Source: www.rucriminal.info
Interview with two-time Olympic champion, hockey legend Alexander Yakushev - especially for the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info
Alexander Sergeevich extremely rarely makes contact with reporters. But he made an exception for us.
“LET THEY SEEK THE REASONS FOR FAILURES IN THEMSELVES”
- Here the leaders of St. Petersburg SKA threw a formal hysteria: they allegedly prejudged matches involving their favorite club. They really dream of reforming refereeing and are calling on other teams to be their allies. Do you think there is ground for such a demarche?
- Well, the statements were made more on emotions than on common sense. And right after the lost episode to Avtomobilist. A stream of grievances, nothing more serious or substantive. They began to look for reasons in the wrong places.
And the reason lies in them themselves. The St. Petersburg army team won only one match out of five played in the series with the Urals, what can we talk about? And four lost. It's all because of the judges, or what? I advise you to reform something within your own team. You see, the recipe for progress is very simple.
- Maybe, after all, the busy calendar prevented SKA and other losing teams from performing more successfully? By the way, other KHL participants also complain about the schedule of matches on average “every other day”. In your opinion, was it worth blindly copying the experience of the overseas NHL?
- In the USSR Championship, we played forty matches per season, very few, by the way. But, yes, there was a full training cycle, they recovered quickly, and so on. The NHL calendar, by the way, is much stricter, and that’s okay, people there have long been accustomed to it. You know, having a few games is bad, and having a lot of them is not very good either. But in North America no one touches on the topic of the number of matches; it is not customary for them.
I am of two minds. As far as I know, starting next season in the KHL there will be not 68 matches, but 62 for each team in the regular season. Maybe it will become easier, there will be time for training, where the foundations of technique, tactics, and physical condition are laid. Let's see.
- Our editorial team repeatedly raised the very painful topic of doping during the regular season, and in the playoffs too. After all, thanks to it, other clubs immediately gain some kind of superiority over their competitors. What do you think about this?
- Yes, all teams swallow some vitamins! My friend on the USSR national team, Alexander Maltsev, just remembered that the Americans in the 80s during the Olympics were definitely on doping. And the reserves of the American team went to the post-match doping control, because they, sitting on the bench, were clean, of course. And those who actually played literally flew around the court in matches, demonstrating simply crazy speeds. It was impossible to keep up with them. This obviously caught the eye, especially to the specialists, the hockey players themselves from the rival teams. These are the things that happened...
“SPARTACUS” WAS NOT ENOUGH CHARISMA?
- Not in your red and white camp, - in the red and blue, a stupid story happened with the conscription of CSKA goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov into the army. The obstinate man, who did not want to play in the capital’s club, was “shared” into the army. Is this a warning to others? It smelled like a scoop. When talents who showed themselves, for example, in other clubs, under plausible pretexts were “conscripted” into the ranks of the Soviet army, but, in fact, they played for CSKA in the USSR championship. Isn’t this where this story with Fedotov comes from, in your opinion?
- For the most part, Fedotov himself is to blame for the current situation. He promised to sign another contract with CSKA, and signed it! After that, without telling anyone, he flew to America, where he swiped the paper with “Philadelphia”. Do normal people really do this?
The leadership of CSKA are not suckers, they are quite well-known, respected people. Of course, they were offended; the guy essentially “dumped” them. So the bosses of the army club can also be understood. Fedotov, with his stupid act, provoked them to retaliate...
- Let's talk about your Spartak. Somehow your teammates didn’t look very convincing in the series with Magnitogorsk. In exactly half of the matches – three out of six – nothing was scored at all. How to explain such a failure?
- I just didn’t have enough experience. Look, Magnitogorsk regularly reaches the high stages of the playoffs, Spartak's achievements are much more modest. There are problems in defense; of the defenders, only Tchaikovsky is at the level of knockout matches; his young partners do not yet have such impressive playing time.
And there are no forwards with charisma, say, like Radulov. Alexander not only plays with full dedication, but also in a good sense “turns on” not only himself, but also his teammates, opponents, even the judges. An amazing master and person!
Now in Spartak, as far as I know, all the guys have re-signed their contracts and remain in the club. Plus, the squad will be strengthened with new defenders and forwards. “Spartak” will not only be competitive, but will also show, I hope, a more mature, vibrant game. This means that we will see a different result at the end of the season. Here I am optimistic and appreciative.
- It seemed like a player with charisma, here he is - the highly experienced Kovalchuk, who was called to strengthen the lineup. But Ilya, in our opinion, looked pale and did almost nothing to help. Do you agree?
- Not really. Kovalchuk is undoubtedly a leader, everyone on the team respects him. The guys themselves admitted that they learned a lot from Ilya during the season. It should be taken into account that Ilya played in the third, and sometimes fourth, line, where the level of the young partners - no offense - did not correspond to the level of Kovalchuk himself.
How could he show something out of the ordinary if he ended up in the role of a “guy” for young masters? I think there should be players of a higher class next to Ilya. So that it is they who help the famous forward reveal his rich potential, and not he helps them. This is my vision of the situation, hockey.
THIRTY YEARS SINCE THE DAUGHTER WAS KILLED...
- Are you going out on the ice now, or is your age or health not allowing it?
- I only go out as a coach of our team “Legends of Hockey”. By the way, we train at the CSKA arena. I don’t play myself, I’m 77 years old, I had a heart attack. Our international contacts have completely broken off, it is clear for what reasons. It’s okay, we travel around Russia to play matches, we are greeted very warmly.
At the professional level, our guys are also barred from participating in international tournaments under the auspices of the International Hockey Federation - IIHF. The KHL works well, but domestic competitions alone are not enough to develop the game. There is progress in skill, but, frankly speaking, it is quite minimal. So the situation, in my opinion, is somewhat dead-end.
- Sorry, this is a purely personal question. Your daughter’s killers have never been found, or is there progress?
- In my opinion, no one even tried to look. I then came to the Arbat police station to find out the news of the investigation. From the doorway they said that it was a wood grouse, a wood grouse, that it was useless to look for it, and everything in the same spirit. Well, the dashing nineties, almost no one wanted to work, no one cared about anything. They finally finished off with the phrase “forget it.” I probably remembered it for the rest of my life.
- In 1994, in connection with the murder of your daughter, there was a version that it was the then Spartak boss Gelani Tovbulatov who could take revenge on you in such a wild way. After all, as the coach of Spartak, you sometimes conflicted with him, sharply disagreed on something, disagreed, etc. What do you think about that situation?
- There were some quarrels, but not violent, and not long-lasting, not even quarrels at all, but rather insignificant disagreements. At that time, a person who was absolutely not a hockey player, not a sports person, came to Spartak at that time. I tried to patiently explain that it was not worth doing this or that way, well, in the interests of the club, the game itself. Unfortunately, he stubbornly stood his ground, after all, he is the owner of the club, ambitions, apparently, his character is still unyielding.
But it is impossible for him to participate in the preparation of the murder of our daughter. Gelani could not take revenge like that.
- Still, let's turn to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, maybe he and his subordinates will help solve the crime?
- Thank you. But don't. I communicate and see each other quite regularly with Alexander Ivanovich. If necessary, I will talk to him directly...
Interviewed by Alexey Matveev
Source: www.rucriminal.info
