Opening day of the KHL season and what do I see here? Maybe we should take this league a bit more seriously. The fairly lengthy article is a good read for an hockey fan from casual to intense. It mainly describes how league and team operations work in this expansive league that is the closest comparison to the National Hockey League. I won't go into great depth so here are some smaller things to take away.
- Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic and Slovakia are not only places you'd have trouble locating on a map, they also comprise the countries that house teams in the KHL.
- The league stretches across nine time zones. You better really load up the i-Pod for some of those road trips.
- The league has 28 teams as of this year and will continue to add. A top level team from Finland will leave the SM-liiga next season to join the KHL.
- Two teams were added this year. Medvescak left the Austrian league to join and a new team took home (see above picture) in Vladivostok, Russia. They are so new to the league their stadium isn't even finished.
Do yourself a favor and type in Vladivostok on a Google map. Then compare its location to the rest of some of the countries in this league I mentioned. Helpful hint: If you'd like to see place names in English, click on the drop tab in the right by the satellite image. Perhaps this team will acquire some North Korean fans. Or maybe the KHL expands into China and Japan.
I think one thing is certain at this time and that is the league isn't going to compete with the NHL. By compete I'm talking about attracting the majority of the best players in the world. Obviously the Kovalchuk deal over the summer (also picture above) had some heads turning. But at the same time I expect some players, especially Russians, to either go back home or stay there.
This league is either going to do very well or suffer with constant turnover. The expansion that has happened in the short time since the league formed is amazing. They have a boom or bust approach which I can appreciate. Either way is fine with me. Having another top league for players looking to play is a good thing.
By the way, if Kovalchuk doesn't lead this league in scoring something is wrong.
OVERTIME:
Three more games today in the K. Nothing extremely noteworthy to pass along. However, in a matchup with two teams named Dinamo each team got a tally in a 2-1 game from a... any guesses? Yep. A former Hershey Bear. How about them apples or other piece of fruit used in Russian sayings even though neither Dinamo team plays in Russia. Let's move on.
Speaking of former Bears, I never thought I'd have Babenko updates in back to back days but here I am ready to dish it out. We have had our first ejection of the season. I guess. Why wouldn't we want to start out the season with something bizarre. Straight out of the KHL league office it was announced today that after reviewing the tape from Wednesday's opening game Yuri Babenko was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing. There you have it. A player ejected today from a game he played in yesterday. The season begins.
Is there a link to that newspaper article above that you refer to so I can read it?
ReplyDeleteThink you need to have a subscription to read the paper online
ReplyDeleteI found the article. If I allow cookies for their website then I am able to view it. Very interesting article. We will have to discuss it over a beer in the near future.
ReplyDelete