The "Final Eight" of the SHL championship of the 2024/25 season ended in Sochi. Hockey club "Derzhava" made maximum efforts and took 4th place among the best university teams in Russia at the end of the season.
20 teams from Tambov, Moscow, Kaliningrad, Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Omsk, Korkino, Tyumen, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and Kazan compete in the SHL championship. First, the League participants hold a regular championship in the West and East conferences. And then, based on the results, they either fight for prize places or lose this opportunity.
At the end of March, Dmitry Zobkov's team, based on the results of the first part of the championship, received a ticket to the "Final Eight" - the final tournament of the SHL, where the best teams of the League get to based on the results of the competitive season and compete for prize places.
In Sochi, the Derzhavin University team beat "Polytechnic" from Chelyabinsk in a series of matches. In the series with Ulyanovsk "Sparta", HC "Derzhava" started with a winning spurt. In the second game of the rivals, "Sparta" established parity, and in the 3rd game took the victory in the series. In a tough fight in the final match of the tournament with the capital's "REU", the opponents scored only 1 goal more. The result - "Derzhava" is again in the top of student teams in Russia - 4th place.
- First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the University administration and the team for the help and support provided throughout the season. I would like to express my special thanks to the fans who supported us not only at home matches, but also at almost every away game, - comments the team's coach Dmitry Zobkov. - The season that has just ended was not easy for the team, but we came quite close to fighting for the gold. I would like to note the dedication of the players, their belief in their strength and character. We were able to defeat strong teams in the playoffs and improved our last year’s result.
