CSKA vs Ak Bars. Who will take the first trophy of the season?
Traditionally, the official hockey season in Russia starts with a match for the Opening Cup. This time, the capital's army team and Kazan's Ak Bars won the right to open the season. The first game of the regular season will be held on September 1 on the ice of the capital's CSKA Arena.
The capital's army team enter the championship as the current holder of the Gagarin Cup, having won the honorary trophy last season for the third time in its history. The army team won the last two Cups under the leadership of Sergei Fedorov, who still remains the head coach of CSKA. It makes no sense to make radical changes to the team, so the army team did not show much activity on the transfer market during the summer off-season. The Swedish goalkeeper Adam Reideborn, defenders Sergeev and Yarosh, as well as forwards Bryukvin, Guskov and Maximov left the club. A conditional newcomer can be considered goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, who returned to the team after a year's pause.
The capital club came out of vacation rather late, so it cannot boast of an abundance of control matches. At the moment, Sergei Fedorov's wards have played three test matches, winning each of the matches played. With the same score of 3-2, two Dynamo teams from Minsk and Moscow were beaten, another minimal victory with a score of 4-3 was obtained in a duel against the Khabarovsk Amur.
Ak Bars
The Kazan club spent an ambiguous last season, which included both the resignation of the head coach and the return to the coaching bench of the famous Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who almost immediately brought Kazan another Gagarin Cup. Bars stopped a step away from the main trophy of the season, losing in a seven-match confrontation with the capital's CSKA. In the off-season, Barça noticeably strengthened their already stellar squad, primarily relying on players in the attacking line. So, forwards of St. Petersburg SKA Damir Zhafyarov and Dmitry Yashkin, who scored 62 goals for two last season, joined the Kazan club. Another star newcomer was Evgeny Svechnikov, who played the last few seasons in the NHL.
Unlike the army team, Barça spend quite a busy August, having already managed to play 8 control matches. The results are as follows - Kazan won five victories (Neftyanik 5-0, Traktor 4-3, Lokomotiv 4-2, Barys 5-2, Lada 3-2), with three defeats (from Lada 2-3, from Traktor 1-2 and 3-4).
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on CSKA vs Ak Bars
CSKAThe capital's army team enter the championship as the current holder of the Gagarin Cup, having won the honorary trophy last season for the third time in its history. The army team won the last two Cups under the leadership of Sergei Fedorov, who still remains the head coach of CSKA. It makes no sense to make radical changes to the team, so the army team did not show much activity on the transfer market during the summer off-season. The Swedish goalkeeper Adam Reideborn, defenders Sergeev and Yarosh, as well as forwards Bryukvin, Guskov and Maximov left the club. A conditional newcomer can be considered goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, who returned to the team after a year's pause.
The capital club came out of vacation rather late, so it cannot boast of an abundance of control matches. At the moment, Sergei Fedorov's wards have played three test matches, winning each of the matches played. With the same score of 3-2, two Dynamo teams from Minsk and Moscow were beaten, another minimal victory with a score of 4-3 was obtained in a duel against the Khabarovsk Amur.
Ak Bars
The Kazan club spent an ambiguous last season, which included both the resignation of the head coach and the return to the coaching bench of the famous Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who almost immediately brought Kazan another Gagarin Cup. Bars stopped a step away from the main trophy of the season, losing in a seven-match confrontation with the capital's CSKA. In the off-season, Barça noticeably strengthened their already stellar squad, primarily relying on players in the attacking line. So, forwards of St. Petersburg SKA Damir Zhafyarov and Dmitry Yashkin, who scored 62 goals for two last season, joined the Kazan club. Another star newcomer was Evgeny Svechnikov, who played the last few seasons in the NHL.
Unlike the army team, Barça spend quite a busy August, having already managed to play 8 control matches. The results are as follows - Kazan won five victories (Neftyanik 5-0, Traktor 4-3, Lokomotiv 4-2, Barys 5-2, Lada 3-2), with three defeats (from Lada 2-3, from Traktor 1-2 and 3-4).
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