“I have already been told too much. Let’s play hockey.” Positive interview with Shipachev

Exactly a year ago, Vadim Shipachyov marched with the flag of our Olympic team at the Beijing Games. How many events have since passed! In the life of our country, the KHL, and more specifically the player himself.

Shipachev finished last season as an Olympic silver medalist and top scorer in the KHL. He had in his hands a contract with Dynamo Moscow with good prospects for renewal. A bright and calm future that fell apart overnight.

First of all, Dynamo gave their top scorer to Ak Bars for a purely nominal sum. The meaning of this agreement was to find a new club for Shipachyov, who was ready to continue paying him a salary under the Dynamo contract.

It was a palpable tremor, but not an earthquake. After all, the Kazan team was led by Oleg Znarok, well known to Shipachyov for his work in the national team and SKA, Dmitry Kagarlitsky, Vadim’s former partner in the Dynamo attacking team, was there already played. Defender Vyacheslav Voynov moved to Ak Bars from Dynamo with the striker, with whom Shipachev went on the ice mostly …

The ice under the feet of the leaders of Ak Bars was shaking when the Kazan team failed to start the championship and got into a protracted crisis, from which they could not get out. Famous players started leaving Ak Bars. Then Znarok left. An avalanche of criticism pours down on the leaders. First of all, on Shipachev and Alexander Radulov, as the most famous and expensive players.

Ak Bars was set to become the main disappointment of the season. But everything changed again as if by magic. The team was led by the experienced Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, and in February Kazan held first place in the Eastern Conference, and Radulov and Shipachev occupied the usual first places among the team’s top scorers.

Now Shipachyov has 41 points. For him, this is not an extraordinary result. This season with him, you can easily claim a top 20 spot with him. However, if the “leopards” gain their true power at the start of the Gagarin Cup, we will talk about much more important things than personal statistics.

Although Shipachev personally should not forget about it. After all, in front of Vadim, a milestone is looming on the horizon. Already this season, he can establish himself among the top scorers of the KHL regular season. So far Sergey Mozyakin, who ended his career, remains the leader – 756 (351 + 405) points. But Shipacheva is separated from him only by 12 points, because of the forward 745 (235 + 510) points. There’s a good incentive to push to the finish line in the regular season.

managed to speak with Shipachyov in Mytishchi, where Ak Bars won two more points beating Kunlun (5:1). Vadim in this game only scored one point for the majority pass, but he was clearly happy with the game.

“Such a fierce struggle in the East for the first time”

— Do you like the fact that everything has finally improved in the team?

“I always like when the game ends and the team wins,” says Shipachev. “At times like these, we all love hockey.

– When Ak Bars was in the majority at the start of the season, no one understood what was going on. Now a deadly special brigade enters the ice – Kagarlitsky, Shipachev, Radulov, Galiev, Voynov. And now the “leopards” are already among the leaders of the KHL in terms of surplus sales. What changed?

“Actually, we just got used to each other. Previously, there was a misunderstanding about who should play where. We changed with Radul, I happened to play on the penny, and he was next. The puck didn’t go, we couldn’t score. Now we have worked and the objectives have passed quietly. I hope everything will go even better in the future.

— Do you like the fiercest competition in the East? And how important is it for Ak Bars to be first in the conference?

– I will say as usual: we want to win every game. We never go out to lose. We have to try to win all the time. And how it will evolve in the table, we will see next. But such an uphill struggle, in my opinion, is usually the first time it happens. And the points leaders are roughly tied, and bottom four clubs are battling for a playoff ticket.

– Amur has a few more chances below.

– There are still a lot of matches to come, relax a bit and they will catch up to you right away. The championship has become much more interesting.

“It’s a pity for the man – he lost all his teeth there”

– The most atypical match of Ak Bars under the leadership of Bilyaletdinov is 4:7 in St. Petersburg. What was wrong there?

– At the meeting, we were told that we were playing badly, that’s all. Seven heads! We haven’t missed much in the last month. And here for a game. It is clear that it should not be played like that.

But the match turned out to be very emotional. Was it a special game?

– Of course, we went to St. Petersburg, knowing that a good team was waiting for us there. And they started well. To end the first period 3:3 – this has not happened in the championship for a very long time. Then we took the lead, and there we should have started to play more strictly in defense. But that did not work.

– The junction of Zykov and Radulov, when the player has lost almost all his teeth, is apparently absurd. How to avoid such situations on the ice?

— First team, everyone is loaded. Apparently they wanted to use force against Radulov. Sanka just saw him and managed to regroup. The judges then watched – everything is within the rules. Of course, I feel sorry for the person – he lost all his teeth there. Probably a concussion too. Of course, I wish Zykov good health. But it happened like that.

“Mozyakin is still a long way off, but we have to wait”

– Today you are one point closer to the top. The record is getting closer, do you feel it?

– It’s still a long way off.

But we wait.

“Of course we have to wait. There are games in hockey where you score four points. And it happens that nothing, but the team still wins. And that’s the main point. Because after the victory, everyone is in a good mood. And even the recovery is much faster and better. The calendar is very complex. When you have five games a day, positive emotions give strength.

– In the NHL, they pray for every goal of Ovechkin, the hype around the world. With us, your race for Mozyakin is, on the contrary, too quiet. How do you feel better, in terms of goalscoring?

“They already talk too much about me. Just let me play hockey. And little by little I will go towards this disc.

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Watch live broadcasts of KHL matches on the federal channel and thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.