Dmitri Milchakov was strong in goal for Yunost Minsk in the Round of 32 against Frolunda Gothenburg and throughout his team's run in this year's CHL. 

by Efraim Larsson

GOTHENBURG – Yunost Minsk were one of the interesting stories of this Champions Hockey League season. They won all three games on their home ice – averaging more than 6000 fans per game – including the first game of the Round of 32 last week against Frolunda Gothenburg, the reigning CHL and SHL champions. 

One of the biggest reasons the team made it this far was the goaltending of Dmitri Milchakov. The 30-year-old, who has 46 games of experience in the KHL and six games in the World Championships, was phenomenal. 

In the team's last group stage game in Mlada Boleslav, the team needed to preserve the current score to advance to the next round, and he made a huge save on a breakaway in the dying seconds to do just that. In the two games against Frolunda, he stopped 66 of 73 shots. 

He spoke after his team's last CHL game of the season. 

That was quite a tough game for you, facing 47 shots. Could you evaluate it?

“Well, Frolunda are obviously a really good team and they're probably more skilled than us. I honestly think that we didn't give ourselves the chance to win this by taking stupid penalties and letting them create dangerous counter-attacks and such. But still, I'm really proud of our team. We made it through the group stage, we beat them on home ice a week ago, so what more can I say?

“Obviously we all dreamt of beating them today as well, but we're gonna hold our heads high.”

You were newcomers into this tournament. How would you summarize it?

“For us it was a really big thing, because the national championship in Belarus isn't quite as good. So these games against top European teams are a big challenge for us and really fun to play. I think that no one really believed in us, but we made it through the group stage and won a couple of great games.”

Before the tournament, how far did you think you could go?

“Of course we set high goals. If you don't set goals, there's not much point to going out on the ice in the first place. But it was our goal to get through the group stage, and we achieved that. After that, we decided to take one game at a time and we're proud that we managed to beat Frolunda. They were the better team here, though.”

What was you best moment in the CHL this season?

“I think there are two moments, actually. Firstly, our home games. We had good crowds with awesome atmosphere, so that was just cool.

“Also, the game in the Czech Republic, where we couldn’t afford losing by two or more goals to make it through the group stage. We were down 3-0 but managed to score two goals and qualify for the playoffs. That was a huge game as well.”