Athletistic / Hockey. There are significant dates in the history of world hockey. An example is 1956, when the USSR first arrived at the Winter Olympics, or 1972, the year of the first Super Series between the national teams of the USSR and Canada. 2004 is therefore such a year. It’s all about the lockout, which resulted in the cancellation of the entire NHL season.
Since the lockout raged in the NHL, a large number of world hockey stars have been released. The route led many of them to Russia. We can authoritatively say that in the 2004/2005 season, the Russian Super League was the strongest and most competitive hockey tournament in the world.
Due to the NHL lockout, the composition of the Kazan Ak Bars has changed the most. At that time, there was no salary cap in Russian hockey, and the Kazan team had no money problems. Canadians Vence Lecavalier, Brad Richards, as well as Russian Nikolai Khabibulin, who had just won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, went to Ak Bars for a long ruble, Danny Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov, who at that time playing for the Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Alexei Morozov, New York Rangers defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, Montreal Canadiens Alexei Kovalev, Swede Mikael Nylander of the Boston Bruins, Kazakh Nikolai Antrov of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Alexey Zhitnik of the Buffalo Sabres. In fact, a completely new team was formed in Kazan, the name of which could even win the Stanley Cup in the NHL. Ak Bars’ salary fund alone, according to unofficial estimates, was $50-55 million that year.
Photo source: HC “Ak Bars”
Perhaps the main star who came to Russia that season was the Czech Jaromir Jagr. The brilliant striker, who was then captain of the Washington Capitals, did not return home unexpectedly, but went to Siberia – to the Omsk Avangard. The arrival of Jagr automatically made the Omsk Hawks the favorites of the season. Already at the beginning of January, Avangard, as the current champion of Russia, will become the owner of the European Champions Cup (the prototype of the Hockey Champions League).
In terms of selection work in the conditions of the current lockout, Dynamo Moscow stood out. The Blue and White counted on signing contracts with their players and strengthened themselves with Andrei Markov (Montreal), Maxim Tandiogenov (Buffalo) and Maxim Kuznetsov (Los Angeles Kings). In addition to them, Pavel Datsyuk arrived from the Detroit Red Wings.
The Blue and White have long dreamed of a championship, but things haven’t always worked out for them. After winning gold medals in the 1999/2000 season, Dynamo could not even be among the winners. In April 2004, Anatoly Kharchuk became president of Dynamo, replacing Mikhail Titov in this position. He decides to refuse the services of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and invites Vladimir Krikunov to replace him.
Photo source: HC Dynamo Moscow
The lockout not only allowed Dynamo to strengthen from the outside, but also retained its graduate, Alexander Ovechkin, in the blue and white team. In late June 2004, he was selected with the first pick in the NHL draft by Washington and could very well have left immediately for North America. But history has decided otherwise.
The 2004/2005 season began on September 1st. On Knowledge Day, the Blues and Whites beat Novokuznetsk Metallurg 1-0 and Vladimir Vorobyov scored the only goal of the match. During this meeting, Dynamo’s goal was defended by Alexander Eremenko. Together with Vitaly Eremeev, they kept a clean sheet in the first four matches of this season, setting a Russian championship record. As a result, Dynamo’s dry streak ended only in the 274th minute, when Salavat Yulaev defender Nikolai Tsulygin scored the puck into the blue and white goal. Interestingly, he would later join Dynamo Moscow later in the same season.
Dynamo suffered its first defeat only in the seventh round of the Super League, losing to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (1:2). It should be noted that the only goal for the Blue and White during this meeting was scored by Alexander Ovechkin, who celebrated his 19th birthday that day (September 17).
Photo source: HC Dynamo Moscow
“Dynamo” went through the season so confidently that it did not notice the arrival of world-famous stars in other teams. It was not until February 2005 that the Blue and Whites experienced a slight decline, when they scored just two points in three matches. However, this did not prevent Vladimir Krikunov’s team from becoming winners of the regular season. In 60 matches, Dynamo have scored 126 points, six ahead of their closest pursuer, the Lada of Togliatti. Then the top eight teams awaited the playoffs.
The knockout matches then began in Russia from the quarterfinal stage (now in the KHL, the playoffs begin in the 1/8 finals), and to win the series, one of the teams only had to win three times (instead of the current four wins). . Before the playoffs, Dynamo strengthened its squad with three forwards – Alexander Frolov from CSKA, Igor Volkov and Salavat Yulaev, as well as Sergei Samsonov from Boston Juniors.
In the quarter-finals, the Blue and White beat Vladimir Krikunov’s former team, Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, in three matches. The blue and white houses beat Nizhnekamsk twice (2:0, 4:1), then won away (2:1). The main sensation at this stage of the tournament was created by Lokomotiv from Yaroslavl, who managed to beat Ak Bars in the series with a score of 3-1. As a result, in the semi-finals, fans were treated to the series Dynamo – Avangard and Lada – Lokomotiv.
If “Lada” managed to beat “Lokomotiv” without much difficulty (3-0 in the series), then “Dynamo” began to have problems in the semifinals in the first match. In the first meeting of the series, the Blue and White lost to the Hawks in a shootout – 2:3. It seemed that the magic of Jagr and the incredible attack of the Omsk team would allow them to multiply Dynamo’s team play and concrete defense by zero. But it wasn’t there. The next day, Dynamo simply destroyed the opponent and won with a score of 11: 0! Then the series moved to Omsk.
The third game of the series proved decisive. The meeting ended with Dynamo winning with a score of 1:0 and Igor Mirnov scored the only goal of the year. But this goal still sparks controversy among hockey fans and is referred to by many as a “phantom goal.” Only the video review of the goal took more than 6 from the judges! minutes.
Having gained not only a playing advantage, but also a psychological advantage, Dynamo did not take long to decide the fate of the series, and already in the fourth match they put the finishing touches to Avangard (3: 1) and went to meet Lada.
In the decisive phase of the playoffs, the two best teams of the entire season met. In those years, Russian hockey was dominated by coaches who relied on game organization and reliable defense. And in this model of the game, Vladimir Krikunov and Pyotr Vorobyov had no equal. As a result, their teams met in the final. Everyone expected a very long and viscous series, but in the end, hockey fans were able to see only the second of these ingredients. In the final, Dynamo defeated Lada in three matches: 3: 1, 2: 0 and 2: 1 in a shootout.
“Dynamo” became the national champion for the ninth time in its history (taking into account achievements in the USSR). Pavel Datsyuk was recognized as the best player of the season and MVP of the playoffs. And thanks to this campaign, Alexander Ovechkin established himself as one of the best hockey players of the new generation. In 37 regular season matches, Ovi scored 27 (13+14) points in the “goal+pass” system, and also scored 6 (2+6) points in the playoffs. In Vladimir Krikunov’s team, at the age of 19, it was difficult to dream of something like that.
Photo source: HC Dynamo Moscow
This success prompted the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) to appoint Vladimir Krikunov as head coach of the national team. He will take the national team to the 2005 World Cup in Austria (bronze), the 2006 Turin Olympics (4th place) and the 2006 World Cup in Lavtia (loss in the quarter-finals).
The Super League will return to normal next season – the NHL and the League Players’ Union (NHLPA) will be able to reach an agreement, and therefore 95% of the players who waited out the lockout in Russia will return to South America North. . Alexander Ovechkin will accompany them to conquer the NHL. They were waiting for him there, but they didn’t think that 19 years later he would be close to surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
