The quarterfinal meeting of the girls' junior championship between the national teams of the Czech Republic and Russia ended in a grandiose fight. Ours were leading 2:0, and there was very little left until the end of the final period, when the forward of the Czech team tried to continue the attack after the referee's whistle.
The captain of the Russian national team, defender Nina Pirogova in Dmitrov near Moscow plays in the Tornado club. It was with such a crushing whirlwind that she ran into the Czech, protecting her goalkeeper Valery Merkushev. Czech - for a stick, a stick - for a helmet ... In general, two girls' teams are notable. At the end of the “battle on the ice”, only the strong and indomitable Nina Pirogova remained standing on the ice among the defeated rivals ...
Fighting is not good. Especially for girls. The judges quickly seated the fighters on the penalty boxes, and the match ended with a score of 2:0 in our favor.
The Russian team advanced to the semifinals, while the Czechs were left with a bitter share of the "consolation" match for 5-6th place.
After final whistle teams lined up on the ice field. The national anthem of the country whose team won was traditionally played first. But Anthem Russian Federation immediately the Czech fans, disappointed and embittered by the defeat of their girls, began to whistle and scream. And it was then that our girls showed themselves to be real fighters.
I have always said and I will say: our women are better than ABBA! Throwing sticks, gloves and helmets on the ice, embracing, our 17-year-old girls sang the words of the National Anthem of the Russian Federation so well, so loudly and so fervently that all the ill-wishers in the stands ice palace sports shut up completely. They sang the chorus - in complete silence in the hall!
We are now trying to shut our mouths everywhere. And many sports (and political, economic and other too) figures, men, crawl away from the place of the “fight”, whispering “silent, silent, silent”, and then shrug their shoulders, justifying that there is no reception against scrap ...
Eat. There are such tricks. Girls-hockey players showed that a strong character, will and national pride cannot be beaten with a crowbar. Learn!
In the semifinals, our juniors will play with the Americans. They have strong team, World Cup favorite. And in the Russian national team, in addition, two strongest hockey players, Nina Pirogova and Oksana Bratishcheva, were disqualified for a fight with Czech athletes.
No matter how the semi-final ends, our girls are already winners for us. Mo-lod-tsy!
“The third period was spent on nerves and on emotions…”
Post-match mini-interviews with the head coach of the Russian women's youth team Evgeny Bobariko and team captain Nina Pirogova have been published on the official website of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. Here are excerpts:
Evgeny Bobariko:
“... In the first period, the Czech team forced our goalkeeper to work, they had dangerous moments and outplayed us in terms of shots. Where it was necessary, Lera (Merkusheva) helped out. During the break, we talked in the locker room, and in the second period the team showed a different kind of hockey. The players showed character, got excited and scored two beautiful goals, although they could have scored more.
The third period was on the nerves and emotions. There were provocations from the Czech national team. The girls endured all these pokes from rivals for a very long time. But at the end, when they started specifically attacking our goalkeeper, this brawl began, which was provoked by the Czechs.”
Nina Pirogova:
“In the first period, not everything worked out for us, but during the break, the girls and I properly tuned in and adequately played this match, pulled it out on our teeth. I took part in the second abandoned puck, we brought Lena Provorova to the throw, she scored a goal. In part, we were still tired, because yesterday's game was also difficult and ended late. As for the Czech national team, they played dirty, constantly trying to make us emotional... You have to stand up for your goalkeeper and not allow rudeness from your opponents. At that moment, the Czechs began to attack Leroux, so it all happened. If I managed to get the team even bigger with this, then it’s good, the emotions will be transferred to the next game.”
"Tornado" named Nina
Nina Pirogova - team leader. Regularly and for more than a year he has been called up to the Russian national team. Nina came to hockey very early - at the age of three, following her brother. Apart from sports section, the girl was simultaneously engaged in English, folk dances and music. By the age of seven, when she went to school, she left hockey and English for herself. “I also play for the first team, where the girls are better, and it’s more difficult for me,” says Nina. But here I have a big responsibility. I am the captain and I try to be a leader in the team.”
Life tells why women's hockey in Russia suddenly became more popular than football last week.
It was worth going to meet the women's youth team in Domodedovo for at least two things. Hearing who, thanks to their sincere singing in the Czech Republic, have collected more than a million views on YouTube and is priceless. Even if the chip of this team turned out to be a little protocol - for the sake of television, but the emotions of the team from a successful result clearly did not subside, so it still turned out sincerely and cool.
And the second point is the notorious role of the individual in history. After all, if our captain Nina Pirogova were a little less wound up in the end of the quarterfinals with the Czech Republic, do not punish her opponent with cuffs for too aggressive actions against her goalkeeper - maybe now we would talk about something else. It was that episode that led to an explosion in the stands and millions of views. In general, you understand where I'm getting at. Let's be honest, without high-profile hockey events, the performance of the youth team would have received a minimum of airtime.
In the Czech media, the defender of the Moscow Region “Tornado” appeared almost as a monster in human form. Well, they can be understood - at some point, the captain of the Russian team withstood the onslaught of three rivals at the same time. And moments later - she transferred her opponents to the ground.
In fact, we saw a modest, sweet girl.
-Nina, can you pose with your fists?- asked Pirogov.
Why fists? I'm a hockey player. I don't like to fight. It just happened.
- Come on. Muay Thai coaches are already calling us at the editorial office, they are looking for you.
Come on, it seems that this topic was no longer worth joking about.
Nevertheless, Nina complied with the request. And now we see those fists that brought women's hockey more popularity than all the minimum media coverage of this sport in the last two years. Since the previous Buffalo anthem scandal.
By the way, let's put an end to the history of the quarterfinals and the ugly behavior of the fans at the last MFM. Moreover, the situation is absolutely trivial.
Judge for yourself. The Czechs, as the hosts of the tournament, could arrange the logistics for themselves, so the team played all matches, including the quarterfinals, at the 2,000-strong arena in Prerov. There was also a fight for third place. While the final is in the second arena of the championship, a tiny shed in Zlín with five thousand seats. The calculation is clear, it is, in fact, impossible to fight with the USA and Canada at such a level, but it was seen as a real scenario for the host side to aim at the third bronze medal in the history of the women's MFM.
Now let's go directly to the match Russia - Czech Republic. The game took place the day after the final day of the group stage, and the Russians, who defeated the Swedes only in the shootout (around 23:00), had to pack their things in the arena, eat and sleep. And in the morning, take a bus from Zlín to Přerov and at 16:30 go on the ice against the Czech team that played the afternoon match yesterday.
That is, initially all conditions were created for the hostesses to reach the semi-finals. But, let's be fair, the Czechs are far from the first to use the right of the organizers to manipulate the calendar like this under the guise of spectator interest, television, and so on.
Another thing is that they could count on the “exhaust”, but in the end got 0-2 with two more unpleasant episodes for the audience in the end: a foul by Bratishcheva and a beating of a local girl Pirogova. Of course, two thousand spectators, who ardently cheered the whole match, constantly pressing the judges with a whistle and a rumble, could not restrain themselves. The dream of medals was shattered, glasses of beer flew onto the ice and onto our bench. What can we say about those gathered at the stadium, if the coach of the losers threw a whole tantrum - they say he yelled on the air of local television immediately after the match so that the walls were shaking.
Naturally, the emotional background spread to the Czech media, which continued for a couple of days. It is important to note something else - our girls did not experience any negative from the fans in the future. However, after their departure, the public expectedly lost interest in the tournament.
Concluding the topic of the sports component, one cannot fail to say a few words about the semi-finals with the USA and the bronze game with Sweden. With the States, everything is, in principle, clear. In terms of development and mass character, women's hockey is on a different planet compared to European countries. The best representatives were not only well trained, but also significantly outnumbered our team, for example, in size. To be honest, there were practically no chances - although our girls promise in the near future.
But the Swedes paid the price for their nation's propensity to manipulate the results. Sometimes, as in the men's Olympic tournament in Turin 2006, strange defeats for an easier road to the playoffs lead to success.
At the women's MFM in the Czech Republic, the hockey gods turned their backs on the "schemers". Actually, and rightly so. We have already mentioned the game with Russia, the winner of which was supposed to fight with the hostesses in the Prerov cauldron after the bus crossing. So, the Scandinavians decided that this option did not suit them. You should have seen how in the decisive shootout attacker “Tre Krunur” just drove up to Valeria Merkusheva and absurdly poked the puck somewhere in the shields.
It's a pity we didn't manage to meet the parents of striker Ekaterina Dobrodeeva in Domodedovo. It seems that it was they who started the song from the movie "Belarusian Station" in the stands, and exactly under "... which means we need one victory, one for all - we will not stand up for the price" scored a bronze goal. Also a beautiful story, the memory of which was a video on the Internet.
But even without its details, the airport had enough touching, funny and symbolic scenes. Some of the girls could not hold back their tears, saying goodbye to their teammates, while others had to fight the Moscow elements. Tiny creatures with trunks loaded on carts could not cope with drifts on icy paths on the way to the bus. The carts were blown into the fence, the trunks fell, the girls laughed and lifted the scrub that scattered on the snow.
They fell, but rose ... Well done!
Nina Pirogova is a medalist of the Women's Ice Hockey World Championship.
Why did you choose hockey?
I generally have very sport family. Mom worked as a child speed skating, dad - football and hockey on professional level(now works as a coach), older brother plays in the MHL. It all started with my brother. At first I wanted to try it on hockey uniform, then - skates, in which she learned to walk around the apartment ....
- Who helped you at the very beginning, when you were just taking your “first steps” on the ice?
For some reason, in no interview I was asked about the people thanks to whom I came to hockey. Therefore, taking this moment, I would like to say a huge thank you to my dad - Boris Viktorovich Pirogov, who at the age of 3 put me on skates and taught me not only to skate, but also to understand that in addition to the words "I want" and "I don't want" there is a word - "NECESSARY".
Thanks to the coaches of the team "Captain" (Stupino) - Shibaev Mikhail Vasilyevich and Shchepakin Sergey Yuryevich, who were not afraid to take the only (at that time) girl to the boys' team.
Thanks to coach Ivanova Elena Sergeevna, who was the first to show me what "women's hockey" is.
Many thanks to the Honored Coach of Russia - Urmancheev Ravil Mnirovich, thanks to whose efforts a department of women's hockey was created in Stupino, and who allowed me to additionally train with older boys.
In general, I was very lucky with the coaches - now Chistyakov A.V. is coaching me in the Tornado team, Ulyankin A.S. in the Russian Youth Team, Chekanov M.Yu. in the Russian National Team. I would like to justify their expectations, and for this I have to work hard on myself.
- How many years have you been doing it?
She started skating at the age of three. I have been playing hockey for over 12 years.
What is the training schedule?
The schedule is very busy - six days a week, ten and a half months a year, i.е. The hockey rink is where most of my life goes.
Is field hockey and ice hockey something completely different? What do you like more? Why? Are the rules in field hockey and ice hockey the same?
I have never tried to play field hockey…. I'm more used to ice hockey.
- Is it difficult to get into the national team?
Not easy. Every year the competition increases.
How long have you been playing for the national team?
For the Youth team of Russia - the second season, for the National team this season she played exhibition matches, Four Nations Tournament and World Championship (4th place).
- Playing for your club and for the country - different emotions?
Emotions may be the same, but responsibility is different.
- How often do you go to training camps?
The training camp is held before each responsible competition (Championship, Tournament), as well as before the start of a new season.
- Is it difficult at the training camp?
Difficult. We are undergoing a complete medical examination. And then we work according to the schedule, trying to "survive".
- Do parents go to competitions?
At home matches, parents are almost always present.
Who is your biggest fan?
My mother is the one who worries the most and cheers for me very emotionally. Dad, brother and sister and fans from Stupino also come to home games.
- How did you and the team react to the fact that they “lost” our anthem? What did the trainers say?
At first we did not understand what kind of anthem sounds .... And when the organizers of the competition said that they could not find our anthem, we got together and sang a cappella with the girls. Everything turned out, albeit spontaneously, but very touching - the whole team sang along with the coaches and our fans in the stands.
On the photo is Nina with number 44.
— How did you feel when you won the bronze medals?
Well, firstly - joy, because. this is the first Youth medal at the World Championships, and my first medal at competitions of this level; secondly, pride in the team and the country.
- Did you somehow celebrate the victory with the girls and coaches?
No. There was no time. It was nice that at the Moscow airport we were met by representatives of the FHR with flowers and congratulations.
- How many medals and cups do you have at home? Which of them are the most memorable and valuable?
There are a lot of awards, since I first played for boys born in 1998-1999 in the teams Captain (Stupino) and Vityaz (Podolsk), then for girls, now in the professional women's team Tornado.
Commemorative awards - this is my very first medal for 2nd place in the tournament among boys born in 1999. in 2006, the first medal (also silver) received at the Russian Championship among women's teams in the 2013-2014 season as part of Tornado and the gold of the European Championship (2014).
And the most valuable award is the bronze medal of the World Youth Championship.
- Do you have any talismans? Any traditional "competitive" habits?
This is my little secret. (Laughs).
What has hockey brought to your character?
Purposefulness and the ability to endure. Got angrier.
- Do you get along with the girls in the national team?
Yes, we have a very friendly team.
- Master of Sports of Russia - what is this title for you?
"Master of Sports" is the goal that every athlete strives for.
— What is your cherished sports dream?
Olympic medal. Although in the near future - it's like an "Oscar" for Leonardo DiCaprio.
How do you plan to combine your sports life and your dreams of studying to be a journalist?
To be honest, I'm still trying to find time to finish grade 9 and pass the GIA.
- Are there people from the world of sports whom you would like to be equal to?
Basketball player Derrick Rose (talent and strength of character), from hockey - I would like to have the same prospects as young players - Artemy Panarin and Nikolai Prokhorkin, have a sense of humor (and hairstyle) of football player David Luis, skill and thinking of Pavel Datsyuk.
- And not from sports?
I would like to have such a cool style as Oscar Wilde and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.
- How did you manage to combine school and study before?
IN primary school I studied “excellently”, because I managed to learn the main material in the lessons, I read oral subjects in the evening, and in the morning I got up an hour earlier and did written ones. And then, next to me was my mother, who followed my schedule.
When I arrived at Tornado, it became more difficult to study, since training starts in the first half of the day, plus frequent trips to competitions, in short, there is no time to go to school. You have to force yourself to do it yourself.
Does distance learning help you? What exactly?
On the one hand, it’s great to study as an external student, because you don’t have to go to school every day, an individual schedule of classes and work is drawn up for you, you can always consult with your curator and teachers online if something is not clear ... On the other hand On the other hand, you need to do a lot of work on your own and be disciplined in terms of timely completion of tasks.
On Thursday, January 26, one of the most talented hockey players in Russia, winner of the world championships among adults and juniors Nina Pirogova celebrates her 18th birthday. Nina told the Podmoskovye Segodnya correspondent about her family, her favorite Tornado team, her hobbies and culinary passions.
- Nina, why did you choose skates and sticks? Did you have any other hobbies as a child?
In addition to hockey, she was engaged in folk dancing, English language. But hockey eventually outweighed. Perhaps dad and older brother played a big role in this. Dad is a coach, brother is a player. There were no serious disputes with my mother about this, she herself was an athlete in the past, she ran on skates.
Did you understand that hockey is not only the joy of victory, an abandoned puck, but also the fact that hockey can be very painful?
Understood. But, indeed, in figure skating there are falls and severe injuries ...
- Did you quickly decide on the role of a defender?
I played in all positions, except for the goalkeeper. I liked it more in defense - to meet the opponent, to destroy his plans, to be the first to start the attack.
For a long time in Stupino and Podolsk you trained in the boys' team. Did they take care of you, did not use force?
IN children's hockey there are no serious contacts, but, of course, collisions are inevitable. Now I understand that joint training with the guys helped me a lot. The boys skate faster, which means they have to think faster on the ice. They treated me like a gentleman, we were friends outside the rink.
- Idol in hockey?
Alexander Ovechkin.
- The first serious award?
At the age of 14, I moved to the Tornado team of masters, and adulthood began. In the first season I received bronze medal championship of Russia and played in the winning draw of the European Champions Cup. I found legionnaires American Kelly Steadman, Slovak Zuzanna Tomchikova, Russian "stars" Ekaterina Smolentseva, Iya Gavrilova in Tornado. Training and playing with them have become an excellent school. Head coach Alexey Chistyakov gave me more and more playing time with each match and, naturally, my self-confidence grew. I understood that this was just the beginning. To grow further, you need to work hard.
- Your 20-year-old brother Peter plays in the Major League-2 for Smolensk "Slavutich". Isn't she jealous of her sister's success?
Petya and I rarely see each other, but we are constantly in touch. And we have a wonderful relationship. I recently won a medal for youth championship world, immediately from Petya SMS: “Sister, I’m proud of you!”
- What is Nina Pirogova outside the hockey rink? What, for example, are you reading?
I read a lot. She took Crime and Punishment with her to the Czech Republic for the World Youth Championship.
- Wow! And how do you like Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky?
Great. Interesting. I read with pleasure. Psychology ... In general, my favorite novel is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
- Commendable. Do you respect nightclubs, discotheques?
No, I do not like this "movement". I am a house girl.
- And you have such a surname, you know, home - Pirogova. Do you bake pies for an hour?
You have to refrain from pies, you need to watch your weight. Here are fruits, seafood - this is mine, it's healthy.
- Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
I love leisure on the sea. Last year I really liked the Dominican Republic. Traveled with parents and girlfriends-hockey players. The ocean is beautiful, white sand, horseback riding. Fabulous!
***
Nina Pirogova was born on January 26, 1999 in Stupino. Master of sports in ice hockey. Role - defender. Started to play sports schools"Captain" (Stupino), "Vityaz" (Podolsk). Currently he plays for Tornado (Moscow Region). Bronze medalist of the world championships among adult teams (2016) and youth teams (2015, 2017). Women's Champion hockey league, winner of the European Cup. First-year student of MGAFK.
