The most enjoyable part of the hockey season is its finale. The awards ceremony and, of course, the championship locker room. Even before the start of the final series of the Gagarin Cup, many expected that the holiday would thunder on the streets of Yaroslavl, where the local Lokomotiv was considered the undisputed favorite of the KHL playoffs. And it took place – only for the fans of Metallurg, who made it to the championship exit from Magnitogorsk.
Andrei Razin's Magnitka powerfully swept through the “railroad workers” and won the series without losing a single match to Igor Nikitin. 4-0 — Metallurg became the third KHL club to win the Gagarin Cup three times.
And if the final episode itself turned out to be as anomalous and illogical as possible, then everything that happened after the final siren is an immortal classic. Leggings and helmets on the ice, men's hugs and endless joy.
Two people came to the presentation of the Gagarin Cup from Metallurg: team captain Yegor Yakovlev, who missed the entire final series due to injury and watched the process from the coaching bench, and Maxim Karpov, who took over the responsibilities of Magnitka's leader. But what was remarkable about raising the main KHL trophy was that it was not the captain, but Ilya Nabokov, who was the first to bring the cup to the fans’ stand. The 21-year-old goalkeeper had a crazy playoffs and was rightfully recognized as the most valuable player of the tournament.
Having filled the champion's locker room, the Metallurg players waited for their commander in chief – Andrei Razin, who became the champion for the first time as the head coach of a KHL club . Out of excitement, the mentor of the “steelworkers” even forgot the speech he wanted to make in case of triumph:
“I’ve been preparing my speech for a long time. I thought I would say it. But now, of course, I don’t remember what I wanted to say. Firstly, thanks to the entire club, staff, management, coaches, without whom I would not have achieved anything. You guys are handsome , you did a great job. It was hard, but it was fun and interesting. We did it – now we can celebrate.”
It’s funny that the whole team laughed at the words “it was hard, but fun,” as if hinting at the difficult methods of the training process. Razin. But until at least mid-summer you can forget about the legendary cylinders
And celebrating is the main thing. This is exactly what Yegor Yakovlev has repeatedly stated, with great desire bringing closer the moment of drinking champagne from the Gagarin Cup. The dialogue between the team captain and Andrei Razin has already become memes and will probably become the most quoted in the coming weeks.
– Everyone did a huge job for the club and the entire city. You are great beauties. And now let's move on to the main thing.
— We won, now let's drink!
However, it wasn't all about champagne, and champion cigars were used. Those in the know were immediately imbued with this spirit and, naturally, remembered Gennady Velichkin, the former general director of Metallurg, with whom the Magnitogorsk team won two previous Gagarin Cups.
Not only the young stars of Magnitogorsk did not hesitate to light a cigar, but and Sergey Mozyakin. The main record holder of the entire KHL, together with Yaroslav Khabarov, became the league champion both as a player and as a coach.
A truly historic season. A season that ended too quickly and left behind a feeling of unsaidness.
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