Lokomotiv forward Yegor Surin shared his thoughts on the Gagarin Cup semifinal series against Avangard (4-3).
**On the physical toll of playing nine periods over two days, including overtimes:**
“I don’t know. Maybe it affects physical activity somehow. But mentally, you wouldn’t believe what’s going on – no fatigue at all. I can even recall what Oleg Nikolayevich Tauber, the head coach of Lokomotiv’s youth team, told me. He said it all comes from the mind. If you keep telling yourself you’re tired, you really will be tired. But if your mind is fresh, everything is fine.”
**On the difference between this Game 7 double-overtime win over Avangard under current head coach Bob Hartley and last year’s under his predecessor Igor Nikitin:**
“That’s a question with an asterisk. After all, every coach is like a chef with their own recipes. In this series against Omsk, to be honest, we botched the start. We had to pull ourselves out of that situation, and we did. That’s in the traditions of Yaroslavl. I’ve been here a long time, even from youth hockey, and I know we first create problems for ourselves and then find a way out. This time, luck smiled on us a bit more,” said Yegor Surin.
