Lokomotiv’s Youngsters Come Through

Loko Yaroslavl, 2017-18 Kharlamov Cup Champions!  (Image Source)

Hardly a day goes by here at this time of year without a trophy being handed out, and today was no exception!  And so we offer congratulations to Loko Yaroslavl, junior team of KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, who today captured the MHL’s Kharlamov Cup by beating SKA-1946 St. Petersburg to take the Final in six games.

Read on, for a very quick look at the Final in Russia’s top junior league!

Loko were hands-down the best team in the MHL this season, winning the regular season title with a record of 56-8 and a goal difference of +131.  Their passage through the playoffs was relatively routine too; Loko entered the final series having not yet lost in regulation in the post-season.  In the first round, the Yaroslavl youngsters were beaten once in overtime by Russkie Vityazi Chekhov, but won the series in four games.  Much the same story held for the second round as well; though they lost the first game in a shootout, Loko won the next three against Dynamo St. Petersburg to take the series.  And the semifinal, against Reaktor Nizhnekamsk, went Loko’s way in a three-game sweep, during which they outscored Reaktor 14-2.

SKA-1946, the junior side of SKA St. Petersburg, were a good outfit as well this season; they finished second in the MHL’s West Conference with a record of 51-13 and a goal difference of +114 (the MHL playoff system has the teams cross over between conferences at the semifinal stage, which is why there were two West teams in the Final).  SKA-1946’s playoff path took them past Krylya Sovetov Moscow in three straight opening-round games, followed by a similar sweep of Spartak Moscow in the second round.  In the semifinal, SKA-1946 met Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk, and although that one took four games, the St. Petersburg side once again prevailed.

The Kharlamov Cup, named of course after the great Valery Kharlamov. (Image Source)

The Final, when it arrived, was a good one, with two of the games going to a shootout.  The teams split the opening pair in Yarosolavl, with the home side winning the first 1-0 via penalty shots, and SKA-1946 taking the second 3-2 in regulation and becoming the first team to beat Loko in 60 minutes in this post-season.  In St. Petersburg, the teams again contrived to split Games 3 and 4, Loko winning the first of those 3-2, and SKA-1946 taking the second by a 1-0 shootout score.  After that, Loko buckled down; they won Game 5 in Yaroslavl 2-1, and finished off the series today back in St. Petersburg in a wild 7-3 game.  Defenceman Alexander Kalinin, with two goals and an assist, was Loko’s scoring hero in the clincher, and he was a somewhat unlikely one at that; Kalinin’s two goals matched his career total in 116 previous MHL games!

But that was Loko’s story all season: few all-world stars, but somebody always stepping up when needed.  Vladislav Rybakov (16 gp, 7-6-13) and Denis Alexeyev (17 gp, 5-8-13) were the champions’ joint leading scorers in the playoffs, while Nikolai Kovalenko also made a significant contribution (13 gp, 1-11-12).  If we had to pick one star of the team, however, it would likely be goalie Ilya Konovalov, who put up a .945 sv% in 16 playoff games (and .936 in the Final).  The MHL duly acknowledged his strong play, giving Konovalov the post-season MVP award.

SKA-1946 remain without a Kharlamov Cup on the team resume after their second Final appearance (they previously lost in five games to Chaika Nizhny Novgorod in 2014-15).  But defenceman Yegor Rykov achieved a rare feat, after he was sent down from the VHL’s SKA-Neva St. Petersburg to play for SKA-1946 in today’s Game 6 of the Final.  It was the 21-year-old’s only MHL game in all of 2017-18, and it meant that he becomes one of the few players (perhaps the only player) with a playoff appearance in the KHL, VHL, and MHL in the same season.

Loko goalie Ilya Konovalov fends off a SKA-1946 attack during the 2017-18 Final. (Image Source)

So congratulations to playoff MVP Ilya Konovalov, to Head Coach Dmitry Krasotkin, and to Loko Yaroslavl, 2017-18 Kharlamov Cup champions!  This is Loko’s second Kharlamov Cup triumph in three seasons; they defeated Chaika Nizhny Novgorod for the 2015-16 title as well.  The Yaroslavl team is now the second squad to win the Kharlamov twice; Avangard Omsk’s junior team, Omskie Yastreby, took home the 2011-12 and 2012-13 titles.

Thank you for reading!