Lokomotiv Yaroslavl won the pre-season Blinov Cup ice hockey tournament after defeating Severstal Cherepovets 3-2 in a penalty shootout in Omsk.
Nineteen-year-old forward Kirill Yemelyanov scored the only successful penalty shot after 11 rounds of shootout attempts for each side to secure the victory for the Yaroslavl team. Russian sports publication Sport-Express reported the result of the championship fixture in Siberia.
Severstal took the lead in the 16th minute of the first period when forward Egor Graf opened the scoring. Lokomotiv responded three minutes later as Andrei Sergeev scored an equaliser in the 19th minute to leave the teams level at the first intermission.
Semyon Kizimov restored the lead for Severstal in the 29th minute during second period play. Lokomotiv answered once again early in the third period, with Ilya Nikolaev scoring in the 41st minute to tie the game at 2-2.
Neither team managed to score during the remaining regular time or throughout overtime. The match moved into an extended penalty shootout, where players from both teams took 11 shots each before Yemelyanov scored the single decisive goal of the contest.
Tournament heritage and team profiles
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl enters the upcoming season as the reigning champion of the Kontinental Hockey League. Founded in Yaroslavl, an ancient city situated on the Volga River northeast of Moscow, Lokomotiv has developed one of Russia's top ice hockey programs with a reputation for nurturing young talent through its academy system.
Severstal Cherepovets is a veteran KHL franchise based in the steel making hub of Cherepovets in Vologda Oblast, Northwestern Russia. The Blinov Cup is a traditional pre-season competition hosted in the Siberian city of Omsk. The tournament honors the memory of Viktor Blinov, an Olympic gold medalist and star Soviet defender who played for Omsk before his death in 1968.
Penalty shootouts in professional ice hockey are used to determine a winner when teams remain tied after overtime. Each coach selects skaters to attempt breakaway shots against the opposing goaltender, with extra rounds added if the score remains tied after initial attempts.
Opening day of the new season
The new KHL regular season is scheduled to begin on September 5. Reigning league champion Lokomotiv Yaroslavl will commence its title defense on opening day with a road game against Traktor Chelyabinsk, a prominent Eastern Conference club based in the industrial Ural city of Chelyabinsk.
