"In the fifth match, Traktor smelled blood and put the squeeze on us."

During the May holidays, the Russian national ice hockey team will hold a series of friendly matches. On May 1, Roman Rotenberg's team will meet with Kazakhstan in Astana. A day later, they will play Belarus in the same place, with which they will also have three more meetings — on May 5 and 6 in Tolyatti and on May 8 in Minsk. One of the players called up to these matches was goalkeeper Andrey Mishurov, who was loaned from Avangard Omsk by Admiral Vladivostok last KHL season, where he became the main goalkeeper at the adult level for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old hockey player helped the Mariners reach the playoffs, where they managed to fight one of the favorites of the Gagarin Cup, Traktor Chelyabinsk (2:4 in the series).

In an interview with Izvestia, Mishurov shared his expectations for the upcoming matches of the national team, assessed the past season in the KHL, told what Admiral lacked to pass the first round and explained why he considers Lokomotiv Yaroslavl the favorite in the fight for the Gagarin Cup.

— How do you like your first week in the national team?

— great. I got to know the coaching staff. It's no secret that if people are in the national team, it means that they are the best specialists we have now. It's a pleasure to work with such people.

— How does it feel to work with goalkeeping coach Yuri Klyuchnikov, under whom Nikita Serebryakov became the best goalkeeper of the season in the KHL two years ago, playing for Admiral?

— It's not even that he brought Nikita Serebryakov to such a level. And because you know the level of this coach, Yuri Viktorovich is a strong specialist. It's nice to have the opportunity to work under him.

— What do you expect from the upcoming matches for the national team?

— It is always a great honor to play for the national team. It doesn't matter if these are friendly matches or the World Cup. Therefore, I will make the most of this chance, which was given to me by the coaching staff, to give my best for the sake of the coat of arms on my chest and squeeze everything out of myself.

— Will there be any special emotions from the first match against Kazakhstan due to the fact that Admiral's head coach Leonid Tambiev is currently working at his headquarters?

— I don't know, maybe it will be interesting to play against Leonid Grigorievich (smiles). But the most important emotion is playing for your country. Moreover, I think there will be a good excitement from the fans in Astana, Tolyatti, and Minsk, with full stands. Because their national teams will play in Kazakhstan and Belarus, and a lot of people will probably come to Tolyatti to support us — there are generally very good fans there, I know this from KHL matches when you come there to play with Lada during the season. It's great that people are cheering and supporting there — I think they will come to us too. But in Minsk, the atmosphere is generally one of the best in the league when you play against Dynamo. I think the national team will also have a full house and a real hockey celebration, which is always a pleasure to play.

— Avangard has announced that you are returning to the club from a loan at Admiral. Do you believe that you can compete with Nikita Serebryakov for the position of the main goalkeeper?

— I don't think about it at all — right now all my thoughts are focused on the national team and the upcoming matches. I will talk about Avangard and the further continuation of my career after the completion of all the games of the national team.

— How would you rate your last season at Admiral?

— On a five-point by four with a minus. Somewhere it didn't work out — I wanted more stability from myself. But you can definitely count the season as an asset — for the first time in my career, I was the number one, I played a lot of games, including in the playoffs as the main one. It was a tremendous experience that gave me great food for thought and showed me what I need to improve, where to strive and grow in order to take the next step forward and win the competition for the role of number one in a club that aims to win the Gagarin Cup.

— And what do you need to add?

— Let them be secrets that only I know (smiles).

— Is it hard to fly from Vladivostok to Chelyabinsk and back during the playoffs when the matches are played two days apart?

— Yes, it is really difficult and adds a certain zest to the Far East. Flights, time difference — all this can not but affect. You can't fool the body anyway. Anyway, there comes a time in the season when the reserve that you have in your body is depleted. And it's getting hard for you. But that's our job. You can't explain this to a fan — he comes to the stadium, pays money to watch good hockey. Therefore, no matter how hard it is for you, you go out and give your best to please the audience. Especially if you play on your own playground.

— Are the missed victories over Traktor in the series, when you led 3-1 and 4-0, a matter of physics and long—distance flights?

— This is a matter of psychology. And mine personally, and the team as a whole. We just didn't have enough experience to bring the matches to victory when we were leading the score, and with a big advantage. Take the fourth match, when we played at home in Vladivostok after winning the third match in overtime (4-3). After the first period, we lead 3-1, we fully control the game, it goes according to our dictation. But then we just completely fail the second period and miss a comfortable advantage for ourselves. And, of course, the most painful offensive defeat was in the fifth match in Chelyabinsk, after which we could not recover psychologically. We led 4-0 in the middle of the third period — take this game and you can go to Vladivostok to resolve the issue of winning the entire series. But something wasn't enough for us - we missed two quick goals, and then we got eliminated. Traktor smelled the blood and, like an experienced team that finished the regular season in first place in the East, they didn't let us go and put the squeeze on us. No "physics" plays a role in the playoffs here - when you have energy and emotions overflowing, it's all about psychology, which affects the result.

— What makes Leonid Tambiev so successful at Admiral is that two years ago, for the first time, a team from the Far East won a series in the playoffs, and now it was close to repeating it.

— I think he's just famous for his great demands on any player. He has no authority in his team. Leonid Grigorievich treats all players the same — he is demanding of everyone. It requires you to always give your best in training and in the game, on every inch of the court. So that the stars are not in the team, but the team is the star. On this basis, everyone unites and acts with a single fist. I don't know how it was at Admiral during the season when it reached the second round, but last season everyone was united by one goal — to win. We had a crazy team in Vladivostok. It was really nice to be around these guys.

— Who do you see as the Gagarin Cup favorite among the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, Chelyabinsk Traktor, Moscow Dynamo and Ufa Salavat Yulaev who reached the semifinals?

— Yaroslavl.

- why?

— There are many factors. The team has been building for the fourth year. She has had almost the same composition all this time, there are only point reinforcements. Daniil Isaev is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. It's just a crazy game system — it's really hard to play against them. I think Lokomotiv has already earned by its work to win the Gagarin Cup, which, in my opinion, and probably, in the opinion of everyone, it should have won last year, but then Magnitogorsk performed a miracle. And now Lokomotiv is one of the main favorites. But at the same time, I don't want to write anyone off — all the semifinalists are ready to raise the cup over their heads.

— If Admiral had passed Traktor, they would have played against Lokomotiv in the second round. Would there be any chance of clinging on to a win in this series?

- of course. We would cling with our teeth. I would give anything to cling to this series.