Evgeny Mityakin: «We must try to get as many points as possible»

The upcoming championship will be the fourth for one of Neftekhimik's leaders, Evgeny Mityakin, in the team's lineup. His value for the Nizhnekamsk club is clearly illustrated by the fact that Mityakin has not missed a single game in two seasons. In an interview with KHL.ru, Evgeny talked about what the Neftekhimik coaching staff pays special attention to during training camps, what conclusions the team has drawn after the last season, and what is special about the Tatarstan cross–town rivalry.

– Evgeny, how did you spend your vacation? What did you do?
– This year's vacation was quite long. I managed to do a lot of things - I spent time with my family, visited Europe on vacation, went to a friend's wedding (Lukas Klok, Neftekhimik defenseman) in the Czech Republic. In general, I managed to both relax and prepare well for the training camp.

– With the shift in the preseason dates, the vacation has become a little longer – is that good? The players say that this is an additional opportunity to spend a couple of days with family and loved ones before the start of the training camp.
– That is right. On the other hand, next season the vacation will be the same length as in previous years, it will just be shifted forward a little, because the season was extended. In fact, its duration will not change. But this year I really managed to spend quite a lot of time with my family and do everything I planned.

– Will a month before the start of the season be enough to practice the way you guys played?
– Now all the players are professionals: they get ready before the training camp, hire coaches, work in groups. Everyone comes to the training camp in good physical shape, now it is not like someone comes out of vacation out of shape or with excess weight. Other training sessions have already begun with the team, including tactical ones, and there is a month to get into full combat readiness. I think hockey players and players need only a month to practice their chemistry and schemes.

– Did you adjust your individual training in any way given the shift in the start of the training camp?
– I only changed the timing a little bit - I started preparing for the season in May: slowly at first, and then more intensively. After all, you feel your body and understand when and what kind of load is needed.

– It is believed that the first days of the training camp are the hardest.
– We have two training sessions a day, so we have time to bring ourselves to the maximum level of readiness for the season during August. All the guys can handle the load.

– What does the coaching staff pay the most attention to at the start of training?
– In fact, a lot - we have already had both cylinders and tactical training: they show us where, what and how to do, we watch videos. We work on everything together, and this is good - everything in moderation.

– In what components of the game, in your opinion, do you personally need to improve? Maybe you focus on something during the preseason work?
– I would like to add in everything (smiles). Each player has their own task on the ice, their own strengths and weaknesses. I think everyone wants to improve their weaknesses and further develop their strengths. I think we need to work on everything.

– Neftekhimik finished last season in February. What is this feeling when many are still fighting for the Gagarin Cup, and your team is on the sidelines?
– Resentment, a feeling of dissatisfaction. It was sad, actually. When the playoffs started, I did not watch the hockey of the second round at all, because I just did not want to. I only saw highlights or news on the Internet. And as for sitting down and watching a match in its entirety, those were only the semi-finals and the final. Some kind of feeling of incompleteness... I wanted to start the new season as soon as possible, to prove myself and rehabilitate myself. Nobody likes to end the season so early. We had to draw conclusions - we did them, and we are approaching the new season with renewed vigor, hoping to fulfill the task.

– If it is not a secret, what were these conclusions? What did the team lack last season to finally get a ticket to the playoffs?
– We did not start the championship very well. We need to score points and win from the very beginning to take the highest possible place and be in the playoff zone throughout the regular season. It is psychologically easier to go through the championship this way, rather than to take ninth or tenth place and constantly catch up. We must try to get as many points as possible from the very first game. The start will be very important for us - you could say, a key period.

– Neftekhimik has been plagued by a poor start to the championship for the last two seasons. Is this some kind of systemic problem?
– Rather, a coincidence. What about the fact that in another season we were winning during the first matches, but the opponent equalized, and we lost in overtime. Maybe it had some psychological impact, although this was only the first game of the championship. We lost a little confidence, and this affected us later. This season, everyone has learned their lesson, we have preserved the core of the team, a good team has formed – we will try not to make these mistakes.

– At the same time, at the end of the regular season, the team was close to correcting the situation. What comes to the fore at such a moment – ​​psychological stability, skills or banal luck?
– Of course, psychology plays a role, confidence. Last season, we could have made it to the playoffs, we had good chances – we fought until the very end of the regular season. We just couldn’t win those matches at the end that we should have won in order to rise to eighth place. That's the whole difference. Hopefully, in the new season, we don't have to finish the job, but climb as high as possible in the standings from the very beginning. In such a situation, confidence builds up, which helps in the future.

– You haven't missed a single game in the regular championship for two seasons in a row. Is it hard?
– So, in the 2021/2022 season, I only missed four games at the beginning due to injury, and then I played the whole thing. I think any player would say that they would be happy to play without substitutions. Everyone likes to play a lot, and I appreciate that the coaches trust me so much. We need to continue in the same spirit - recover properly, follow the coaches' instructions to always be in the lineup.

– In an interview, you said that in the VHL, during your entire time at Gornyak, you missed only two games. Is this heroic health or something else?
– First of all, it's the coaches' trust, many thanks to the coaches for that. Plus, there were no serious injuries - God willing, it continues like this. I like to play, I like it  when you play, you don't fall out of the game tone, rhythm.

– You also noted Severstal and Torpedo in the press as teams that practice an attacking style of hockey. Can Neftekhimik be put on the same level with them?
– Probably yes - we are also required to play attacking hockey, create scoring chances, score more. Not like we score one goal and then go on the defensive. If we score one goal, the coaches ask us to continue the same way, score more, build up pressure and attack. But our game system is a little different from Severstal and Torpedo. Each coach has his own vision of hockey, so we play a little differently. Although we try to attack as much as possible.

– At the same time, there is an opinion that in knockout matches, the attacking style is usually not very viable. Do you agree?
– I would say that in the regular championship, you need to pay attention to defense. It is not that we play attacking and don’t care about defense. It is important to work smartly at your goal, to follow all the instructions. A lot depends on the balance between attack and defense. As for the playoffs, Metallurg won the Gagarin Cup playing attacking hockey. Perhaps there is a tendency in the KHL that teams try to act actively and create a lot of chances, score, but you can’t forget about defense either. You can play great in attack, but if your defense is a walkover, you won’t win anything. And vice versa - if your team gets to the opponent’s goal once per game with a concrete defense, the chances of scoring tend to zero. The most important thing is balance.

– Neftekhimik head coach Oleg Leontyev in an interview with KHL.ru outlined the minimum goal as reaching the playoffs.
– That’s true, but if we accomplish this goal, we can’t be satisfied with it. It shouldn't be like this - we've completed the task, which means the season is over for us, we're great. We need to try to overcome the next step. Of course, every athlete always wants to win, this is an axiom. No one will say: "We made it to the playoffs, and that's it, we're happy with the result." We need to set the next goal and go towards it step by step.

– You've already said that the debut period of the championship will be extremely important for Neftekhimik. At the same time, the team's schedule at the beginning of the season is not the easiest - two games with Metallurg, one each with Avangard, Lokomotiv and Traktor. In your experience, is this a plus or a minus?
– The schedule does not depend on us. If we want to win and make it to the playoffs, then it should be all the same who goes against us - we need to try to win and score points in every match. First of all, we should start from our game, and only then study the opponent. We will go from match to match and try to win.

– In an interview with the club press service, you noted the friendly atmosphere in the team and called the main asset of Neftekhimik "the people who work there." Is such a microclimate one of the main components of success?
– One hundred percent. We are all doing the same thing together - players, coaches, management, staff, and office workers. We are sailing in the same boat and moving towards the same goal. A healthy, close-knit team is very important, it helps to solve problems. Everyone is comfortable working in such an environment, everyone is friendly and respectful to each other.

– Speaking about the city, do people often recognize you on the streets of Nizhnekamsk?
– Sometimes (smiles). Nizhnekamsk is a small, but very hockey city, the team is very much loved here. Sometimes they recognize you in a taxi, sometimes in the city: when you go to the store or to the park with your family, people come up to you and take pictures. Recently we went to a football match between Neftekhimik and Rotor – me, Lukasz Klok, Jean-Sebastien Dy. Some kids came up, recognized us, and we took a photo with them. The team is very popular in Nizhnekamsk.

– One of the first videos on YouTube when searching for “Evgeny Mityakin” is the winning goal against Ak Bars. Have you already managed to soak up the atmosphere of the Tatarstan derby in three seasons in Nizhnekamsk?
– That’s a really cool story. The stadium is always full at matches against Ak Bars, the fans drive us forward. No matter how the team plays, the stands at the derby are always packed to capacity, they say that sometimes you can’t get tickets for a few weeks before the game. Of course, you can feel the atmosphere, the special intensity when we play against Ak Bars.

– In Tatarstan, Neftekhimik is sometimes called the “younger brother” of Ak Bars. Doesn't such a metaphor hurt your pride?
– I haven't heard anything like that in our team or in Nizhnekamsk. You have to prove on the ice who's the big guy and who's the little guy.

– What needs to happen in the season so that after it ends you can say to yourself: "What a great championship it was!"?
– We need to win the Gagarin Cup.

– Ambitiously.
– Then I'll definitely say: "What a great season it was!" (smiles).