Danis Zaripov was included in the Book of Honor of Kazan

Ilsur Metshin and world hockey stars took part in the farewell match of the five-time Gagarin Cup winner

The farewell match of three-time world champion and five-time Gagarin Cup winner Danis Zaripov took place at the Kazan Tatneft Arena. Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin and world hockey stars Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexey Morozov, Ilya Kovalchuk and others took part in it.

The player’s banner was raised and the number 25 was retired

Danis Zaripov, accompanied by his family – mother, wife and sons, greeted the fans before the start of the match.

“The day has come when my career has come to an end. I am very pleased that today the stands of our ice palace are full. Throughout my career, I was pleased to see full stands at our matches,”- he said.

Vladislav Tretyak, President of the Russian Hockey Federation, Nail Maganov, President of the Tatarstan Hockey Federation, Vladimir Leonov, Tatarstan Minister of Sports, and Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, congratulated the legend.

“A very tender moment. Within these walls, together with you, we experienced glorious moments, victories and defeats of our Ak Bars. There is no stadium in Kazan, Tatarstan and Russia that could accommodate everyone who wants to come and express words of thanks to you,”- Ilsur Metshin said.

“Kazan has its own hall of fame - a Book of Honor, where we record people who glorified the city and inscribed their golden page in its history,”- the Mayor continued. “It is a great honor for me, on behalf of the residents of the capital to put your name into the hall of fame, in the Book of Honor of Kazan. Thank you, Danis!”

At the ceremony, the banner of the player was raised in the ice palace. For the first time in the history of the Ak Bars hockey club, Danis Zaripov’s number 25 was retired. From now on, this number will be unavailable to players in the entire club system.

Metshin scored two goals, and Zaripov scored shootouts

The farewell match featured two periods of 20 minutes each. The Russian National Team and Ak Bars met on the ice. Artur Zaripov, Marat Zaripov, Alexander Syomin, Ilsur Metshin, Alexander Ovechkin, Vasily Koshechkin played for the whites. Yevgeny Medvedev, Vitaly Proshkin, Sergey Zinoviev, Alexey Morozov, Emil Garipov played for the greens. In the first period, Danis Zaripov played for the greens, while in the second for the whites.

The score was opened by the greens – Grigory Shafigullin shot the goal with the transfer of Alexey Chukin. Then the score was equalized by the whites – Ilya Kovalchuk scored a goal with the transfer of Sergei Mozyakin and Pavel Datsyuk.

The whites took the lead thanks to Ilya Wolfson and Alexander Radulov, the transfer was made by Yevgeny Kuznetsov.

Alexey Chupin closed the gap of the greens with the transfer of Vasily Koshechkin, but then Pavel Datsyuk scored with a help of Ilya Kovalchuk and Viktor Kalachik.

The Greens took the lead again thanks to the goals of Albert Vishnyakov (assisted by Yevgeny Medvedev and Kirill Petrov), Sergey Zinoviev (assisted by Alexey Morozov) and Alexander Svitov (with the transfer of Marat Valiullin). The bullet was performed by Danis Zaripov. Thus, the first period ended with a score of 6:4 in favor of the greens.

Then Danis Zaripov performed another shootout, but this time for the whites. The gap of his team was closed by Sergey Mozyakin. Ilsur Metshin equalized the score. Then Yevgeny Kuznetsov brought the whites forward with the help of Alexander Radulov.

The greens managed to catch up with their opponent thanks to Dmitry Obukhov. However, the whites again knocked out the advantage with the help of Sergei Mozyakin and Alexander Ovechkin. Ilsur Metshin scored another goal assisted by Alexander Syomin and Danis Zaripov.

Marat Valiullin scored the goal with the transfer of Alexey Morozov. The final goal was scored by Danis Zaripov with the transfer of Artur Zaripov.

The farewell match ended with a score of 12:9 in favor of the whites.