“When Sasha came to hockey, he was like a goof. But Maltsev straightened out all the moments for him. Dynamo veterans – about young Ovechkin

“We make films about Bobrov and Shipachyov”

“The book was written for a year and a half,” says the president of the Dynamo production center of his next original idea. Mikhail Tyurkin. – The main author is Sergey Chuev, but five other people worked with him on the creation of the two-volume edition. The first volume only contains statistics from 1946 to 2022. We collected everything there – pucks, names, teams…

The second volume is dedicated to those who glorified our club. All medals and awards are collected there. A huge amount of work has gone into this book, it contains a lot of material that is very important for hockey fans. Ordinary readers may be more interested in the second volume, dedicated to our illustrious masters – Davydov, Maltsev and all the others for 75 years of the life of our hockey club.

By the way, the book is dedicated to this anniversary. Six months ago, we released the film “The 75th Anniversary Match”. And now we present a book with the same title. This is the 16th book published by the Dynamo Production Center in eight and a half years.

Where can people buy your wonderful book?

– On the website of our “Dynamo Producer Center”. All our books and films are there. Everything can be bought, we are always very happy about those who contact us.

– This book is surely not the last, and you have plans for the near future.

– There are many. Now we are actively engaged in the theme of boxing. But in hockey after the 75th birthday there will be a short break. But I will still give you an insider – we are shooting a big movie about Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov. I consider him the number 1 athlete, no alternative. We are also filming material on eight Dynamo Olympians. And one of them is Vadim Shipachev. That is, by the end of 2023 we will receive a film about Bobrov and a film about Shipachev as part of a series about our great Olympians who participated in the last Olympic Games, summer and winter.

“Smart guys work in Kazan, they know how to get results”

– Can Shipachev return to Dynamo? Because at Ak Bars, he’s clearly not doing as well as at your club.

You do not enter the same river twice. It is wrong to regret that Vadim was in our team and left. And the fact that he has not yet played in Kazan – everything is happening. The playoffs are still ahead. It happens that you trail the regular season, but come out in the playoffs. And it happens the other way around, whether you score the decisive Gagarin Cup goal and lead the team to the next round. Let’s wait for the end of the season.

– What do you think of the fact that Ak Bars traditionally has a lot of former Dynamo players? After all, Ilya Nikulin, Alexei Tereshchenko, Alexander Stepanov played there before Shipachyov… Yes, and the coaches too – now Yuri Babenko is the head of the Kazan club, before Zinetula Bilyaletdinov worked there for a long time. It turns out that without Dynamo there would be no Ak Bars?

– I will say right away that we are very close to the guys who work at the Kazan club. And they are very smart guys. When I started pilot projects, I always went to Kazan and said, “Help”. The club there is run by people who love hockey very much and understand very well who will help them win the Gagarin Cup. They know who to take for them and how to form a team, they are always focused on the result and know how to achieve it.

“If our young people replace the legionnaires, I will be happy”

— Dynamo great forward Alexander Ovechkin is chasing Gordie Howe’s NHL goalscoring record. How important is this to the glorification of our hockey?

– I expect a slightly different record from Ovechkin – I want Sasha to become the first, the best in the history of overseas hockey. And I am sure that Ovechkin will achieve this result. Let me remind you that Sasha is constantly with us. He is an adviser to the president of the club and has never left him, even when he left to play in Washington. Therefore, we love Sasha, respect, appreciate, are proud of his successes and consider him an integral part of Dynamo Moscow.

— What can you say about Dynamo’s current performance in the KHL? Is the bet on youth justified?

– I have always thought that young people in a team are good. Yes, you will not always get the desired result. But as club boss, I thought it was even possible to lose the season to make way for young players. During this time, they will get used to the team and then help it a lot. Therefore, I will always help coaches who are not afraid to bring young players into the team.

– So you support the reduction of the number of legionnaires?

– Here you can argue for a long time, but if instead of two foreign players two young players really appear in the team, I will be much happier than for a foreigner who came, earned money from us and left. We have to work for the long term. Unfortunately, not everyone understands this. Everyone wants a result here and now, but if you’re thinking about the future, you have to give way to the youngsters. It’s very short. Of course, a single reduction in the limit will not help young people much. It is a much more complex task. But if you choose between a legionnaire and a young Russian player, then, of course, I will choose our guy.

“Howe despised his rivals”

“It’s interesting to see what they wrote about us,” smiles the Olympic champion, looking at the two-volume book. Vasily Pervukhin. – We appreciate…

Is it difficult to read one’s own life story through the eyes of others?

I have trouble watching old videos. Like the Canada Cup or something like that. It’s embarrassing not to play the right way. Which could have been played better.

Sasha Ovechkin has already crossed the 800 NHL goals mark and is about to break Gordie Howe’s record. What do you think of such a beautiful achievement.

– Luck came and began to rivet. Well done! Ovechkin must continue to act in the same way, not stop.

“You once played against Howe. How was he on the ice?

Yes, I played. Gordy despised his opponents, liked to stick his elbows out. He could hit hard with his elbow. Although the old one was already up to hockey standards. How old was he then? 46 likes…

How did the defenders stop him?

– Yes, like everyone else – he rolled over and took the puck.

– Didn’t they press him in response to the exposed elbows?

No, the rules were different. He gave away the puck, but the opponent is still flying towards you. Like a draft from the factory, our comedians had such a soap opera. And for this they did not delete, as now.

“Maltsev straightened out Ovechkin’s hockey skills”

“Of course, I follow all the records of Ovechkin,” says the Olympic champion Stanislav Petukhov. – After all, his training began before my eyes – at the old skating rink in Petrovsky Park, when Sasha Maltsev worked specifically with him, put Alexander on skating and everything else. And now I am very happy that Ovechkin continues to glorify Dynamo Moscow in the NHL, of which he is a student. He has every chance of breaking Gretzky’s record.

“Howe is still on the waiting list.

– With this realization, everything is already clear, Sasha will beat him. And then – you have to try. But it is time. I’m sure Ovechkin will bring glory to our hockey.

– What do you remember of Ovechkin during this first viewing at Dynamo?

– It was not very coordinated in terms of skin tone. I still, I remember, thought: what a gaffe, maybe it’s better for him to play football or go to wrestling, some kind of martial arts. But Maltsev straightened out all the hockey moments for him, I watched it with my own eyes. But Ovechkin’s biggest draw has always been his insane knockout that allows him to score so many goals.