Ak Bars Kazan forward Yegor Sokolov has spoken about scoring his first goal for the club in a match against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, in comments carried by Sports.ru.
Sokolov said the emotions were not the best because the team had lost. He said that scoring a goal while the team loses does not feel the same, and that the goal could give him added confidence, but it was disappointing the team had lost.
Goal came against his old team
Ak Bars lost 2-3 to Torpedo at the opening of the new Volga Arena in Nizhny Novgorod. Sokolov scored against the net of his former club during the game.
He said it had been a great occasion and that Nizhny Novgorod deserved it, adding that the city lives for hockey and that the atmosphere was excellent. He said he was very pleased to have opened the arena, even though he did so by scoring for the opposing team.
Recent transfer to Ak Bars
Sokolov spent last season playing for Torpedo. At the end of July he signed a contract with the Nizhny Novgorod club and had been preparing for the new season with them, but on 8 September he was traded to Ak Bars.
Ak Bars Kazan and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod both compete in the Kontinental Hockey League, or KHL, Russia's top-tier professional ice hockey competition and one of the largest hockey leagues in the world outside North America. Ak Bars, based in the city of Kazan, is one of the league's most established clubs, having won the Gagarin Cup multiple times since the KHL's founding. Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod recently moved into the newly built Volga Arena, which hosted its opening match in the fixture that produced Sokolov's goal.
The source article did not provide further details on the timing of the goal within the match or on any future fixtures for either club.
