The hero of today’s edition of My Hockey Story is MHC Spartak Moscow forward Yegor Kuzmenko. He talks about his first skating experience, how he used to be a goaltender and how he fell twice while taking a penalty shot.

- I was born in Moscow but I put on skates for the first time when I was three years old in Nizhnekamsk. My dad is a hockey goaltender. He was invited to play in Tatarstan. That’s why my first skating experience took place there. Dad would take my hand and teach me how to skate. I don’t think he was even considering anything else for me. I was born to play hockey.

- My first serious hockey school was Kristall junior hockey school in Elektrostal. I owe a lot to it, namely to my coach Kobyakov. I began to play with Alexander Klisunov (he’s currently on Russkie Vityazi), Nikita Khristov from Atlanty and Alexander Vdovenko, who plays in Canada these days. I played with Alex Vdovenko on many different teams after that, too, on the same line.

- At first I tried to be a goaltender. My dad watched me for a while and then quickly put an end to my goaltending career. He said I didn’t have a knack for stopping pucks. I couldn’t stretch much so I was advised to play offense.

- When I was 14 years old, I was invited to play for Khimik Voskresensk at Ilya Kovalchuk Cup. The thing is that Kristall-1999 won Moscow Region championship, so our line was invited to play at the tournament. Then our Elektrostal line joined Atlant. It was the base club for Team Moscow Region-1999.

- I asked my dad what he thought about making the move and he had nothing against it. I had to make the next step and Mytischi offered good prospects for future development. I was given a place to live, it was easy to get to school and, besides, we had two practices a day, which was vital at my age.

- Team Moscow Region lasted just a year so I had to look for a team team after that. I tried out for Spartak Moscow and made the team. When I joined MHC Spartak, I already knew Mikhail Bulimov and Andrei Revatsky. I made my Junior Hockey League debut in a pre-season game against HC MVD. In that very first game I picked up an assist and stopped worrying. Misha and Andrei helped me a lot that first season.

- I would say there are four teams in the Western Conference, that I believe are very strong and I always want to beat them – SKA-1946, MHC Dinamo St. Petersburg, Loko Yaroslavl and Krasnaya Armiya.

- I feel very comfortable on Spartak. I can play with everyone but right now we got a good chemistry going on our line. Chemistry is really important. Especially on a team with such great traditions.

- I scored my first goal for the red-and-white in Riga. Andrei Revatsky passed it to the slot and I put it over the top of goaltender’s shoulder with a backhand shot. It was an unbelievable feeling.

- Another vivid moment of my career took place in 2016 when I was called up to play for U18 Team Russia. I was very proud to play for my country.


- A funny story took place in Mytischi once. Back when I was on Atlant, I was sent out to take a penalty shot and I fell twice while taking it. Mikhail Bulimov was there and saw that happen. He jokes about it to this day.

- I always try to get the right mindset before the games. I analyze my past mistakes so not to make them again. I don’t have any pre-game routine, I’m not superstitious.

- My family is my personal fan sector. I talk to my dad after every and we go through my mistakes together.

- I like to spend my spare time with my parents and my girlfriend. I like to play tennis at Cherkizovskaya.

- I can be very emotional and aggressive on the ice but off ice I’m a kind and caring person. Everything that happens on ice, stays on ice. I never take it away from ice.

- This year I got accepted to Russian State University of Physical Culture. I’m majoring in coaching. I studied well in school. I had some trouble only in high school when I couldn’t always be in class. I try to avoid that in university.

- My favorite hockey player is Pavel Datsyuk. I was always impressed with him. In the future I would like to have as much fun playing hockey as I do now, stay true to the game and be successful in it.