Finally Arlan!

16 Apr 2018Davide Tuniz»

The long-awaited first title of champion of Kazakhstan has finally arrived for the club from Kokshetau

Since its foundation in 2009 Arlan Kokshetau has always been one of the top clubs in the country, with large economic investments to succeed in winning a title in Kazakhstan League, that has never been reached until today, after two bronze (2012-13 and 2016-17) and three consecutive finals lost from 2013 to 2015. A lone goal by Vladislav Kolesnikov gives the victory 1-0 in decisive game #6 against reigning champion Nomad Astana, after a great balance in the first four games, finished with 2 victories each. The turning point of the series was game #5, played last Friday in the small Barys Arena - Nomad is the reserve team of Barys - ended with another 1-0 victory, signed by Stanislav Borovikov after 4 minutes. It's the highest achievement in the career of Russian coach Vladimir Kapulovsky, arrived last season to replace Viktor Bogatyryov, after a career as assistant coach in KHL.

It is interesting to note that after having focused on many foreigners in the past years, especially from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the roster of the team in this victorious season consists only of Kazakhs or Russians, with two Ukrainian players released during the regular season.

Stanislav Loginov who began the season in bottom-table club HK Astana, before to sign for Cup winner Kulager Petropavlovsk, finished as Top Scorer

The other awards were assigned to:

Mikhail Demidov (Arlan Kokshetau): Best Goalie

Sergei Yegorov (Nomad Astana): Best Defender

Vadim Berdnikov (Arlan Kokshetau): Best Forward

Ivan Vereshchagin (Nomad Astana): Best Rookie