also believes the city needs to act quickly. She said in her first 100 days she would audit every city-owned building to see if there are housing opportunities for the people sleeping in tents.

“We need to move quickly to have a public health led approach,” she said, adding that the proposal to rebuild the bridge to Long Island, which has run into opposition from neighboring Quincy, is a multi-year project at best.

The two also sparred on other issues, such as education and policing.

Both candidates backed efforts to have mental health officials aid police responding to emergency calls that might include people with mental health issues.

Wu, whose mother struggles with mental health challenges, said she’s “felt the terror of what could go wrong with an armed police officer” responding to a call. Essaibi George said as a member of the city council she helped push for the extra support for police.

Wu’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan. Essaibi George describes herself as a first-generation Arab-Polish American. Throughout its long history, Boston has elected only white men to the top office.

The winning candidate will be sworn in Nov. 16, just two weeks after the election.

The city’s acting mayor, Kim Janey, was sworn in March 24 as the Boston’s first female and first Black mayor after former Mayor Marty Walsh stepped down to become U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden.

Wu, 36, and Essaibi George, 47, defeated other mayoral hopefuls — including Janey — in a preliminary election last month meant to winnow the field to two. All are Democrats. Mayoral races in Boston do not include party primaries.

Wu, who has led the race in recent polls, has racked up a series of high-profile endorsements, including from Janey, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a former member of the Boston City Council. Essaibi George has pulled in endorsements from a range of labor unions.

Essaibi George, a lifelong resident of the city who taught at East Boston High School, has also said Wu’s Chicago roots are relevant to a lot of voters. Wu was born in Chicago and moved to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Essaibi George has stressed her Boston roots.

90,000 Avangard is the best team in the KHL in terms of non-faceoffs, video, analytics – February 3, 2021

In Russia, it is customary not to pay special attention to face-offs as an element of the game. Although it has long been clear that this is an integral part of hockey: for about ten years, coaches and analysts in North America have been studying how to integrate the innovations of the game on the spot into tactical formations.

While centers are being stamped in batches in Canada and the United States, which through one possess premium skills in face-off play, in Russia everything is left to the mercy of the players themselves: learn is good, do not learn – it’s okay.This is largely due to this in our country, center-forwards are the most scarce position. We simply do not know how to prepare players of this role.

Russia supplies the NHL with goalkeepers, defenders, and wingers of all stripes on the conveyor. And the centers, judging by the numerous variations of the composition for the hypothetical Olympic Games with the participation of NHL players, Russia may not gain. Behind Malkin there is an abyss, Shipachev is good, but he did not pull the level of the best league in the world, and then the workers of Namestnikov and Barbashev / Anisimov follow.Recall that Yevgeny Kuznetsov will not be able to participate in the Olympic Games-2022 due to the ban after using cocaine.

Elena Rusco, photo.khl.ru

But Malkin will be almost 36 years old at the Olympics, and if we take into account his play at the start of this season, we can assume that the central axis will simply destroy the national team. No Vasilevsky and an endless number of coachmen-gusevs can cope with elite teams like Canada, where one of the best centers in the world, Bergeron, will play in the fourth link.

Why, in principle, is everything in Russia so bad with the centers? As we said above, the point is that there is simply no one to teach them. But the game on the spot is much easier to train than skating or throwing. For example, the young center Vasily Ponomarev, who recently played at the MFM, has repeatedly mentioned how he is working on face-offs now, playing in the Quebec league. By the way, the same Shipachev, who is the strongest KHL dispatcher, is not as strong on the spot as one could imagine – a little less than fifty percent of the won single combats.

Alexander Mysyakin, Sport24

If you look at the website of advanced statistics, you can see how good Avangard Omsk is at face-offs. Let’s analyze their central line: Knight – Zernov – Semenov – Stas. At the KHL level, this is probably the best axis of the league. But there is also the Olympic champion Ilya Kablukov. What do we see here? The first is Canadian, Stas is Belarusian, and only, perhaps, Zernov can be considered a hypothetical candidate for the position of the center of the national team in China. And then, if the NHL members are not allowed there.

61% of faceoffs won is a cosmic indicator not only for the KHL, but, of course, for the NHL. It is thanks to this component (and, of course, playing in the majority – 26.5%, 1st place in the league) that Hartley’s wards are so cool. Such a powerful implementation of the superfluous, by the way, depends on the game on the spot: the centers win single combat, the team less often needs to start an attack from their goal, therefore, more time remains for positional play. Face-off play is also very helpful in your area: the more often you win face-offs, the more often you have possession of the puck – a key parameter for playing hockey.

“Vanguard” every year methodically improves its game on the spot. In the pre-Francophone era, when Hartley was not yet a coach of Omsk, they had a catastrophic 48%. This was followed by 54%, 56%, and finally the grandmaster’s 61% face-offs. Bob’s team systematically enhances the quality that is so important in modern hockey. Something tells us that the influence of the coach, in whose country there is historically a much more scrupulous attitude to this component, was not without.

Evgeny Semyonov, Sport24

Of course, such a qualitative leap occurred not only because of Hartley’s coaching staff.The management of the club from Balashikha invited the Canadian center Korban Knight this season, which looked brilliant in the Kazakh Barys a year ago. Now Korban wins two out of three face-offs, being the best player in the KHL in terms of play on the spot. And with a huge advantage. By stepping out in Majority 1 Special Brigade and getting nearly 20 minutes of ice each game, Knight makes the difference.

It is enough to see how Knight plays on the dot using the example of this video. His technique is refined to automatism.Here it is just right to pay attention to everything, up to turning the thumb with a working grip. After the throw-in was not won outright, he competently made sure that the team still had the opportunity to start the game immediately with a positional attack.

In the following video, you can see how Knight wins a throw-in in the wrong zone, thereby starting a positional attack and giving the opponent’s defense unnecessary problems.

It’s pretty clear that the Hawks will be a formidable force in the playoffs this season.With the best game in unequal squads (besides the majority, the first place in the minority – 88%) and such a brilliant game on face-offs, they will be able to reach at least the conference finals, or even swing at the Gagarin Cup.

What is the conclusion? It is time for Russian functionaries to urgently do something about the cultivation of centers. Otherwise, a situation may arise in which such rare Olympic Games with NHL players may become a failure for our country. Malkin and Shipachev will not be able to pull the general level, and Khusnutdinov, Ponomarev and the rest of the youngsters simply will not have time to reach their design capacity.

But the solution to the problem, in general, is on the surface: to start teaching a competent game on face-offs not in the KHL clubs, but in children’s schools. Perhaps learn from the same Canadians. Hammer into the heads of kids that this is one of the most important qualities of playing hockey. You can throw the puck on the side when entering the zone, dig on a nickle, but if you cannot win a point, you will be doomed to waste too much time and energy. In modern hockey, this is an unaffordable luxury.

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Shooting history from the left throw-in circle

This is indeed a player without obvious weaknesses, but this is not enough to become the leading hockey player of his generation, win seven “Maurice Richarov” and write his name in the history of world hockey as the best NHL scorer from Russia of all time.There must be something in his game that defines this hockey player, makes him stand out from the general background, does not give even a tiny chance to confuse him with someone else.

[See also: History of Ovechkin’s one-touch throw]

Such a distinctive feature of Alexander Ovechkin is a click from the left circle of the throw-in circle.

“In his case, it all comes down to his shot,” Pittsburgh two-time Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray told NHL.com.- Frankly speaking, most goalkeepers will tell you so. His throw is really very difficult to stop, so he scores so much. “

Video: PIT-VASH: Ovechkin’s powerful throw

A lot has been said about Ovechkin’s van-timer. continues to make the NHL an appealing product in the content-laden world of sports, and itself a millionaire and celebrity.

“This is arguably the best shot in game history,” said reigning Stanley Cup winner and Ovechkin’s Washington teammate Braden Holtby.

It will be fair to say that in this throw there is nothing surprising or fundamentally new for all interested parties, which can and should include NHL goalkeepers. Everyone knows by seconds what exactly will happen when Ovechkin raises his stick in the area of ​​the left throw-in circle. It’s like watching the same movie for the fiftieth time, whose ending is known by heart, but every time it gives an exciting anticipation.

Transverse gear, click, siren, roar of the stands.

Goal is the quintessence of sports such as hockey or football. Their meaning, the reason why people are willing to watch the game day and night. However, it also has a downside, often deliberately hidden from prying eyes. Sleepless nights of goalkeepers unable to fall asleep after the match. Digging in themselves and not finding answers to the questions that interest them most.

Ovechkin’s throw is often one of them. Why is it so hard to stop it? How is it that you know exactly what awaits you, but are unable to prevent the throw from reaching the goal?

Video: KBD-VASH: Ovechkin scores the 39th goal in the season

“This throw is like a rocket that goes at an ideal height, very inconvenient for the goalkeeper, and starts swiftly,” said two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergey Bobrovsky, who has been playing for Columbus for many years – a direct competitor to the Capitals in the Capital Division.

“If you are half a second late and do not see the moment of the throw, it is impossible to react to this bullet,” says Dallas goalkeeper Anton Khudobin, who first met Ovechkin 15 years ago and has since played against him many times at different levels including NHL. – Everyone knows perfectly well what he will throw out of his “office”. And still he scores and scores. I remember how he scored when we played in Washington last year. At the moment of the throw, I lost sight of the puck, because my own player fell in front of me.There, no goalkeeper in the world would have caught. “

[All about Ovechkin’s historic achievement]

Colleague Tom Gulitti, who prepared material on a similar topic on an English-language site, heroically studied all 644 goals that were on Ovechkin’s side ahead of Washington’s pause, calculating just over 20% (131) of them were scored with a click from the left face-off circle, most of which rose to 38.5% (92 out of 239 goals). At first glance, yes, a lot, but not very much.But these are career averages. Ovechkin’s noticeable tilt towards the van timer occurred in the 2012-13 season. He began to score 31.8% of goals in general and 55.5% in the majority with a click from his point. The latter figure is likely to grow further – so, out of ten of his goals in the majority this season, eight were thrown from the move from the left throw-in circle.

A couple of years ago on the Russian TV channel “Zvezda” was shown an interview with Ovechkin, which he gave to one of the best players in the world hockey of the 1980s, Vyacheslav Fetisov.Two hockey legends, past and present, put on their skates, went out on the ice together, and Ovechkin demonstrated his shot to Fetisov, accompanied by a unique commentary.

“I never look at the goalkeeper, – said the captain of“ Washington ”. – I know that he stands (on the near post) and rolls out a little. moves, while opening up space in the near corner, 15 centimeters from the ice. ”

“The best thing, of course, is to throw (to the goalkeeper) under the pancake,” Ovechkin said, and then added when Fetisov began to clarify where it is better for him to pass for the van timer: a little forward, a little back, or in the middle. – And it makes no difference to me. I still adjust. ”

These simple remarks have a lot of food for thought.

If the best sniper of his generation pays no attention to the goalkeeper at the moment of the signature click from the left throw-in circle, then the accuracy of the shot itself remains in the background for him. His power and speed of release come to the fore.

Video: VASH NYR: Ovechkin and Carlson beat the Rangers

“What makes this throw special is the strength with which he is released, as well as the flex of his stick, which makes it difficult to read. – said Rangers goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist, who recently came in sixth in NHL history in victories, beating Terry Savchuk.- They all throw differently. (Patrick) Laine is more accurate. Ovechkin throws just powerfully. Many of his heads fly into the net, piercing the goalkeepers, passing through his arms, through his legs. (Shi) Weber is from the same category. You get used to a certain speed, but there are a couple of guys who stand out. ”

During last year’s All-Star shooting competition on January 27, Ovechkin registered a shot at 163 km / h. they always understand two things: exactly where the puck will fly and how it will behave at the same time.

“He uses sticks with different flexes,” said former Ovechkin teammate Philip Grubauer, who moved to Colorado after winning the Stanley Cup.

Flexibility is one of the main individual characteristics of NHL strikers. It is known that Ovechkin plays with flex around 80, which is below even average values, for which, as a rule, the range from 85 to 100 is taken. Robin Hood bow.

The flex of Phil Kessel’s stick is even lower, but he relies mainly on the wrist shot in his game. At the same time, most of the “heavyweights” in the NHL, which include Ovechkin himself, routinely use sticks with a flex of 110 and higher. The lower the flex, the – in theory – the higher the likelihood that the power of the throw will be extinguished. However, in Ovechkin’s case, even the basic laws of physics work differently.

Hence the unpredictability of his throw.

Video: VASH-TBL: Vasilevsky did not cope with Ovechkin’s throw

“Usually the puck flies straight and even,” Andrei Vasilevsky, the first issue of Tampa, noticed.- His throw is able to change direction right in the direction of travel. He has scored a lot of most goals from his point and all the goalkeepers know that he will shoot from that position, but they cannot stop him. Difficult to get used to, especially when it’s a very powerful shot. He’s a big guy, so he throws hard. ”

“ Power and unpredictability, ”concluded Holtby, who deals with Ovechkin’s flick almost every day. The hardest shot for the goalkeeper is when the puck is spinning. But usually it’s just someone lucky when he hits the puck harder than necessary, and he manages to fool you.(Ovechkin) has it all the time. The puck seems to be dancing (after his throws) in different directions. ” eternal duel with goalkeepers.In the NHL, everything is decided by a split second at the moment of release, which is why it is so difficult to stop a wrist shot by Vladimir Tarasenko or the same Ovechkin when he throws, rebuilding from the flank to the center. kick with a finn, from under the defender’s skates, practically without a swing.Many goalkeepers believe that, all other things being equal, this shot by Ovechkin is even more dangerous than his van timer.

The deafening success of his click after the lateral transmission in the blue line is that it is impossible to prepare for it. The biomechanics of movements is such that goalkeepers cannot do anything with it, which Ovechkin willingly uses.

[Latest NHL news on Twitter @NHLrussia]

“He has the strongest shot in the NHL and possibly in the whole world,” the first number of Avalanche, Semyon Varlamov, who started his career in the strongest league in the world on the same team with Ovechkin.- It is difficult for the goalkeeper to stop his van timer, because you do not have time to prepare and take the right position. If there were an extra half second, everything would be different. But he always throws on the move, besides, you never know where he will go: either under a pancake, or over a trap. ” added Lundqvist’s understudy to the Rangers, Alexander Georgiev, who is just getting to know the peculiarities of the game of the leading NHL snipers. – He really has a pretty hard shot.But the faster the goalkeeper moves (to the opposite corner) and takes position, the more chances he has to catch him. ” The striker scored 239 goals out of 644, playing on the power play (37.1%) and although the exact statistics simply do not exist, the lion’s share of them were van-timers from the left throw-in circle. to the limit.

“Especially against Washington,” Murray clarified. “They have a dangerous majority that you have to deal with. It looks like they are (thanks to him) at the top of the league table every year.”

“Of course, you try to read it,” added Khudobin, referring to the inevitable crossover to Ovechkin played by the Capitals in the majority. , and (Evgeny) Kuznetsov They are still playing on (TJ) in the center.But when you read that the program will go (to Ovechkin), of course, you move forward, you try to close most of the gate. You always keep it in mind. ” In the regular season, Ovechkin left 24 notches in the heart of the Swedish goalkeeper, and Ovechkin has scored more goals than any other NHL goalkeeper in action than Lundqvist.

“Victims” of Ovechkin are many among goalkeepers of different styles, especially goalkeepers of the Eastern Conference clubs in general and the Capital Division in particular. Long-term Penguins goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury (24 goals conceded from Ovechkin) probably did not mind moving as far as possible from Ovechkin’s van timer, although, as we saw in the Stanley Cup final this year, he overtook him in Las Vegas …

Video: NYR-VASH: Ovechkin scored the 45th goal of the season

Georgiev was also a classic sniper’s “victim”.In his first match against Washington of his career at the end of the previous championship, he received three holes in eight minutes of the first period, including Ovechkin’s puck after a van-timer in the power, and went to the bench.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that acquaintance with Ovechkin’s hockey talent gives goalkeepers little positive emotions. But any personal scores recede into the background before his talent.

“You know,” Lundqvist grinned. “If it was a good shot, sometimes you just have to take off your hat and admit it was a good shot.”

An Edmonton player hit his head on the ice in a fight. It looked scary, but nothing happened – NHL Entertainment – Blogs

The helmet fell off at the wrong time.

The fight between Edmonton’s Zach Cassian and Vancouver’s Zach McEwan was not spontaneous. The cameras caught the moment when the two attackers agree, standing opposite each other during the throw-in. A millisecond after the puck hit the ice, the two Zaks went to swing their fists.

Cassian is a seasoned fighter and enforcer, he has 800 penalty minutes for 500 NHL games (of course, not all of them for fights), and the HockeyFights website counted 35 fights in his career.But lately, already full of bumps Cassian fights less often than the young and greyhound opponent from the Canucks (6 fights in one short season only 2020/21).

From the first strike to the intervention of the linesmen, the fight lasted only six seconds. However, during the scuffle, Cassian’s helmet fell off, and when McEwan put his opponent on the ice, the Edmonton forward hit his bare head. As soon as the linemen pulled the Vancouver player away, McEwan immediately showed the Oilers bench that the man defeated in the fight needed urgent help.

We remember many similar cases that ended much worse. As you know, the only death on ice in the history of the NHL occurred just after a strong head hit on the ice. Later, doctors found that Bill Masterton’s health was not the best even before he was hit by the fatal force – but it was provoked by head injuries after the hits.

In 2015, then-captain of Avangard Sergei Kalinin suffered a terrible injury during the playoffs against Barys.He received a clean power from defender Roman Savchenko, after which he fell on the ice with a flying helmet. Right on the ice, he began to have convulsions (and that video is hard to watch even now) – but the doctors promptly provided assistance, did not let his tongue sink, and Kalinin was hospitalized. Kalinin spent three weeks in the hospital – of course he did not play more in that playoffs, but in the offseason he moved to New Jersey.

In November 2019, Ottawa forward Scott Saburin fell on the ice after an ordinary game collision with David Backes and simply lay motionless, although his helmet did not fly off.The moment looked so scary that Backes went into the locker room in tears and could not finish that match. However, everything is in order with Saburin – he returned to the NHL, where last year he even managed to fight with Lucic.

Now Cassian did not need a stretcher, he left the ice on his feet (albeit supported by partners). Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said that Zach was in a good mood after the game and even joked. For the old-school Tippett, this is hardly an emergency, and the younger Quinn Hughes said that everything looked scary and should not have happened at all.

We wish Cassian good health too. It is concussions, as well as their consequences, which many then suppress with painkillers and alcohol – the most potentially dangerous injury for NHL players.

Photo: REUTERS / Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Kuznetsov took a goal from Ovechkin, missed a blow to the head and became the main star of the match

Kuzya managed to do everything.

“Washington” hosted “Colorado” in the next match of the regular season of the NHL, and the plot, as often happens recently in games with the participation of champions, turned out to be incendiary.

It all started quite casually. The hosts opened an account, the guests made equal. But gradually the situation began to escalate, the hosts’ coach Tod Rierden took a video review twice (did not agree with the cancellation of his team’s goal and saw an offside position when the opponents scored), but the referees both times ruled in favor of Colorado.

COPS PROTECTS THE NET! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Mg6Xg9O6jk

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 8, 2019

In the second period, when playing the next majority, Ovechkin shot Varlamov from the left throw-in circle.The puck was crawling on the ice in the direction of the goal line, and Kuznetsov finished it off, turning Ovi’s goal into an assist, although Ovechkin was the first to go to the bench to congratulate him.

No pre-mature whistle this time! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/NHYBEOjjUb

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 8, 2019

“We are not selfish,” the Russian center said during the break. – The team needs points, no one thinks about who scores there.

And in the third period, Kuznetsov became an assistant when defender Matt Niskanen made the score 3: 1.

https: // twitter.com / Capitals / status / 1093693206095716353

And here the climax begins. The guests played one goal, and in the middle of the final period, Colorado defender Ian Cole made a power trick to Kuznetsov’s head. Before the collision, the rivals went on an almost parallel course, and the Russian forward did not notice the danger.

Tom Wilson unloads on Ian Cole after he injures Evgeny Kuznetsov pic.twitter.com/8sozsLdUOx

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 8, 2019

One of the toughest tough guys in the NHL, Tom Wilson, immediately rushed to take revenge and beat the rude guy. By the way, for this episode, Cole received a 20-minute penalty, and Wilson – 17.

Tom Wilson DESTROYS Ian Cole after he injures Evgeny Kuznetsov with a blind-side hit. 😨👊 pic.twitter.com/TN6353B4Kv

— Kliff’s Bedroom (@KliffsBedroom) February 8, 2019

Kuznetsov lay on the ice for a bit and continued the game, while Colorado equalized the score and put the match into overtime, in which the outcome happened.

Now Ovechkin has already deliberately given an assist to his partner, and Kuznetsov realized a one-on-one exit with Varlamov. There were less than a minute left to play in overtime.

Seriously – is there anyone you'd rather have out there for an @EASportsNHL 3-on-3 than Kuzy? #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Mkoh8H45EU

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 8, 2019

Nobody has any questions about the best player of the match.

#CapsAvs 3 ⭐️'s of the game:

⭐️: @Kuzya92
⭐️⭐️: Matt Niskanen
⭐️⭐️⭐️: COL: M. Rantanen pic.twitter.com/ZGDU1AG24b

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 8, 2019

Washington won the second victory in a row, but Ovechkin cannot score after the break for the All-Star Game, however, he is regularly gaining points with passes.

NHL. Regular season

Washington Capitals (Washington) – Colorado Avalanche (Denver) – 4: 3 OT (1: 0, 1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 0)

Goals: Burakovski, 6:31. Kuznetsov, 28:38 (big), 64:12. Niskanen, 40:34. – McKinnon, 20:35.Rantanen, 45:10. Wilson, 57:53.

Goals: Dadonov, 5:22 (big). Sevure, 37:32. Matheson, 64:14. – McKenna, 33:51 (men.). Pettersson, 48:17.

Goals: Smith, 17:48. Arvidsson, 48:41. Johansen, 60:43. – Heiskanen, 44:05. Fedun, 49:46.

Goals: Rodriguez, 28:15. Pominville, 35:14. Skinner, 45:48, 59:04. Scandella, 55:41. – Folk, 4:04. Teraväinen, 21:37, 63:25. McKegg, 41:54. McGinn, 51:03. Niederreiter, 54:58 (big).

Goals: Schenn, 64:01.

Goals: Couturier, 27:00. Vorachek, 59:42. – Wagner, 8:46. Kempe, 32:33.

Winning bullet: Toffoli

Goals: Nyquist, 11:19. Rasmussen, 44:41 (big). Vanek, 59:57. – Marchesso, 22:04 (big), 30:22. Karlsson, 27:08. McNabb, 51:07.

Goals: Drouen, 7:51, 20:43. Weber, 44:02. Given, 51:22. Kotkaniemi, 54:04 (large). – Scheifle, 4:54. Lemieux, 59:08.

Goals: Tkachuk, 7:23. Duchenne, 38:08, 59:29.Stone, 46:26.

Goals: Osterle, 24:20. Garland, 26:03. – Sedlak, 3:02. Savard, 17:13. Anderson, 30:24 (large). Jenner, 53:52.

Goals: Debrinkat, 17:59 (large), 34:01. Saad, 18:58 (big). Toews, 63:21. – Biga, 22:20. Leivo, 24:41. Pettersson, 58:08 (large).

Goals: Jankowski, 4:36. Brody, 37:42. – Kane, 12:39, 36:27. Burns, 13:42. Gertle, 14:04, 58:37.

Goals: Ericsson, 42:50. – Nurse, 2:15.Ratty, 24:32. Dreisatl 45:35 (large). Cassian, 58:40.

Goals: Rooney, 5:32. – Barzal, 13:42.

Winning Bullet: Bailey

Ovechkin – the best – Real time

And became the athlete of the week according to Realnoe Vremya

Having come a long way, Alexander Ovechkin in one evening “tore off” absolutely everything that can be won in club hockey.He lifted the Stanley Cup he had dreamed of all his life for the first time, and took the title of the most valuable player in the playoffs. Such a fantastic season performed by “Alexander the Great” (as they call him in the NHL) happened right after the disastrous one. Realnoe Vremya explains why this time we saw a completely new Ovechkin.

Didn’t forget about the hockey brothers even in the most important match of life

Ovechkin finally did it. After 13 years of failures in the playoffs, the eternal curse of the second round of the Stanley Cup (excluding a season at Dynamo during the NHL lockout), reproaches from Russian and overseas critics that personal statistics are more important to him than the team result.Well, Alexander Ovechkin finally lifted the coveted Stanley Cup over his head.

Yes, there were many personal trophies, excellent statistics, the status of the most stellar and strongest Russian hockey player overseas. Everything except the main thing. Over the years, the Capitals have gone through five head coaches and dozens of players who have not justified themselves.

But, according to the hockey player himself, throughout all 13 years of his overseas career, he believed that he would win the Stanley Cup. And he congratulated the fans on the main success of the team in its entire history:

– In reality, this moment is even better.I almost feel like a dream. It has been a long and difficult season. We have worked so hard, have overcome so many things over the years. We have been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. I have been waiting for him from the first day. And I am happy that I found myself connected with this organization and spent all these 13 or 14 years in it. We have gone through many difficult times, but now we are going home to our relatives, to our fans. I’m incredibly excited now and it’s hard for me to speak, ” the official website of the NHL quoted Ovechkin.

According to the hockey player himself, during all 13 years of his overseas career, he believed that he would win the Stanley Cup.Photo nhl.com

And what is most touching is that Washington striker Alexander Ovechkin met in a bib with the logo of Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in memory of the team that crashed in a plane crash on September 7, 2011. That’s what real hockey brother memory means.

How did it all start?

In July of last year, photos and videos from the fashionable wedding of Alexander Ovechkin and his beloved Anastasia Shubskaya went around the Russian press. The celebration took place in the luxurious concert hall “Barvikha Luxury Village” in the village of Barvikha, Moscow region.

Perhaps it was with the performance of Boney M at this wedding that Alexander Ovechkin began his ascent to his main dream in a sports career. The fact is that during the performance of one of the popular songs of the disco group, the groom, naked to the waist, snatched the microphone from the soloist and began to sing along and dance on stage.

The video with incendiary dances went around the entire Instagram, and then the domestic media – and the wave of criticism rose with renewed vigor, reaching North America.They criticized not so much for the scope of the marriage, but for the hockey player’s physical shape – namely, for the strongly protruding stomach and far from ideal muscles. And all this after the most unsuccessful season in Alexander’s overseas career. In the 2016/2017 season, Ovechkin not only did not score his usual “fifty kopecks” – he scored some 33 pathetic (for himself, of course) washers for the regular season. And the fans began to write that this is the root of all the hockey player’s problems, why he is not enough for the decisive playoff matches.Like, instead of working on himself, he walks and allows himself to run.

A month later, Alexander Ovechkin admitted in an interview that he himself realized that he had been preparing for the seasons incorrectly, and now, given all the negative experience, he decided to prepare differently. It is not known what Alexander the Great did to himself on the ice and “on the ground”, but he really played in a completely different way.

No, his famous throws from the throw-in circle have not gone anywhere, and points were scored according to the old schedule.But he still began to play more with the team than with himself, as it was before. Alexander finally gave up the desire to be the main one on the ice, and the team, seeing this, began to fight for their captain with even greater strength. How great and manly lively the atmosphere in the Washington Capitals’ locker room is can be seen in this short but eloquent video.

But even this list of his latest achievements is not finished. The captain of “Washington” became the owner of the “Conn Smythe Trophy” – the prize for the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup this season.It is not surprising. Ovechkin in the 2017/2018 season tore all his competitors on the ice. He became the best sniper in both the regular championship and the playoffs. In the current playoffs, Ovi has 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists) in 24 games, setting a new Capitals record for goals. And in the regular season he scored 49 goals.

In previous years, Alexander the Great had taken personal league prizes more than once. He has won the Hart Trophy three times, the MVP of the regular season. Before Ovechkin, only three players collected such a full house from trophies – Wayne Gretzky (9 Hart Trophies and 2 Conn Smythe), Bobby Orr (3 Hart and 2 Connas) and Mario Lemieux (3 and 2 ).

Even Alexander’s mother spoke out about criticism of her son after winning the Stanley Cup, while showing deep knowledge of the history of Russian hockey.

– The guys here defend the honor of our country. They show what kind of hockey we have in Russia. We should be proud of them, not throw mud at them. Many people pour over Sasha, they say that he is such and such … So, let them close their mouths. Sasha glorifies our country, glorifies our hockey! Sasha took the baton from the generation of Larionov, Krutov, Fetisov, Fedorov, Mogilny.And what a relay race! Look, Sasha is one of the top 100 players in NHL history. He wins prizes every year! Every year, do you understand? – said Tatiana Ovechkina.

How did this happen?

The last match in Las Vegas started quite cheerfully, and when Washington lost the lead, the captain of the capital immediately scored a goal, performing it so that it was clear for sure – it was a goal by Alexander Ovechkin. So it turned out to be typical-branded. But have you ever seen such happiness during a celebration? It seemed that Ovi was about to jump out of his clothes again and start dancing, humming the song of Boney M.

With this puck, Ovechkin set a club record for goals in the playoffs – 15 goals.

When 2:27 was left before the final serena, Ovechkin blocked the shot and went to rest. For the rest of the time, Ovechkin sat on the bench, and it seemed that in those two and a half minutes he had gone through all the circles of hell. The camera now and then snatched out his face on the bench, and he then closed his eyes, then just looked at the floor – it was so hard for him to follow what was happening on the ice. And he waited.

So now Alexander Ovechkin (like Yevgeny Malkin last year) can prepare a solid tuxedo for a trip to visit the US President at the White House.Moreover, Donald Trump himself has already expressed admiration for Ovechkin.

“Congratulations to Washington on a great game and winning the Stanley Cup. Alex Ovechkin, the team captain, was great – a real superstar. Washington is happy. This is the moment! ” – wrote Trump on his Twitter.

Eric Dobrolyubov

Sport hockey
90,000 Hockey of our childhood: the boys of the 70s owe a lot to Vladimir Petrov

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“He had the puck on a leash, on a hook, like trained”

We all come from childhood.I sit in front of the TV and watch hockey. That we needed so badly. Hockey of our childhood. All 70s passed with this hockey.

I am a CSKA fan, fortunately. Although many then hated this team for luring the best players to themselves. They just went to serve in the Armed Forces of the USSR, that’s all.

I can name the entire lineup of that team from the 70s, absolutely all. Because each of them is a part of my childhood. But there was a three, the most important three …

It is very difficult to perceive them separately.Somehow, Tarasov picked them up to each other so that they did not spill water. In life and in the game. Nimble, unusually technical, but also extraordinarily courageous, going one-on-three – it doesn’t matter at the gate or at the side – Valery Kharlamov. Nasty, the hero of the “patch”, the best scorer of all times and peoples, the absolute leader by nature, the leader, the cheerleader on the court and in the locker room – Boris Mikhailov. And Vladimir Petrov …

Powerful, impenetrable, unusually adequate, reasonable, seeing and hearing everything … It seemed that he was playing at his own tempo, even a little slowly.But a miracle happened: the players of the opposing team suddenly froze, not getting in time, rushed around him, through him like crazy. And he just didn’t pay attention to them. So it seemed … I saw everything on the court, played with my head held high, never looked at the puck. She was already on a leash, on a hook, like a trained one. He handed out crazy assists and scored a lot himself.

They felt each other with their eyes closed. It was not even an automatism, brought to perfection, no.They lived and played to the beat, in tune, as if they had one heart beating for three. The first was Kharlamov, when he was 33. We remember this horror of 81 – a car accident, treacherously slippery road after rain. And the national team then fought in the Canada Cup, which they won brilliantly, dedicating their victory to Kharlamov.

And now Petrov … There were legends about his difficult character. He could send like this, directly even Tarasov himself. And with Tikhonov it did not work out very well. Petrov left for SKA Leningrad when he was already well over 30.SKA was then a clear outsider, completely lost, not like now. But this picture stands in front of me like a spilled one: playing coach Petrov, no longer so fast, even a little plump, in a limited space, on a “scarf”, takes turns around three and scores, scores … Old Petrov, no longer in the national team, how did he play then …

How much joy this man from my distant childhood brought to all of us, how much pride he inspired for the country. Yes, it seems a little awkward, but this is only at first glance.He possessed filigree technique and vision of the game. If Petrov was on the ice, then “everything is calm in Baghdad,” then he will pull it out, God forbid.

And another captured frame: Petrov takes a throw-in. He drives up to the point in a businesslike manner, his right hand is almost completely at the hook of the stick, looks around, looks back, at his defenders – Gusev, Lutchenko or Tsygankov and … He almost always won the throw-in.

And if we, the boys of the 70s, have at least something good, meaningful, frank, it is largely due to that Soviet hockey.That team. That link: Mikhailov – Petrov – Kharlamov.

Thanks to the legendary troika, which was called, as it should be according to unwritten hockey laws, by the name of the center forward.

She will remain in history for all time – Petrov’s troika.

In memory of hockey player Vladimir Petrov: footage of the legendary USSR-Czechoslovakia match

Watch the related video

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 27334 dated March 1, 2017

Newspaper headline:
He played with his head held high …

HC Avangard | News | Sparrow Hills

Results of the KHL playing day (19.09.2013)

Return of Vorobyov, fall of “Vanguard”, refereeing incident in Bratislava, “cracker” Stan and salvation in Riga – in the review of matches on Thursday. Author: Dmitry Erykalov

Do you understand what Avangard did? The management of the Omsk club, having dismissed Petri Matikainen, uncorked the bottle, blew off the stop valve. Finnish coach “Avangrad”, the head of Sergei Svetlov flew.In a quiet mode, the KHL lasted exactly two days. Thursday night gave another reason to talk about coaching resignations. Place of action Yaroslavl.

Yuri Yakovlev, declaring a credit of trust to Tom Rowe, was obviously cunning. After the defeat from “Spartak” on home ice, albeit on shootouts, clouds thickened over the American specialist, but the president of “Lokomotiv” denied it in every possible way. The next day it was possible to make sure that Yakovlev’s words should be divided in two. At first, rumors about Rowe’s dismissal spread from across the ocean, as reported by our colleagues from TSN, and closer to the night, the fact of resignation was confirmed in the club itself.

How will Rowe in Yaroslavl be remembered? A stubborn, almost manic, desire to plant North American hockey on the Yaroslavl land. In Tom’s version, it is quite straightforward and even primitive. The desire to use forechecking, to play hard and actively, he confirmed in the past offseason. But instead of the best manifestations of North American hockey, Yaroslavl received a viscous and not spectacular team, incapable of creative actions in a foreign zone.

The management of the club is also largely to blame, which left Rowe with a very specific selection of players.Alexey Kalyuzhny and Niklas Hagman turned out to be not the kind of people who are able to lead Lokomotiv to the Gagarin Cup, but as it turned out, without them, everything is even worse. Nikolai Borshevsky and Tom Rowe left Lokomotiv Nikolai Borshevsky and Tom Rowe left Lokomotiv Neither Plotnikov, neither Averin, nor the new legionnaires of Yaroslavl turned out to be ready for the role of leaders. Is it Rowe’s fault?

As with Matikainen, Rowe’s resignation is not a question of five or six opening matches of the season. Claims against both foreign coaches have been dragging on since last year, and the apotheosis for “Avangard” and “Lokomotiv” was the performance in the playoffs.Siberians with a creak passed the first round, and Yaroslavl were beaten by the guys of Andrei Nazarov. Enough reason to get fired? Quite. But in Omsk and Yaroslavl they decided to take a break and wait for the effect. It seems in vain.

Rowe will be remembered as the coach who came to help Lokomotiv after the tragedy, but for himself, the former Carolina scout, it was a great chance to make a name for himself. Despite the given chances, an intelligent American leaves Russia, confirming that the alliance of Russian players and coaches from across the ocean is not adapted to life.

“Avangard” took a break, which was spent on negotiations with Milos Rzhiga. “Atlant” put on the bench the young coach Alexei Kudashov and General Manager Alexei Zhamnov, and is clearly not in a hurry with the change of power. “Lokomotiv” gave the intrigue a few minutes to live: Pyotr Vorobyov was appointed the new driver of the railway workers. It is interesting that not long before that there was information that Kari Heikkilä would come to Row’s place. As the Raimo Summanen sect flourished in Omsk, so in Yaroslavl it was almost unanimously welcomed the third coming of Heikkil.As a result, the return of the Finn, who brought Lokomotiv one bronze and two silver medals, remained a dream.

What should be expected from Vorobyov? At one time, Pyotr Ilyich created a team, on the basis of which Vladimir Vuytek took two titles in two years. The second visit of the experienced coach to Yaroslavl took place in the 2009/2010 season, when he took over Lokomotiv during the season, but only stumbled in the semifinals, letting the sensation of that season – HC MVD pass ahead.Or, at least, raise the team from the bottom.

Appointment of Vorobyov was accepted by many with a bang. The veteran of the coaching department gave a lot to hockey Yaroslavl, and was the first to start building a new team. The last two years he worked in the VHL, and after the team was abolished, he took the Yaroslavl “youth team.” “Loko” under the leadership of Vorobyov began to amaze from the offseason, when it took out all the rivals in one wicket, setting performance records. The season in the MHL for young railroad workers promised to be more successful than ever.Vorobyov’s guys and the regular season began with a shock, losing only to the Spartak players – the Kharlamov Cup finalists.

The essence of doubt is whether Vorobyov dropped out of big hockey? Will the pace set by the KHL be pulled due to age and health? Will he be able to build relationships with experienced players? Let in today’s “Locomotive” characteristic and rough players can be counted on one hand, and the number of question marks opposite Vorobyov’s prospects is off the charts.

At least a third of the adult “Locomotive” has worked under his supervision in the VHL, which means that Vorobyov knows their capabilities, and they are his, quite tough, requirements.You can be sure that in a dozen years Daniil Apalkov or Emil Galimov will say that the time spent in Vorobyov’s team gave them much more than under the supervision of any other coach. Pyotr Ilyich knows how to temper young people and squeeze the maximum out of his wards. But will there be a result?

Until recently, Lokomotiv’s game resembled a roller coaster. After today’s appointment, it’s time to talk about Sparrow Hills.

EVENTS OF THE DAY

Kornoukhov continued the work of Matikainen

Petri left – chaos remained.Something like this can be described the state of affairs in Omsk “Avangard.” When the official “twitter” of the club uses words like “sickening” in relation to the game of “hawks”, it says a lot. Even after the resignation of Matikainen, the players of the Siberian club did not become a single team at the snap of their fingers. Yugra (Khanty-Mansiysk) – Barys (Astana) – 2: 6 (1: 3, 0: 1, 1: 2) 0: 1 – Upper – 04:11 (bul.). 0: 2 – Litvinenko – 08:25 (5×3). 0: 3 – Bochenski – 09:24 (5×4). 1: 3 – Pepeliaev (Yakubov, Krysanov) – 17:27 (5×4). 1: 4 – Rakhmanov – 31:27.1: 5 – Boyd – 43:16 (5×4). 1: 6 – Boyd – 45:00 (5×4). 2: 6 – Gorbunov – 45:30.

Goalkeepers: Biryukov – Akhonen. Shots: 24 (5-12-7) – 23 (11-7-5). Faceoffs: 26 (14-3-9) – 38 (15-10-13). Penalty: 12 (6-2-4) – 10 (6-2-2).

Avtomobilist (Yekaterinburg) – Avangard (Omsk Region) – 4: 1 (0: 0, 1: 1, 3: 0) 1: 0 – Malykhin – 22:03. 1: 1 – Kvasha – 30:45. 2: 1 – Malykhin – 42:21. 3: 1 – Lewandowski – 49:14. 4: 1 – Wiklund – 51:42 (5×4).

Goalkeepers: Kovarzh – Lassila. Shots: 30 (9-8-13) – 27 (10-11-6).Faceoffs: 29 (11-8-10) – 23 (9-7-7). Penalty: 6 (2-0-4) – 22 (4-4-14).

CSKA (Moscow) – Ak Bars (Kazan) – 2: 0 (0: 0, 2: 0, 0: 0) 1: 0 – Grigorenko (, Radulov) – 23:31 (5×4). 2: 0 – Filppula – 31:25.

Goalkeepers: Stanya – Barulin. Shots: 32 (14-8-10) – 23 (11-4-8). Faceoffs: 22 (5-8-9) – 29 (9-8-12). Penalty: 8 (2-0-6) – 18 (2-6-10).

Yevgeny Kornoukhov’s debut match as head coach (albeit with the prefix acting) did not come close to resembling Hollywood. In real life, the scenario according to which an inexperienced coach enters the locker room and, with thickening eyebrows (and they are expressive in Kornoukhov), raises his guys to fight with the power of fiery speech, is practically excluded.

Problems of “Vanguard” are much deeper than questions of tactics and motivation. The team, as they say, does not run. “Avtomobilist” was faster and more aggressive, and in many respects from this – another string bag of penalty minutes. 22 minutes (taking into account the disciplinary penalty of Andrei Ivanov) – this is commonplace for today’s “Vanguard.” It is surprising that “Avtomobilist” practically did not use it. The only majority realized by the Urals came in the third period, when Tobias Viklund put an end to the match.For the Swedish defender, this was the first goal in the KHL.

What surprised Kornoukhov? Is that an unexpected timeout at the end of the second period. There was also a temporary transfer of Oleg Kvasha to the first link, which, apparently, the experienced centerfrard deserved an abandoned puck. The last two seasons Kornoukhov headed “Omsk Yasterbov”, which means he had to give his pupils a chance. But he made his debut in the KHL miniature and high-spirited forward Maxim Kazakov, who became the top scorer of the World Cup among youth teams.

“Vanguard” can only wait for the arrival of a gray-haired magician with a broken Russian and a magic wand. With its help he will try to revive Frolov and K, who slept through the beginning of the championship and slipped to the very bottom. not enough. External intervention is urgently needed. And we will only rejoice for the clubs that got in the way of such a disassembled “Vanguard.” Who knows, maybe in October the Omsk club will take points away for happiness.

Torchetti holds the bar

“Ak Bars”, the leader in the Eastern Conference, came to visit the first serious rival from the West. CSKA – the thermometer of the state of the renewed Kazan club. A similar status “CSKA” acquired after an enchanting victory in the Moscow derby. What did the Torchetti thermometer show?

The first thing that caught my eye was the difference in mood between the players of CSKA and “Ak Bars.” Despite the unfilled stands of LSC CSKA, the hosts acted more charged and more active.In many ways, the game against “Ak Bars” was for John Torchetti’s charges a continuation of the battle with “Dynamo”. A distinctive feature of the “army team” in the last two matches of the championship is an exorbitant pace, which allowed them to play on a par with the champion, and he also stumped Kazan.

The advantage of CSKA in the movement began to manifest itself from about the second period, and terrifying mistakes of the defenders of “Ak Bars” were layered on this trump card of Muscovites. To be specific, the pair Zakharchuk – Panin. It was Stepan Zakharchuk’s inaccurate pass in his zone that led to the second missed by Kazan washer …The third pair of “Ak Bars” made every effort so that Ilari Filppula opened the scoring for CSKA! The Finnish slug at the start of the championship annoyed Alexander Radulov and squandered his chances, but this time he could not refuse hospitable Zakharchuk and Panin.

CSKA confidently outplayed “Ak Bars”, and Rastislav Stanya designed the first “cracker” of the season. For a Slovak, this is especially valuable, because before this match Burmistrov and Co. were the best majority in the KHL. This time, none of the attempts of the “leopards” special brigade resulted in a goal.The enthusiasm for the game of the updated “Ak Bars” will surely subside, and Torchetti will disappear from the execution lists, at least for a while.

Slovan wins the All-Star Game and loses

On September 19, what had been talked about for several months was officially announced. The All-Star Game for the 2013/2014 season is being moved from Prague to Bratislava. The luxurious Prague “O2 Arena” will never receive the best players in Europe. The reason is obscure, and rooted in the relationship of the owners of one of the largest ice hockey arenas in the Old World.Slovak brothers came to the Czechs with their slightly more modest “Slovnaft Arena.” Dynamo R (Riga) – Dynamo M (Moscow) – 3: 2 B (0: 1, 1: 0, 1: 1, 0: 0, 1 : 0) 0: 1 – Pestushko – 13:30 (5×3). 1: 1 – Gossa – 28:05. 1: 2 – Pestushko – 40:10. 2: 2 – Shchekhura – 59:59 (6×5). 3 : 2 – Polak – 65:00 (PB).

Goalkeepers: Tellqvist – Lazushin. Shots: 26 (7-7-9-3) – 31 (11-8-8-4). Faceoffs: 28 (5-10-11-2) – 26 (10-7-6-3). Penalty: 12 (6-4-2-0) – 10 (4-4-2-0).

Slovan (Bratislava) – Vityaz (Podolsk) – 1: 4 (0: 2, 1: 2, 0: 0) 0: 1 – Vasiliev – 11:54.0: 2 – Khafizullin – 13:36. 0: 3 – Solodukhin – 20:48. 0: 4 – Payette (Podzins) – 35:55. 1: 4 – Shkoula (, Sersen) – 37:42 (5×4).

Goalkeepers: Koprzhiva – Backlund. Shots: 38 (12-15-11) – 23 (12-10-1). Faceoffs: 34 (18-8-8) – 46 (18-13-15). Penalty: 31 (29-2-0) – 10 (4-6-0).

Lev (Prague) – Torpedo (Nizhny Novgorod) – 4: 3 B (1: 1, 0: 2, 2: 0, 0: 0, 1: 0) 1: 0 – Shevts – 04:18 (4×4). 1: 1 – Valentko – 08:05 (5×3). 1: 2 – Zharkov (Happy) – 26:10. 1: 3 – Volski (, Hietanen) – 34:06 (5×4).2: 3 – Klepish – 48:00. 3: 3 – Turnberg – 53:07 (5×4). 4: 3 – Turnberg – 65:00 (PB).

Goalkeepers: Vekhanen – Gelashvili. Shots: 32 (7-6-15-4) – 34 (17-13-4-0). Faceoffs: 39 (13-11-12-3) – 33 (10-12-10-1). Penalty: 24 (10-4-10-0) – 43 (6-0-37-0). As expected, instead of the beloved stellar weekend format, all the main events will take place on the same day – January 11. On this day, in addition to the match, there will be a “Master Show”, as well as contests and a show program for the audience. The day before, on January 10, the Legends Match will take place – a meeting between teams formed from popular veterans of Slovak and Russian hockey.

It would seem that if not the players, then the Slovan fans should have been delighted with this news. Instead, Rostislav Chad’s team suffered a painful defeat from a competitor for a place in the playoffs. Vityaz came to the capital of Slovakia to coolly take away glasses. The removal of Tomas Moyzhis before the end of the match could have become fatal. “Vityaz” played in the majority for five minutes, but scored only after the teams equalized in the compositions. A deadly shot from Alexander Vasiliev in the first period and a shot under the crossbar from Dinar Khafizullin in the second – this is a recipe for spoiled mood of Slovak fans.In the future, the teams exchanged goals, but this is unlikely to inspire Slovan’s 10,000 fans.

“Slovan” still have not won a single victory in regulation time, and after six games since the start of the championship they have a measly two points to their credit. Has the chair swayed under Rostislav Chada? shape and a group of familiar faces reminds itself.It is possible that the holiday in Bratislava will be overshadowed by the fact that by mid-January “Slovan” say goodbye to the chances of getting into the playoffs.Chad and company are taking confident steps towards this sad scenario.

Lazushin’s Riga debut

Did you understand why Dynamo lured Alexander Lazushin out of Novokuznetsk in the winter of 2013? We are not quite. Having one of the brightest young goalkeepers of the league, Alexander Sharychenkov, at hand, Dynamo decided to play it safe. whose name is Eremenko, and the main goalkeeper of Novokuznetsk “Metallurg” has not spent a minute for the new club.

The snow has melted, buds have blossomed on the trees, the hockey summer – the off-season has passed, and two weeks have passed since the start of the season. And only now Lazushin waited for his debut as part of two-time Gagarin Cup winners. Perhaps Oleg Znarok decided on a castling goalkeeper after the first defeat of the season, which Dynamo suffered in the Moscow derby. At the same time, the rest provided by Eremenko may well be planned. is simply necessary.

In addition to the appearance of Lazushin in a blue and white uniform, there were a lot of intrigues in the match between Moscow and Riga “Dynamo”. For example, the next visit of Oleg Znarka to Riga. But the principledness of the matches between the Dynamo clubs slept after Znarok left the Latvian national team. Interesting was to observe the actions of Martins Karsums.The Latvian forward played the first match against his former team, but was marked with only one shot on goal.

While Karsums was getting used to the role of a guest at Arena Riga, Maxim Pestushko was the soloist in Dynamo Moscow.The blue and white top scorer in overtime could have scored a hat-trick, but Mikael Tellquist was on the alert. And in fact, the residents of Riga got into overtime in a miraculous way! Almost missed the empty net, the owners of the ice managed to escape one second before the siren. Miracles, and nothing more. And exactly at the moment when the Moscow guests had a victory in their pockets, Lazushin made the only mistake during the match, who did not cope with the throw of Paul Schekhura. The debut goalkeeper also failed to shine in the shootout, although when he was a Forge player, he regularly replaced Lassile to cool the best bullet masters in the league.

HEROES OF THE DAY

When your partners are in the lead in the scoring race, you shouldn’t be left behind. Justin Boyd looked around, saw the incomparable Dawes and Bochenski there, and got down to business. The Canadian center-forward scored a brace in the game against Ugra. And if he scored his second goal in a typical North American style, being stronger and more patient on a penny, then in the case of the first goal he showed accuracy. Justin saw the “nine” left by Mikhail Biryukov and sent there is a homing projectile.Throwing two goals, Boyd could not come close to partners in the list of top scorers, but with five goals they became the second sniper in the league after Viktor Tikhonov. A bonus to the Canadian’s performance is to add fantastic spot work – 83.3 percent of faceoffs won. Are you looking for the perfect center?

Fyodor Malykhin has yet to become an exemplary center forward. In the end, in the match against Vanguard, he won less than half of the face-offs, which is somewhat below Boyd’s unearthly numbers.At the same time, Avtomobilist’s 22-band striker is already the cornerstone of the second tier and one of the brightest players of the Ural team. It was he who laid the foundation for the defeat of the Siberians going to the bottom, and when Lassila helped him, he did not refuse the gift and issued the second take of the season. It’s time to give Malykhin the nickname “Robin Hood”, because Fedor scores only clubs sponsored by the most powerful Russian company – “Gazprom”.Guests from St. Petersburg suffered through the experience of Malykhin before Avangard.

We decided to add Maxim Pestushko to Boyd and Malykhin. The criterion is still the same – a double. The newcomer, and concurrently the best scorer of Moscow “Dynamo”, was the only one who found the keys to Tellqvist’s goal. the third period was a complete surprise. The 10th second of the period and Maxim’s sharp wrist shot contributed to this.True, Pestushko’s efforts did not bring his team more than one point.

GOALS OF THE DAY

When your team concedes six goals on home ice, and simple apologies to the fans are inappropriate, all that remains is to score beautiful goals. So Aleksey Pepelyaev judged and brightened up the nightmare that the Khanty-Mansiys were given to visit “Barys.” Having realized the majority through the efforts of the Yakubov – Pepelyaev link, “Ugra” made the score 1: 3. We note both the smartly executed transfer of Mikhail Yakubov, and the connection of the defender Pepeliaev to the far post.Perhaps Ari Ahonen would have saved his team, but Alexey played not typically tricky for a defensive player and paused.

Fyodor Malykhin from “Avtomobilist” has already got into the heading “heroes of the day”. But we separately note the first puck of the young striker “Avtomobilist.” The transfer of Anton Lazarev was even timely, but the puck flew at an inconvenient height for the addressee.

There were more beautiful goals in the match between Moscow and Riga “Dynamo”, but if one of the teams scores at the moment when the scoreboard lights up at 59:59, it is unique.Shchekhura’s roundhouse throw, and the joy of the people of Riga is attached.

ERROR DAY

Amazing things happened on Thursday evening in Bratislava. At the beginning of the match “Slovan” – “Vityaz” Tomas Mojish got 5 + 20 for pushing on board. It would seem a fair, albeit somewhat harsh, judicial decision. But what does the video replay of the moment tell us? The replay clearly shows who and how attacked Mike Iggulden. Instead of the innocently convicted Moyzhish, he knocked down the Canadian … Michal Sersen! It is absolutely impossible to explain the nature of this gross judicial error.For two, Sergei Kulakov and Roman Shchenyov have four eyes, but none of the main referees of the meeting noticed the substitution. The absurdity of the incident in Bratislava can only compete with six field players in the last year’s match “Tractor” – “Locomotive”.

Video Highlights

OTHER RESULTS

We have already noted the beautiful goal of Pepeliaev and the heroism of Boyd, but in the match “Ugra” – “Barys” there were some more remarkable facts. Ari-Pekka Selin’s team honors tradition. If Barys wins, they score at least five goals.Or vice versa, as you please. However, this case is unique in that Astana residents won this devastating victory outside their native sports complex “Kazakhstan.” The first away game and such a start! “Barys” does everything to start treating him as a serious force, and not just a reckless entertainment attraction.

Another event of the match in Khanty-Mansiysk – amazing statistics. Not a single (!) Player of the smashed “Ugra” did not earn a negative indicator of utility. How could this happen? Dmitry Upper realized a bullet, four goals “Barys” scored in the majority, and when the teams exchanged goals in equal compositions – on the ice were the same fives.These are the statistical wisdom in the cave of the “mammoths.”

Perhaps the hottest match, on a par with the Riga thriller, took place in Prague, where the local “Lion” met with “Torpedo”. In the first period, the teams exchanged accurate throws from the blue line, and there was no sign of an increase in the degree. After the first break, “Torpedo” seemed to have done everything to take away three points from the Czech capital.Using Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev’s cool pass, Daniil Zharkov scored the first goal in adult hockey.And a little later, Wojtek Wolski showed his bright side, sending the third puck into the goal of Petri Vehanen.

The fans of “Colorado”, “Washington” and other clubs for which Wolski played will tell you that the Canadian with Polish roots is an ambiguous character. Here are just claims to him boiled down to issues of fighting qualities and value in the playoffs. In Russia, Wojtek was “silent” the entire home series of “Torpedo”, and began to score only on the road. But at the most crucial moment, he still framed his team.When in the third period “Lev” won back one goal, and on the ice there was a scuffle with a massive distribution of a penalty, Wolski grabbed the most delicious piece of the pie. 5 + 20 minutes for a “blow with the end of the stick” on a throw-in forced Peteris Skudra to grab his head. Martin Turnberg did not regret his former team and equalized the score, while getting in the face from Tim Brent. Turnberg also implemented the bullet after the match, after which the entire leadership of “Torpedo” was just right to tear his hair out that they could not leave this guy in Nizhny Novgorod.