The farewell match
of three-time world champion and five-time Gagarin Cup winner Danis Zaripov
took place at the Kazan Tatneft Arena. Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin and world
hockey stars Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexey Morozov, Ilya Kovalchuk
and others took part in it.
The player’s banner was raised and the number 25 was retired
Danis Zaripov, accompanied
by his family – mother, wife and sons, greeted the fans before the start of the
match.
“The day has come
when my career has come to an end. I am very pleased that today the stands of
our ice palace are full. Throughout my career, I was pleased to see full stands
at our matches,”- he said.
Vladislav Tretyak,
President of the Russian Hockey Federation, Nail Maganov, President of the
Tatarstan Hockey Federation, Vladimir Leonov, Tatarstan Minister of Sports, and
Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, congratulated the legend.
“A very tender
moment. Within these walls, together with you, we experienced glorious moments,
victories and defeats of our Ak Bars. There is no stadium in Kazan, Tatarstan
and Russia that could accommodate everyone who wants to come and express words
of thanks to you,”- Ilsur Metshin said.
“Kazan has its own
hall of fame - a Book of Honor, where we record people who glorified the city
and inscribed their golden page in its history,”- the Mayor continued. “It is a
great honor for me, on behalf of the residents of the capital to put your name
into the hall of fame, in the Book of Honor of Kazan. Thank you, Danis!”
At the ceremony,
the banner of the player was raised in the ice palace. For the first time in
the history of the Ak Bars hockey club, Danis Zaripov’s number 25 was retired.
From now on, this number will be unavailable to players in the entire club
system.
Metshin scored two goals, and Zaripov scored shootouts
The farewell match
featured two periods of 20 minutes each. The Russian National Team and Ak Bars
met on the ice. Artur Zaripov, Marat Zaripov, Alexander Syomin, Ilsur Metshin,
Alexander Ovechkin, Vasily Koshechkin played for the whites. Yevgeny Medvedev,
Vitaly Proshkin, Sergey Zinoviev, Alexey Morozov, Emil Garipov played for the
greens. In the first period, Danis Zaripov played for the greens, while in the
second for the whites.
The score was
opened by the greens – Grigory Shafigullin shot the goal with the transfer of
Alexey Chukin. Then the score was equalized by the whites – Ilya Kovalchuk
scored a goal with the transfer of Sergei Mozyakin and Pavel Datsyuk.
The whites took
the lead thanks to Ilya Wolfson and Alexander Radulov, the transfer was made by
Yevgeny Kuznetsov.
Alexey Chupin closed
the gap of the greens with the transfer of Vasily Koshechkin, but then Pavel
Datsyuk scored with a help of Ilya Kovalchuk and Viktor Kalachik.
The Greens took
the lead again thanks to the goals of Albert Vishnyakov (assisted by Yevgeny
Medvedev and Kirill Petrov), Sergey Zinoviev (assisted by Alexey Morozov) and
Alexander Svitov (with the transfer of Marat Valiullin). The bullet was
performed by Danis Zaripov. Thus, the first period ended with a score of 6:4 in
favor of the greens.
Then Danis Zaripov
performed another shootout, but this time for the whites. The gap of his team
was closed by Sergey Mozyakin. Ilsur Metshin equalized the score. Then Yevgeny
Kuznetsov brought the whites forward with the help of Alexander Radulov.
The greens managed
to catch up with their opponent thanks to Dmitry Obukhov. However, the whites
again knocked out the advantage with the help of Sergei Mozyakin and Alexander
Ovechkin. Ilsur Metshin scored another goal assisted by Alexander Syomin and
Danis Zaripov.
Marat Valiullin
scored the goal with the transfer of Alexey Morozov. The final goal was scored
by Danis Zaripov with the transfer of Artur Zaripov.
The farewell match
ended with a score of 12:9 in favor of the whites.