Lokomotiv - Full Steam Ahead.

Lokomotiv Moscow, maybe not the biggest name in Russian football, or indeed, that well known to those outside of Russia, however, something special is taking place amongst the ranks of Igor Cherevchenko's men this season it seems. Last lifting the Russian league title in 2004 the Railroaders endured a barren spell until they lifted the Russian cup in 2007 and again in 2015, also finishing runners up in the Russian Super Cup in the same year. Lokomotiv's success in the cups last season was maybe a little a pointer towards the season ahead for Loko fans, though, no one could of predicted a little over 10 games into the 2015-16 season the Red and Greens would be sat comfortably 2^nd in the league well and truly in the title mix.

Nemanja Pejcinovic: his fantastic feeling with Corluka let
Guilherme to achieve 7 clean sheets this season 

Cherevchenko finally seems to be building something exciting, coaching at the club under various different titles since 2008, first as assistant, then as caretaker in 2014 and eventually moving to head coach officially in 2015. Holding the 2^nd best goal difference in the league, just behind current league leaders CSKA, the team are playing some fantastic attacking football and Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse has been a sensation up front bagging 5 goals in 8 appearances for the Railroaders so far this season, at the other end of the pitch, Loko have only conceded 8 goals this season, which is a testimony to the boys from the Balkans at the back, ex-Tottenham man and Croatian international, Captain, Verdan Corluka has built a solid partnership and understanding with super Serb Nemanja Pejcinovic keeping the ship watertight coupled with some outstanding performances from the big man between the sticks Guilherme. Lokomotiv have achieved 7 clean sheets so far this season in all competitions.

Given the results so far and the confidence amongst the squad, it looks like Loko could go on to have a real crack of the whip when it comes to a title challenge and mount a realistic push towards reaching the finals in the Europa league. Being somewhat an unknown entity to other European teams in the competition, could work to their advantage as in the case of last season's finalists Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Aleksey Murygin: one of the best goaltenders in the KHL

FC Lokomotiv aren't the only Railroaders travelling at full steam this season, the club's namesake in Yaroslav are taking the Kontinental Hockey League by storm this season sitting top of the Western conference of the Tarasov division. 14 wins under their belts, the Railwaymen of Yaroslav are replicating the ethos of their football playing counterparts, holding an impressive goal scoring record, netting 54 goals with Averin Yegor 4^th in the scoring table with 12 goals to his name, the team are also boasting a very respectable defensive game only letting in 25 so far, much of the credit for that falls on the shoulders of Goaltender Murygin Alexey who has the highest save percentage in the KHL at 97.7%.

It has not always been an easy ride for the Hockey Club, after the tragedy of the plane crash in 2011 when the team were travelling to Minsk, the president of the KHL announced a 'disaster draft' to allow Yaroslav to ice a team for the 2011-2012 season, following that, on the 10^th of September 2011 the club chose to opt out of participating in the KHL and instead spent a season in the Russian Major League, since returning to the KHL, Lokomotiv have enjoyed relatively successful seasons, reaching the play-offs in 2012 and 2013, but having not tasted Gold since winning the Russian Open Championship in 2003 the fans will be desperate to enjoy success once again and the men from Yaroslav can genuinely achieve that this season and I fully expect them to fulfil their potential.

Oumar Baye Niasse. He has scored 8 goals this season so far

Three years since Yaroslavl tragedy.

Today is the third anniversary of the terrible tragedy that affected all the country. On September 7th 2011 in a plane accident near Yaroslavl, all Lokomotiv Team of hockey died. 

The memories of that tragic days are still alive in the pain. All the Russian sport and the Lokomotiv family were really worried about the plane crash in Yaroslavl and have tried doing all was possible for the families of victims, who weren't let alone. 

This a sad day not only for the employees of the club, but also the technical staff and all the players say their condolence to the families and friends of victims. The memory of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl will be always in our hearts. Today we cry with Yaroslavl and with the world of hockey. 

Eternal memory of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl: due anni dalla tragedia.

7 settembre 2011, ore 16:05. Si consuma il dramma più grande della storia dell’hockey, ma prima di tutto un dramma umano. Sul fiume Volga, nei pressi dell’aeroporto di Jaroslavl, il destino si porta via 45 vite umane, tra membri dell’equipaggio e l’intera squadra della Lokomotiv Jaroslavl. Uomini e ragazzi, prima ancora che giocatori. Oggi, a due anni di distanza, la ferita è ancora lungi dall’essere rimarginata e appare anzi insanabile: non solo la stella slovacca Pavol Demitra, non solo lo svedese campione olimpico e del mondo Stefan Liv, non solo i cechi campioni del mondo Karel Rachunek, Jan Marek e Josef Vasicek, non solo il lettone Karlis Skrastins e il bielorusso Ruslan Salej, tutti nomi noti agli appassionati in quanto grandi firme della NHL, ma anche tanti giovani ragazzi, appena ventenni, promesse dell’hockey russo. Quel maledetto 7 settembre la squadra guidata dal canadese Brad McCrimmon era diretta in Bielorussia, a Minsk, dove avrebbe dovuto giocare il match d’esordio della stagione 2011/12 della KHL. Lo YAK-42D pilotato dal comandante Andrei Solomentsev e dal copilota Igor Zhivelov ha però problemi durante il decollo dall’aeroporto Tunoshna di Jaroslavl e non c’è più niente da fare quando il velivolo impatta contro un radiofaro al termine della pista 05: poco più di un chilometro dopo, tra il fiume Tunoshenka e il fiume Volga, la fusoliera dell’aereo si disintegra al suolo e la coda finisce in acqua. Scattano i soccorsi, ma la situazione è disperata: l’unico sopravvissuto alla tragedia resta l’ingegnere di volo Aleksandr Sizov. Viene estratto vivo dalle macerie anche Aleksandr Galimov, la ventiseienne ala sinistra russa, che si arrende però alle gravi ustioni riportate qualche giorno dopo, il 12 settembre. L’aereo della tragedia era a soltanto un anno dal “pensionamento”, il motore venne sostituito un mese prima dell’incidente: nel 2009 inoltre la Commissione europea mise sotto inchiesta la Yak Service, per problemi di aeronavigabilità e sicurezza. Per questo motivo dal 2010 per gli Yak vigeva un divieto di volo nello spazio europeo. Nonostante ciò le successive indagini indicarono come più probabile un errore dei piloti, che avrebbero proseguito la manovra di decollo invece che effettuare una frenata di emergenza: anche dopo le simulazioni, però, non è ancora stata fatta totale chiarezza sulle dinamiche dello schianto. Poco importa però, quando sono ormai due anni che quarantacinque vite sono scomparse. Piccoli e grandi campioni, con grandi successi alle spalle e altrettante vittorie in programma, sfumate sulla riva di un fiume. Hockeytime ricorda tutte le vittime del disastro e si stringe ancora una volta al dolore dei famigliari. 

LOKOMOTIV YAROSLAVL – 07.09.2011/07.09.2013 

Giocatori: Vitalij Anikeenko, Sjarhei Astapcuk, Michail Balandin, Aleksandr Vasjunov, Josef Vasicek, Oleksandr Vjuchin, Pavol Demitra, Robert Dietrich, Marat Kalimulin, Aleksandr Kaljanin, Andrej Kirjuchin, Nikita Kljukin, Stefan Liv, Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salej, Karlis Skrastins, Pavel Snurnicyn, Daniil Sobcenko, Ivan Tkacenko, Pavel Trachanov, Gennadij Curilov, Maksim Suvalov, Artem Jarcuk, Jurij Urycev e Aleksandr Galimov.

Staff: Brad McCrimmon (Head coach), Aleksandr Karpovtsev (Assistant Coach), Igor Korolev (Assistant Coach), Yuri Bakhvalov (Video operatore), Aleksandr Belyaev (Fisioterapista), Andrei Zimin (Medico sociale), Nikolai Krivonosov (Fitness coach), Evgeny Kunnov (Fisioterapista), Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Fisioterapista), Vladimir Piskunov (Dirigente) e Evgeny Sidorov (Coach-analyst).

Equipaggio: Andrei Solomentsev (Comandante), Igor Zhivelov (Copilota), Nadezhda Maksumova (Assistente di volo), Vladimir Matyushin (Ingegnere di volo), Elena Sarmatova (Assistente di volo), Elena Shavina (Assistente di volo) e Sergy Zhuravlev (Meccanico di bordo).

Fonte: hockeytime.net

Onore e ricordo.