Romanian league champion and Superleague champion. New coaches in the East
Prior to the start of Parimatch Junior Hockey League 13th season several teams made coaching changes. There are fewer of them in the Eastern Conference comparing to the West – only four teams named new head-coaches.
Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk
New head-coach – Konstantin Panov.
Panov is a Chelaybinsk native. He played as a right wing forward. After two seasons in Russia he travelled across the ocean to play in WHL, AHL and ECHL. Panov returned to Russia in 2003 and competed for Amur Khabarovsk, Lada Togliatti, Dynamo Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg. With his hometown team Traktor Chelyabinsk he won the Continental Cup as well as Kontinental Hockey League bronze medal. In 2013 he was a member of Traktor team the went all the way to Gagarin Cup Finals. Having spent three years with Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk, Panov’s career took an unexpected turn as he moved to Romania. Panov won Romanian championship in the 2018-19 season and decided to retire.
In 2019 Konstantin Panov took a job as an assistant coach with Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk in Junior Hockey League. This upcoming season will be his first as the team’s head-coach.
Kuznetskie Medvedi Novokuznetsk
New head-coach – Evgeny Korolyov.
This CSKA Moscow junior hockey school alumnus has spent the first half of his career overseas. Evgeny Korolyov, a defenseman, returned to Russia in 2002. He spent his first two seasons back in Lokomotiv Yaroslavl system and won a championship title with the team. After that Korolyov competed for Severstal Cherepovets, Dynamo Moscow, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, SKA St. Petersburg, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Neftelkhimik Nizhnekamsk. He has won European Champions Cup with Dynamo Moscow. He retired in 2014 as a member of Lada Togliatti.
Prior to joining Kuznetskie Medvedi Novokuznetsk as the head-coach, Korolyov has worked only in Kazakhstan. He was on Barys Astana coaching staff in Kontinental Hockey League along with Team Kazakhstan. He was also the head-coach of HC Temirtau and Saryarka Karaganda in the 2020-21 season. Under his command the team won the Kazakhstan Cup. Korolyov also won Kazakhstan championship title as Leonids Tambijevs’ assistant coach at Karaganda.
Ladiya Togliatti
New head-coach Sergei Bazhukhin.
The upcoming season will mean the return to Ladiya Togliatti’s helm for Sergei Bazhukhin. Last season he was one of the assistant coaches and subsequently the head-coach of Mikhailov Academy Tula Region. Bazhukhin had worked with Togliatti’s major junior team in the 2014-15 season and also coached Sakhalinskie Akuly Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the 2019-20 season. In the 2013-14 season he had been a member of U18 Team Russia coaching staff.
Omskie Yastreby Omsk
New head-coach Vitaly Chernochub.
As a player, 41-year-old Vitaly Chernochub has played center for Sibir Novosibirsk, Dynamo Moscow and Shakhtyor Prokopyevsk in second and third tiers of Russian hockey. As a coach Chernochub has worked with U18 teams of his hometown Novosibirsk and Omsk, where he moved during the 2019-20 season. Last May he led Avangard-2004 to U17 Russian championship title.
