On July 13, a charity hockey match took place at CSKA Arena, bringing together leading Russian players from the KHL and NHL.
The match featured teams representing the East (KHL players, including Daniil Isaev, Nikita Nesterov, Egor Yakovlev, Nikolai Goldobin, Dmitry Yashkin, Vadim Shipachyov) and the West (Russian NHL players such as Sergei Bobrovsky, Mikhail Sergachyov, Artemi Panarin, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and others).
The game started actively with exchanged goals. The West team took the lead three times, but the East players (Ilya Kovalchuk, Vitaly Kravtsov, and Nikolai Goldobin) equalized each time. However, towards the end of the first period, the West scored two more goals (Vladislav Gavrikov and Pavel Buchnevich), taking a lead into the break.
In the second period, the West dominated, scoring seven unanswered goals, and added three more in the third. The final score of the match was a convincing 15:3 victory for the West.
All funds raised from the match will be directed towards supporting and rehabilitating children with disabilities.
Gareth Tenby