"We go out to play, but it's cool to piss off the opponent"

This KHL season, the main sensation of the Western Conference was Cherepovets Severstal. The club with one of the smallest league budgets ranks second in the regular season in the West. In the last game, Severstal scored a strong-willed victory over Dynamo Moscow with a score of 3:2, losing 0 during the meeting.:2. Nine days earlier, Andrey Kozyrev's team had already fought back in a match with the same opponent, when they were 1-4 in the middle of the third period, but eventually equalized and lost only after a shootout (4:5). In an interview with Izvestia, Cherepovets defender Nikita Kamalov explained the secret of the team's success, commented on the departure of the Slovak legionnaire of the club Adam Lishka to the Olympics in Italy and recalled his game at the Universiade 2019 in Krasnoyarsk.

"Making a wish is a useless story right now"

— At the expense of which you have already won back for the umpteenth time, losing by two or more goals?

— Let's start with the fact that we create problems for ourselves. We have to fight back, and then we start doing what is required of us, we show our game, and it brings results. Therefore, we do not fold our pens, but fight, show our character and our game.

— Would it have been a surprise to you at the beginning of the season, if someone had told you that you would be at the top of the conference with such limited financial resources, and not after the first or second month of the regular season, but at the start of its penultimate month?

— No, it wouldn't be a surprise to me. That's why I joined the team, because it has big ambitions. We're doing our job.

— Is there any pressure on the team to be at the top of the conference table? Is it possible to relate to this the way you start some matches, for example with Dynamo?

— No, there is no pressure.

— But is it important to finish the regular season in first place in the Western Conference?

— Every team wants to take the first place. That's why we play hockey, to win every game and take first place.

— Since Severstal has already firmly established itself in the top 4, having pulled away from fifth place by ten points and almost secured entry to the playoffs, are you already looking at potential rivals in the first round, especially those with whom you will have the advantage of your site?

— No, everything is very tight here, no one will give us a place in the top 4 so easily, so it's a useless story to think about something now.

"I'm doing my job in hockey, and the rest is bonuses"

— How did you react to the statements of CSKA head coach Igor Nikitin, who, after his team's recent 4-2 victory over Severstal, accused you of simulation and called you a person with reduced social responsibility?

— I was surprised to hear these words of Igor Valeryevich. Apparently, when he played himself, he did not hit the "bells" and they did not ring. It's a shame to hear accusations of simulation. I've never done it and I'm not going to do it. Especially in the episode that I had, it was difficult to simulate something, because it came very strongly.

— Do you like the fact that you have been successfully provoking people to such trash talk for the second season? Last year, as part of Metallurg, during the playoff series with Avangard, you annoyed your opponent when you drank water from a bottle of Omsk goalkeeper Nikita Serebryakov during a break, and after a fight with their captain Damir Sharipzyanov, his wife reacted to you on social media with the phrase "This freak will pay. You're on the ice, not in a "Who's dumber" competition. Now Nikitin has given you a hard time.

— Of course I like it. Recall the same episode with Omsk. And if the head coach of CSKA pays attention to it... Although there was nothing like that. In general, there is no point in continuing to comment on the episode. All this has already been absorbed and sucked. I'm just doing my job.

— Nikitin is a very reserved person. Is it especially nice that even he paid so much attention to you?

— These are his emotions. I repeat, I do my job in hockey. The rest is just bonuses.

— Do you come up with such techniques in advance? It is clear that the episode that resulted in Denis Guryanov being removed from CSKA and Nikitin considered it a simulation performed by you cannot be imagined in advance, but the incident with the Serebryakov bottle last year was not a blank?

— No, it was an improvisation, a combination of circumstances. At that moment, I wanted to drink some water.

— Are you trying to study the psychology of your opponents, to figure out which of the players can fall for your chips?

— Well, this is our internal kitchen. I won't comment or tell you much about it. We know almost everyone in the league there, almost everyone knows everyone, we've played with a lot, so it's a common kitchen. First of all, we go out to play. But it's not forbidden to piss off an opponent and his coaching staff, either - it's cool.

— Has anyone managed to piss you off during your career?

— Probably, yes. But I don't remember anymore.

— Are you ready for the fact that now the rivals will start coming up with some kind of retaliatory actions?

— Let them invent it. We'll see.

Coaching bridge: will SKA decide to replace Larionov with Tambiev

The St. Petersburg club has plunged into the depths of crisis again, the season may be a complete failure.

"I received a lot of positive emotions from the Universiade"

— How ready is your team for the playoffs?

— We are already starting preparations. Although it has been going on since the summer, so we go out for every match and try to do what is required of us, to play hockey.

— After the match with Dynamo, your striker Adam Lishka went to the location of the Slovak national team, with which he will soon play at the Olympics. Will you keep an eye on him?

— Yes, we wished him good luck, we are proud of him. Good luck to him, have a good game and win. Most people have Olympiads once in their lives, or even not at all. So God grant him good luck, we are very happy for him.

— As a person who won the Universiade in Krasnoyarsk with the Russian student national team in 2019, do you roughly understand the atmosphere that the Extra will get into?

— It's hard to compare the Universiade and the Olympics. But I got a lot of positive emotions from the Universiade back then, and I still have memories, so the Olympics are probably some kind of cosmic dream.