Hockey player Zavgorodniy said that his team was locked in the locker room because of bikers in the USA

Sochi forward Dmitry Zavgorodniy spoke about the dangerous situations he faced when he played for the American Hockey League (AHL) club Stockton Heat.

Zavgorodniy defended the colors of the Stockton-based team in the 2020/21 and -2021/22 seasons.

“It’s really dangerous out there. There are a lot of gangsters, African-American bandits. We came to training, and after that we immediately went home and tried not to stick out. If it’s dark, it’s better not to go out at all. When I first arrived in Stockton, they immediately issued a map, where half of the city is marked in red, and the other half is green. You can’t go to the red one, to the south, it’s very dangerous there, even the police don’t come there. In general, not the best impressions are formed from the city. There are a lot of homeless people, garbage, there are dismantlings on the streets.

One day a gang of bikers came and had a big convention. We then had a home match. After the game, we were all locked in the locker room and told to sit here, on the street there was a brawl, and shooting could begin. We waited an hour after the match, then, under the supervision of the police, we were taken to the cars. Everything seemed to work out, only a couple of glasses were broken, they had a fight, but at least without shooting and killings. Once a man climbed up to my teammates on the roof of the house. Probably to rob. They called the police and he immediately jumped off and ran away. All the guys from the team tried to rent houses and apartments in good areas and stayed at home in their free time. If you want to do something, you can go to a neighboring city – near San Francisco and Sacramento, – Zavgorodniy said in an interview with Sport24.

According to him, he never went to the “red” region.

– Probably, you can’t leave things in the car in any area, they will immediately break the glass?

– Yes. There are many cars with broken windows, bullet holes, removed wheels. It’s like you get into a bad area in GTA, ”the player shared his impressions.

Sochi in June signed a bilateral contract with 21-year-old Zavgorodny until April 30, 2024. He spent part of last season in the Sochi club: he played 10 matches of the regular season and made 3 assists.