KHL Playoffs: CSKA vs SKA

No.2

                  It was inevitable. Like Alexander the Great across from Darius III at Issus(333)-Mikhail

       Naumenkov shaking hands with Pavel Datsyuk before the opening face off of Game One of the

       Western Conference Final-Tarasov's best vs Bobrov's best-CSKA vs SKA.

                  For the third time in the last four seasons the giants of the Russian hockey world meet on

       March 29th to begin their epic struggle. There is nothing quite like this series anywhere else on

       the planet.

                  The ''Mother of All playoff Series'' pits the most dynamic team in the universe, SKA, and

       the most accomplished team, CSKA, in the history of professional ice hockey. Think not? SKA

       ended the 56-game regular season with 40 wins, 7 OTWs, 4 OTLs, and 5 loses. These army men

       from Saint Petersburg scored 227 goals and gave up 97 leaving them at +130!!! while picking up

      138 points. CSKA wasn't  too bad at all with 35 wins, 9 OTWs,1 OTL and 11 loses while scoring

      175 goals and giving up only 89 goals resulting in a +86 and gaining 124 points. The goaltenders

      are equally impressive-Mikko Koskinen(SKA-29g, 1,716.12m, 24-4-4, 45ga, 15 so, .931 sv%,              1.57 gpg) and Ilya Sorokin(CSKA-37g, 2,182.35m, 25-8-4, 58 ga, 8 So, .931 sv%, 1.59 gpg). In 

       reference to + goal difference, the three teams alive in the Eastern Conference have -gds of +32

       (AK Barys Kazan), +12(Salavat Yulaev UFA), and +8(Tracktor Chelyabinsk). The greatness of

       CSKA?-please refer to 'Stick 'n Puck, KHL, No.1. It gives but a small taste of their glorious 

       history.

                   During the Confederation Cup(2017) ,the gateway to this year's World Cup in Russia,

       the Argentine football great Maradona showed up at the SKA training facility and donned a

       Russian national jersey. It might have been an appropriate presentment for this meeting of 

       the country's legendary teams who just can't seem to avoid one another-lucky fans and viewers! 

       

KHL-Kontinental Hockey League-CSKA

No. 1



             You know, ''a rose....by any other word,'' and the like-The Soviet League(1946-1992), The
       International Hockey League(1996-1999), The Russian Super League(1999-2008) on to the
       Kontinental Hockey League(2008-present). It has been the premier independent hockey league
       in the world. The nominal irony is that the corporate NHL is the true ''continental'' league play-
       ing their games outside of the international scope and norms of ice hockey. Like most leagues
       the KHL is replete with recognizable features-3 cups, two conferences, four divisions, eight
       conference playoff qualifiers for the second phase leading to the Gargarin Cup Final. 92 of the
       300 players in the recent Pyeonchang 2018 Olympics play in the KHL, and the Russian Gold
       Medal was 90% powered by the two best teams in the KHL-SKA and CSKA.
            CSKA was the ''cornerstone'' of the Soviet League, and evolved into the greatest hockey
       team ever to step on to an ice hockey rink. Their supremacy, domestically and internationally,
       spans the time of their founding(1946) to 1992. To statistically numerate this dominance
       would  involve enough pulp to devastate a South American rain forest, and be a disservice
       to the team itself which was the engine that drove the Soviet ''Big Red Machine'' that over-
       whelmed all international competition for nearly half a century. The team obliterated the best
       the NHL could offer, and, in the process, surmonted them in a series of games in hostile con-
       ditions,irregular ice dimensions, odd rules, NHL referees and violent\hateful fans. They
       played 36 games between 1976 and 1991-their record was 26-8-2. One can only imagine the
       results if the conditions had been reversed, and all the games had been in the Soviet Union.
            The KHL is still feeling itself along with an expanding league, including the first Chinese
       team, Kunlun Red Star to play big time hockey. The 60 game season will be completed by all
       29 teams today, and the playoffs start Saturday(3). Onward and Upward!