From a team that finished 17th last season to 8th this season and clinched their division, as well as making their first conference final ever, HC Sibir has had a pretty successful season. The roller-coaster of the regular season wasn’t all glory and success, hitting a peak 19 games into the season, dead last in their conference and 18th overall in the league. What was a miracle, was the turn around, which saw Sibir go 14-5 down the stretch and climbing up the standings, peaking at 6th overall and sitting just under Ak Bars, the cup finalists before the season was over.
With Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera sitting comfortably in the NHL, it falls more so down to a former NHLers to make a mark. The bar wasn’t going to get much higher than last year, even GM Kirill Fastovski joked that he would shave his head if the team improved on its 2014 performance. That promise was fulfilled this year after Sibir turned around the season. Belarusian Coach Andrei Skabelka lead the team with a new consistent goalkeeper alongside some unexpected stars breaking out.
The incredible stretch that saw Sibir only drop five games in regulation was on the back of two key wins, but by no means just relied on them. With consistent, elite goaltending, including two 30+ save shutouts which turned Sibir’s season around, Alexander Salak was consistent and on the back of shutting out Russia at the Euro Hockey Tour, made it to the All Star Game. Salak gave a strong performance in the playoffs, despite being eliminated by AK Bars, a team that outshot Sibir most night. He finished the year with a .945 SV% in the regular season and .943 SV% in the playoffs. While he’s unsure on the status of contract negotiations with the club, he finished the season with nothing but praise for his team.
The Nordic players on Sibir shined. This four man unit includes” Finnish playoff team points leader, Jarno Koskiranta, second on the team Jonas Enlund; inemate Patrik Hersley, and KHL all-star hardest shot winner, and the leading defenceman in goals in the playoffs Swede David Ullstrom. Sibir’s core was tight, the minutes were spread evenly and Hersley, the eldest of the group at 28, has become a staple on one league’s best powerplays, trailing only behind the wealthy, offensively gifted teams of CSKA, Jokerit and SKA. Sibir’s two units headed by their Nordic core has become one of their strongest point. They also avoided giving the other team powerplays. Enlund, had only 4 minutes in the box but drew 17 minutes in penalties for opponents. In the playoffs this became even more crucial, even with Sibir playing less games than SKA, they were 2nd in powerplay goals by a wide margin. 40% of Sibir’s goals came from their powerplay. Unlike the two army teams with wealth, and veterans like Ilya Kovalchuk or Alexander Radulov, Sibir’s young, tight core not only is disciplined for a young team, but have also created a powerplay to be feared and ultimately, come into offense via their work on the special teams.
This comparison to the wealthier teams like the armies also highlights the special part about Sibir; it is the way they bloom and take in prospects, abandoned by previous clubs and home grown talent.. They have constantly grown and now formed a strong young team, and can only get better with the playoff experience. No one encapsulates the young team’s mentality more than defenceman Igor Ozhiganov, a 22-year-old let go of by the big and wealthy club of CSKA. Barely playing 2 games in the 2010-2011 season, he has become not only a strong presence on Sibir’s side but earned high praise, picking up two defenceman of the week awards and finishing 2nd for defencemen in scoring for Sibir. Deep in the playoffs, he only took one less shot than Hersley and – more importantly – more than any of CSKA Moscow’s defencemen. On first pairing duties and part of one of the league’s best powerplays, Ozhignov has not only made his mark, but has made a statement to a team that had dropped him before.
Sibir is that underdog team that does not have a giant star name that the North America median will pick up on. Sibir do not have the big business backing to take on a $3 million contract for a player like Viktor Tikhonov Jr. However, they do not need it. Their organization has been built on a philosophy that everyone deserves a chance to shine and that they are to capitalizing on the bigger teams’ failures. Sibir have had their best two seasons, and have done so through hard work and a great, young team that now sits with deep playoff experience. While the cup final might have just been out of their reach this year, they are a threat going forward.
