“Kovalchuk showed that everything is possible in hockey” – Tereshchenko

Three-time world champion Alexei Tereshchenko said that the story of the return of striker Ilya Kovalchuk to Moscow Spartak may end with the victory of the “red-whites” in the Gagarin Cup.

On Sunday, Spartak beat Kunlun in the regular season match of the Fonbet KHL Championship with a score of 5:2. For Kovalchuk, this meeting was the first after returning to the KHL. The 40-year-old forward has not played professional hockey since he won the Gagarin Cup with Avangard as captain in April 2021.

— As Ilya Kovalchuk showed us, everything is possible in hockey. Even after a two-year break of 40 years, you can return to the ice and show a pretty good game in the first match. I watched the debut of my longtime teammate and was very pleased that he could join the team right away. This was noticeable in the way he interacted with other players, how they celebrated his puck together. It is clear that everyone treats him with great respect and understands that a real leader is playing with them.

“Spartak” has great respect for taking such a step and giving Ilya the opportunity to finish his career where he started. This is very valuable both for all fans of the “red-whites” and for Russian hockey in general. And it is possible that this is the beginning of a beautiful story that will end with Alexei Zhamnov’s team winning the Gagarin Cup, and Ilya raising it above his head. After this, you can leave gracefully,” RT quotes Tereshchenko.

Spartak, with 62 points, leads the Western Conference standings.

Watch live broadcasts of Fonbet KHL Championship matches on the Match TV channel, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.