Ilsur Metshin congratulates Danis Zaripov, a captain of the snow leopards, on the anniversary match at the championships of Russia

The KHL regular championships match between the Ak Bars and Neftekhimik teams took place in Kazan, following which Kazan beat the team from Nizhnekamsk at the Tatneft Arena with a score of 5:2. For Danis Zaripov, the captain of the snow leopards, this match became the 1300th in the Russian championships, making him a record holder in the country by the number of matches played. The famous hockey player was congratulated on the anniversary match by the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.

“Danis Zaripov is our legend, he has played 1300 matches, of which more than 900 for Ak Bars. We thank him for bringing victories and bright emotions. He is a great professional who shows a high level of playing hockey. Like other fans, I wish that Danis will raise the next Gagarin Cup over his head as part of the Tatarstan team,”- Ilsur Metshin said on the air of the Ak Bars Show on the TNV TV channel.

The Mayor stressed that Tatarstan hockey has always been famous for its sports stars, including Danis Zaripov, Alexey Morozov, Kirill Petrov, Alexander Burmistrov and others. “Our children need such outstanding players to motivate them to play sports. And all conditions have been created in the republic for this, 12 hockey arenas have been built in Kazan, 82 hockey rinks and 21 skating rinks will be available this year. All sports fans have venues to train, and I urge them to do it with their families,”- Ilsur Metshin said.

The success of Tatarstan hockey is connected with the great support of the leadership of the republic, the Mayor noted. “Today Tatarstan is the leader in the number of hockey arenas. We love hockey and support it,”- Ilsur Metshin stressed.

After the match, the head of the city congratulated the famous hockey player on another victory and the 1300 th match.

For reference, the Ak Bars and Neftekhimik teams played 54 mutual matches in KHL – Ak Bars won 36 times, while Neftekhimik won 18 times.

On December 10, 2021, the captain of Ak Bars Danis Zaripov played the anniversary match in the Russian championships. In total, he has played 1300 matches, including: 904 – for Ak Bars, 301 – for Metallurg, 95 – for Mechel, which is a nation record.

In 2001, the hockey player joined the Kazan team from Mechel (Chelyabinsk), in 2013-2017 he played for Metallurg (Magnitogorsk). Danis Zaripov is the record holder of Ak Bars– he played 904 matches in 17 seasons, scored 291 goals and scored 639 points.

In addition, Danis Zaripov can be called the second top-scorer of the Russian hockey – according to the results of the match with Torpedo on November 20, 2021, he overtook Boris Mikhailov in the number of goals scored (to date, he has scored 430 goals), and also repeated the record of Andrey Subbotin, scoring goals in 23 championships.