The day before, Andrei Razin officially became the king of the Kontinental Hockey League. Having headed Metallurg Magnitogorsk, within a year he made the Ural team the winner of the Gagarin Cup.
Razin’s path to the top was not easy, which he himself likes to talk about when communicating with journalists. Sport24 recalls an episode involving the coach, which remains one of the most scandalous in the history of Russian hockey.
For a long time, Razin’s main problem, which he later eventually dealt with, was the inability to control his own emotions. The peak of anti-PR, which the future coach of KHL clubs arranged for himself, occurred in the 2014/15 season. The young specialist spent his time at the helm of Izhstal, which plays in the VHL. It all started in November: after a victorious match against Toros, Razin entered the referee’s room and began to obscenely insult the referees working at that meeting, for which he was subsequently disqualified for 2 matches.
A little later, an entertaining audio recording surfaced in which the coach spoke in a raised voice with his players during a break in one of the matches. But between these two events an episode occurred that even ended up on federal channels. We are talking about the sensational fight between namesakes Razin and Zhdakhin, which happened during the third match of the semi-final series of the VHL playoffs.
Izhstal was losing to the opponent with a score of 0:2, when in the second period there was a conflict on the team benches. The catalyst for the incident was the actions of THC defender Artem Ternavsky, who, jumping over the board, caught a hockey player from the Izhevsk club with his skate. There was a small skirmish, after which the hosts’ mentor called the referee over and began discussing with him the details of the episode. Razin also decided to turn to the judge and came close to Zhdakhin, after which a fight began, which provoked a massive clash not only between the coaches, but also among the hockey players of both teams. At some point the police had to intervene in the matter.
“Our senior coach Oleg Leontyev called the referee to point out the incident that had already happened on the bench. The THC defender climbed over the boards and kicked our player with his skate, after which a fight between the hockey players broke out. And Leontyev stopped her. So he called the judge, after which Zhdakhin ran up to them. I decided that, as the head coach, I was also obliged to approach the judge. After which he attacked me. The video clearly shows how I was holding him, and that I could have hit him, but I didn’t. It is also clearly visible behind the hockey players during the brawl that the fists are flying only from Zhdakhin’s side,” — the head coach of Izhstal described the episode.
However, Razin’s opponent had a completely different picture of what happened.
“The brawl was caused, first of all, by Comrade Razin. I was overwhelmed with emotions that, unfortunately, I was unable to cope with. Then he went to his locker room, and I went to mine. It would be better if this fight didn’t happen,” — Zhdakhin expressed his opinion.
The parties agreed on only one thing: if there had been protective glass between the benches, then this clash would not have happened.
“Unfortunately, this is a problem for the VHL, because there are a lot of old palaces in this league. In Izhevsk, for example, we have the same one, but there is a dividing board that still prevents a conflict from happening. Therefore, I believe that it is necessary to punish, first of all, the palace security service for allowing the brawl. And emotions… Remember Oleg Znark and the Swede at the World Championships, showing each other gestures. And if there had not been protective glass there, everything could have turned into a fight. Look how in the NHL Patrick Roy climbed onto this glass to punch his opponent. And in the KHL, Mike Keenan shouted something to Sergei Svetlov and showed obscene gestures, and the development of the conflict is also hampered by the protective glass,” – said Razin.
After the fight ended, the visiting coach, who had lost his shirt in the midst of the conflict, went to the middle of the court and wanted to take the team to the locker room, thereby ending the meeting. However, after short and emotional conversations with the match referees, Razin changed his decision.
“In that situation, emotions prevailed, and, being naked torso, I decided to lead the team away. Understand that a split second was allotted for the decision. And the first thought was to take the team away. But, thanks to Judge Kulev, who drove up and began speaking in normal language, I decided not to do this. Because the fans came to the stands, the match was broadcast throughout the country, and in such a situation it would be incorrect to show one’s self,” — the future coach of Metallurg explained.
Next, the judges had to make a decision regarding the punishment of the instigators of the fight. After a long discussion, the head coaches of both clubs were sent off for the remainder of the match for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“As I understand it, the judges also missed the moment when the conflict began. They didn’t see him. We conferred with the linemen, but they didn’t see much either… It took a long time to decide what to do. “In the end, we decided to remove the coaches until the end of the match and continue the meeting,” – said THC defencist Denis Baev.
Oddly enough, it was Razin’s guys who managed to get the most benefit from the incident: first they came back from 0:2, and then scored the winning goal in overtime and brought the series score to a devastating 3:0.
Immediately after the incident, it was clear that unpleasant consequences awaited the head coaches. The words of VHL executive director German Skoropupov only confirmed these fears.
“My recommendation from the SDK was this: punish the participants in the fight to the fullest extent, impose the maximum punishment. It’s just a shame, this shouldn’t happen again.” — the head of the league was indignant.
Razin understood that with a high degree of probability his team had a real chance to reach the final of the Bratina Cup, so he was looking forward to the decision of the VHL bosses.
“We’ll see how the league deals with this. But, I note, I have not received any calls from the VHL with questions or requests to clarify the situation from my bell tower,” – summed up Razin.
After the match, the league management and the sports disciplinary committee punished the instigators of the conflict: Razin and Zhdakhin received disqualifications for 3 matches and a 190 thousand fine, THC – 900 thousand, and Izhstal – 400 thousand rubles. However, this decision did not have any impact on the course of the series: in the fourth match, Razin’s team won another victory and reached the final. By the way, the disqualified head coaches of the teams watched that meeting in the company of Skoropupov.
In the final series, the Izhevsk club lost to Toros in six games, but this did not stop their head coach from seeking a promotion: the next season, Razin received an invitation from Avtomobilist and moved to Yekaterinburg. Since then, the specialist has never fallen below the KHL level, and has now become the coach of a champion team.
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