The Ak Bars team won the final of the Phygital Games 7 in the hockey match with Liga Pro Team and ranked first in the tournament. Kazan athletes won the Phygital Flame Cup, which is awarded to the winners of the competition, and received 1.25 million rubles. Also, after the final, the players were waiting for pleasant surprises – they were presented with the clubs made by Zaryad Company.
The tournament matches consisted of two stages. First, the teams played a hockey simulator against each other on the console, and then they went out on the ice and continued the match according to the 3v3 hockey rules. At the same time, all the scored pucks were summed up. The Games were held at the Zilant Ice Palace.
Final
Ak Bars – Liga Pro Team – 10:5 (7:2 after the digital stage)
In the final match, the teams that passed the tournament without a single defeat met and, above all, dominated their competitors in the digital stage. It was interesting to see the meeting of one of the best players in interactive hockey Evgeny Gavrilov from Ak Bars and Nikita Khoby from the Liga Pro Team. Nikita’s team won a hard victory at the Phygital Games in 2022, and the fans expected the same intense game today.
But Ak Bars looked much stronger than the Liga Pro Team. The aggressive tactics of the Kazan team, who knocked down opponents within the rules, gaining a numerical advantage, worked even in the first period. Ak Bars led 2-0. After changing the lineups of the Liga Pro Team, it became more difficult. Evgeny Gavrilov and Evgeny Popov scored 5 more goals, and the digital stage was won by Ak Bars with a score of 7:2.
“We could have scored more, but, as always, we scored little. The Liga Pro Team guys are professional cyber athletes, but we aren’t nobodies either. Maybe next year they will succeed. Nothing was changed before the final match – everything worked fine for us during the whole tournament, so why change anything?” Evgeny Popov from the Kazan team noted.
On the ice, the Liga Pro Team did everything to win back. Its hockey players kept the opponent in the defense zone for a long time, they threw a lot of pucks, but goalkeeper Evgeny Yaroslavlev was reliable, and the counterattacks of the Kazan team were effective. Physical-stage ended in a draw with a score of 3:3, and this was enough for Ak Bars to win the tournament overall.
“Even after the first match, I said that we have different plans for the match. We have been training a plan on how to play if we are leading, if we are losing, and so on. We couldn’t run after the opponent all over the court. We had to drag them into our game, and we succeeded. So they brought the tournament to victory. We have the Ak Bars coat of arms on our chest. We were told we need to win this tournament,” Bulat Baykeev, the captain of the champions, said.
“We fought for Ak Bars, for the city, for the whole Republic! I hope that in February 2024 we will have another Cup – the Cup of champions of the “Games of the Future,” Evgeny Gavrilov, the top scorer of Ak Bars, said.
Third place match
3Frenzy – Underdogs – 16:11 (5:2 after the digital stage)
During the tournament, the “three madmen” were unlucky in the digital part of the match, but in the game for third place they showed that they can handle well not only with sticks, but also with controllers. Artem Martynov and Mikhail Zholobov scored two goals each, and 3Frenzy had a comfortable three-goal advantage before going on the ice.
In the physical stage, the scoring feast continued. Artem Martynov dragged his team, but not with goals, but with repulsed shots, and in the attack 3Frenzy did not forgive the opponents. They scored 7 goals in the first period, 3 more in the second, and with the score 15:6 allowed themselves to play for fun and let the Underdogs score a few consolation goals. Sergey Ivanov scored three goals, Alexander Ovanov and Dmitry Myachev scored a brace.
“Very bright emotions after the victory. They just overwhelm me. The match had been going on since yesterday. If the first stages were somehow sporty, then from yesterday we began to make beauty and show. We stirred the audience on the stands and there was no such bright support even at the game with Ak Bars. Any achievement is important. The guys of the Phygital Games are serious – both esport players and active athletes. It was necessary to train, this is a serious tournament. I think we lacked digital skills somewhere. But third place is an achievement. For me, it has a touch of gold. All the guys are great.
I have always been a supporter of the phygital movement. Any sport has a place to be. Such a mixed format is very unusual, and it’s very cool. I would like to perform at the “Games of the Future.” I think we can give a show and emotions, so we hope for an invitation,” 3Frenzy goalkeeper Artem Martynov said.
Distribution of prize money based on the results of the Phygital Games competitions
- 1st place: Ak Bars – 1.25 million rubles
- 2nd place: Liga Pro Team – 650 thousand rubles
- 3rd place: 3Frenzy – 400 thousand rubles
- 4th place: Underdogs – 200 thousand rubles
- 5-6 places – Hockey Brothers and Humo – 150 thousand rubles for each one
- 7-8 places: Stars of Israel and Team Belgrade – 100 thousand rubles for each one
Broadcasts of the competitions were held on streaming platforms in LIVE mode on:
VK Play Live – https://vkplay.live/gof
VK Video – https://vk.cc/coqKpW
YouTube – https://vk.cc/corKJM
Twitch – https://vk.cc/cjxN60