Ilya Kovalchuk has forever been assigned the catchphrase “In Hollywood “We couldn't think of such a thing! Life is the best playwright!” This phrase, said by Roman Skvortsov after Covey’s golden goal for the Russian national team at the World Championships in Quebec, is already more than 15 years old. And today it has regained its relevance. Ilya is back in business.
In early December, Kovalchuk signed a contract with Spartak Moscow, returning to the club where he became a professional hockey player. There were many questions about the physical fitness of the 40-year-old forward, who had not played for 2.5 years, as well as about the date of his debut for the Red-Whites in the Kontinental Hockey League. Even before Covey’s official transfer to Spartak, the legend of the capital’s club Alexander Yakushev said that the striker’s first game for his old-new team would take place on December 24 in the championship match against Kunlun. Soon, Ilya himself stated that Alexander Sergeevich was allegedly wishful thinking, and on the sidelines of journalists, Kovalchuk’s debut match was called an away match with Vityaz. But in the end, Yakushev’s words were confirmed.
Some interesting figures:
- 8304 days – that’s how much has passed since Ilya Kovalchuk’s last (read: last) official match for Spartak. On March 30, 2001, 17-year-old Covey scored two goals in a match with Sibir and helped the “red-whites” achieve victory and return to the Super League.
- 2.5 years – That’s how long the pause in Kovalchuk’s playing career lasted. On April 28, 2021, Ilya helped Omsk Avangard win the first Gagarin Cup in the club’s history, after which he took time to rest and manage his activities.
- 9 – this is how many clubs Kovalchuk changed during his career after leaving Spartak and before returning to the capital club. In the NHL, the first overall pick of the 2001 draft played for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. In Russia – for Ak Bars, Khimik, SKA and Avangard. The decision to move to Kazan, and then to St. Petersburg during the period of two lockouts in the NHL, is still remembered by Spartak fans to this day.
Ilya himself, after his official return to the “red-white” camp, spoke of his readiness to meet with the club’s fan base and discuss long-standing issues. True, it hasn’t come to that yet. And, perhaps, it will not come due to the lack of need for this – the podium greeted Kovalchuk mainly warmly and even with applause.
For his first game in the KHL for Spartak, Covey was announced in the second line in a trio with Andrei Loktionov and Maxim Tsyplakov. Ilya has known the first one for a long time – both from playing for New Jersey and the Russian national team. And this connection made itself felt in the very first joint match in Spartak. Kovalchuk marked his return with a goal, scoring into an empty net from Loktionov's pass!
“”Well, yes, we have connections. Now Andrei is not the oldest in the team. We played together, talked before the match. I would also like to mention Tsypu, he is a lot and skates well, frees up space for me as well,” Kovalchuk told reporters after the match.
In total, Ilya played 17 shifts during the game with a total playing time of just over 14 minutes. During this time, he managed not only to score a goal into an empty net, but also, in principle, to make three shots on target. And even make a mistake.
At the end of the second period, with the score 4:0, “Spartak” played in the majority in the “5 on 4” format, and Covey unexpectedly lost the puck on someone else’s blue line, after which the guests ran into a counterattack and opened Dmitry Nikolaev’s goal, depriving him of a “cracker” .
“”This is hockey. We are not robots. Everyone makes mistakes. The most important thing is that the entire coaching staff, management and team supported us, thanks to them. I haven’t played for a long time. I thought it would be worse. Today was an important game for everyone,” Kovalchuk explained – We wanted to please the fans. Thanks to our torsida and everyone who came to the match. You can feel the support and that Spartak is a people's team.
Were you worried about how the fans would receive me? No. We have some understatement, but we have already agreed that we will definitely meet and talk, everything will be fine. We need to unite and move forward. “Spartak” is my home team, it’s nice to go out with a diamond on my chest. I have something to say about Spartak. We have a young team, few guys who played in the KHL playoffs. I am sure that my experience on the ice and in the locker room will be useful. The main thing is not to be a burden on the court. Is Spartak a contender for the Gagarin Cup? Yes, I think so. There will be many surprises in the crossover playoffs. But we need to improve, because we play adventurous hockey. We need to play better in defense.”
It was Kovalchuk who was eventually recognized as the best player of the match. But this is in the style of the NHL, where they pay a lot of attention to symbolism. The result for Spartak was largely due to Nikolai Goldobin, who scored two points already in the first 20 minutes.
The main scorer and sniper of the “red-whites” scored an assist and a goal, setting and immediately updating a new club record for the number of points in one regular season. Goldie now has 57 points ( 28+29).
Andrei Loktionov also had a big event in the match. Kovalchuk’s line partner also scored a goal in the first period and reached the mark of 100 goals scored in his career in the KHL championships and playoffs. It was his goal in the end became victorious for Spartak. The successful streak of the “red-whites” is now five matches in a row.
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