On November 6, the next, 32nd, national bandy championship, or, as it is also called, Russian hockey, began in six cities of our country. This year our age-old sport turns 125 years old. 14 Super League clubs will compete for the title of the strongest team in the country. The current champion of Russia, Khabarovsk SKA-Neftyanik began its title defense with a crushing victory over Novosibirsk Sibselmash with a score of 15:0. MK-Sport tells the details.
There are 14 clubs in the top division of domestic bandy, the Super League, just like a year ago. There was only one reshuffle: instead of the Ufa club Kirovets (which made a good debut in the elite division last winter, but, unfortunately, decided to return to the Major League ) – Abakan “Sayans”, who can hardly be called championship debutants.
For the club from the capital of Khakassia, this is also a return, but only to the top. Previously, the Siberians played in the Super League in the 2012/2013 season. Over ten seasons in the “tower”, the Abakan team reached the final stage of these competitions nine times and won it twice – in the spring of 2019 and 2023. And now, to the delight of fans not only of Khakassia but also of all of Russia, the Sayans, with the support of the Government of the Republic, are returning to the elite division.
Until next spring, the championship participants will have a classic two-round tournament with traveling (one match with each of the opponents at home and one away). The eight strongest teams still qualify for the playoffs, which will begin their path to medals from the quarterfinal stage. A total of fourteen Super League clubs will play 182 matches in a smooth championship – that’s 115 days of a hockey marathon before the playoffs!
Before the start of the new national championship, FHM President Boris Skrynnik addressed the fans of this original Russian game: “On Monday, one of the most long-awaited for thousands of fans begins – the Russian Bandy Championship, in which the fight for the championship title will begin in the year of the 125th anniversary of Russian hockey 14 Super League clubs. On behalf of the Federation, I would like to congratulate our loyal fans of the best ball game at the start of the championship – come to the stadium and support your favorite teams, because they are playing for you!”
The current national champion, Khabarovsk SKA-Neftyanik, began the defense of its title with a crushing home victory over Novosibirsk Sibselmash with a score of 15:0. From the first minutes of the meeting, the superiority of the more experienced and skilled Far Eastern team was beyond doubt. The first goal of the new season was scored by the hosts’ Finnish legionnaire Tuomas Mäattä in the third minute of the match.
Subsequently, the home team did not let the course of the game out of their control for a minute, systematically increasing their advantage in the score. Vladimir Kalanchin and the same Myatta, a player of the Suomi national team who has been playing for the Khabarovsk club since 2020, scored hat-tricks among the winners. Vladislav Kuznetsov, Maxim Ryazanov, and Semyon Chupin scored two goals each against the Novosibirsk team.
Silver medalist of last year’s championship and one of the main favorites of the new championship, Kemerovo “Kuzbass” won a landslide victory over the Kazan club “Ak Bars-Dynamo” in its native walls – 11:1. Roman Tarkovsky, Nikita Ivanov, and the club’s Swedish legionnaire Simon Jansson scored doubles for the hosts.
Let us note that before the start of this meeting, in front of the entrance to the Kuzbass LDK, the opening of the “Kuzbass Hockey Player” sculpture made of metal took place.
In two more matches held in the cities of Siberia, Irkutsk “Baikal-Energia” prevailed over “Sayan” – 7:4, and Krasnoyarsk “Yenisei” defeated “Murman” in a bitter struggle only in the last minutes – 9:6.
