Agidel!

Agidel Ufa take the Women’s Hockey League Cup! Highlights of the clinching Game 3 vs. Dynamo St. Petersburg.

Another season of the Women’s Hockey League in Russia is in the books, and, as in 2017-18, it is the team from the Republic of Bashkortostan that has emerged on the top step of the podium. Agidel Ufa on Wednesday wrapped up their second straight championship season, defeating Dynamo St. Petersburg 4-1 in Game 3 of the Final to complete the sweep. Read on, for a recap of the Final series, and some thoughts!

Agidel came into the 2018-19 Final fresh off a real scare in the semifinal round against SKIF Nizhny Novgorod. And as Game 1 of the best-of-five Final began in Ufa last Saturday, they clearly wanted to avoid any further drama of that sort. Against a Dynamo St. Petersburg team known for defensive sturdiness, Agidel took a 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes, on goals by Yelizaveta Rodnova, Ilona Markova, and Yekaterina Lebedeva. Dynamo swapped goalies, putting Milena Tretyak in to replace Valeriya Merkusheva, but matters did not improve for them, at least not right away. Dynamo defender Mariya Pugina received a major and game misconduct (for either kneeing or kicking — the cameras did not seem to catch the incident), and Slovakian forward Nicol Čupková made the score 4-0 on the ensuing five-minute powerplay. From there, Dynamo did get themselves back on even keel a little bit, and Mariya Serova scored a second-period consolation goal, but they could not muster enough pressure to truly get back into the game. 4-1 it finished, and Agidel had a 1-0 series lead.

The Mitrofanova-Rodnova-Čupková line, and friends, celebrate a goal in Game 1 of the Final. (Image Source)

Game 2, also in Ufa, saw Tretyak get the start in net for Dynamo after a good relief performance in Game 1, while the reliable Anna Prugova, as always, took up station in Agidel’s goal. The game began much as Game 1 had, with Agidel going ahead early through Čupková’s second goal of the series. But this time Dynamo rallied well, and there was no further scoring until Svetlana Prokopenko tied things up for the St. Petersburg side in the second period. Tretyak was playing like her famous namesake of years gone by (well, her “almost-namesake;” she is no relation to Vladislav, and in fact their surnames are spelled slightly differently in the Cyrillic alphabet), and the game ended its late stages still tied at 1-1. However, it would not quite get to overtime. With just over seven minutes remaining, Rodnova struck for the second time in the Final, and that would be the winner in a 2-1 Agidel victory.

The series headed to St. Petersburg with Agidel now up 2-0 and on the verge of that second consecutive title. And for the third straight game in the Final, they took the lead early; just two minutes in Polina Luchnikova found the net behind Tretyak to make it 1-0. Agidel would double their advantage shorthanded late in the first, Olga Sosina finishing off the play after solid forechecking had turned the puck over. Remarkably, it was not only the formidable Sosina’s first goal of the Final, but her first point as well, and the Dynamo defence can take real credit for having kept her in check for most of seven periods. But now it was 2-0 for Agidel, and when Rodnova’s third of the Final, in the second period, made it 3-0, it left Dynamo with a mountain to climb.

The game did turn a bit bad-tempered in the third period, after Yelena Malinovskaya had scored for Dynamo to narrow Agidel’s lead to 3-1. Dynamo’s Diana Kanayeva tripped up steady Agidel veteran forward Inna Dyubanok, who slid awkwardly and heavily into the boards. Dyubanok was taken off on a stretcher (reports are that she will be fine), and though there had been no malice in the trip, Kanayeva was given five minutes and a game misconduct. Anna Shibanova, Russia captain at the recent Women’s Worlds, scored on the ensuing power-play to virtually put the result beyond doubt. Before all was done, Dynamo’s Svetlana Prokopenko joined Kanayeva in an early exit; Prokopenko lashed out with her skates after being hauled down by Veronika Korzhakova, and was dismissed. The game finished 4-1, and for the second straight year, the Women’s Hockey League Cup will reside in the Bashkir capital city of Ufa. The victory was thoroughly deserved; Agidel had a healthy advantage on the shot-counter in each of the Final’s three games.

Agidel were a dominant team this season, winners of the regular season title after they scored more goals and gave up fewer than any other team; the Ufans are immensely talented at every position on the ice. That was illustrated at the trophy-presentation ceremony after Game 3, when season season awards were also handed out. Prugova, who was between the posts for all but half an hour of Agidel’s season, was named Women’s Hockey League Goalie of the Year, while her team-mate Mariya Batalova won the Defender of the Year award. And Agidel coach Denis Afinogenov took home the 2018-19 prize as best bench boss (the Women’s Hockey League will name its overall 2018-19 Most Outstanding Player at the KHL Awards Ceremony in May).

Nicol Čupková. (Image Source)

Agidel Ufa are a deep group as well. Most of the time, when discussing this team, we talk about Olga Sosina, but she had a quiet time of it in the Final, with just a goal and an assist (both in Game 3). To be sure, she has made her mark on these playoffs, finishing as top post-season scorer (6 gp, 5-2-7), and her lone goal in the Final was the winning goal in the championship-deciding game. But the big story for Agidel in the Final was the line of Yelizeta Rodnova, Nicol Čupková, and Elina Mitrofanova. They combined for five goals (three by Rodnova and two by Čupková) and eight assists against Dynamo, and proved once again that there is much more to Agidel’s forward group than just Sosina. With the players mentioned here, plus the likes of Czech national team captain Alena Mills and young up-and-comers Polina Luchnikova and Ilona Markova, Agidel look set to be a powerhouse for some time.

As for the beaten finalists, Dynamo St. Petersburg can take solace in the silver medal, the club’s best-ever finish since its founding in 2013. Under coaches Alexander Zybin and Yuliya Karpova, they have become a defensively rigorous outfit with consistently good goaltending (none of the blame for their Final defeat can be placed at Tretyak’s door). On that note, there may be some mild concern about Valeriya Merkuseva, who posted the best sv% of the regular season at 93.7% in 20 games but did not look herself either in the playoffs or at the World Championship. However, the sample sizes are very small, and Merkusheva, at 19, is still close to the beginning of her development path as a pro goalie. There will be better days, and better seasons.

And so we say goodbye to the Women’s Hockey League 2018-19 season. Congratulations to Dynamo St. Petersburg on their silver-medal finish, and tremendous congratulations and respect to Agidel Ufa, two-time Women’s Hockey League Cup champions!

Olga Sosina (l.) and Anna Shibanova hoist the Women’s Hockey League Cup. (Image Source)

And thank you for reading!