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Viktor Tikhonov declared that he's not going to return back in Severstal next year. After scoring two goals to in the regular season contest between Severstal Cherepovets and Metallurg Novokuznetsk, he has been interviewed by a reporter of the local website sport-nk.ru.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the most interesting parts of the interview:

Where do you plan to spend the next season?
Viktor Tikhonov: "I have to come back to Phoenix, I have a three years deal with them. Most likely I'm going to play there."

Is there a big difference between the NHL and the KHL?
Viktor Tikhonov: "A little bit in the game's speed. And the different rinks size too."

Team Jagr won the KHL All-Star game in Minsk with a 11-8 score, repeating last year's victory in the Red Square. The match was played in front of more than 15,000 spectators, including Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

Sergei Zubov, Andrei Mezin and Alexei Yashin have been named Team Yashin's players of the game, while for Team Jagr the honors went to Karri Ramo, Marcel Hossa and Ville Peltonen.

Team Yashin - Team Jagr - 8:11 (1:4, 5:3, 2:4)
1:0 - Zaripov (Babchuk), 02:05
1:1 - Hossa (Strbak), 07:32
1:2 - Thoresen (Kukkonen, Peltonen), 11:59
1:3 - Hudler (Jagr, Weinhandl), 13:32
1:4 - Weinhandl (Jagr, Hudler), 14:52
2:4 - Yashin, 21:00
2:5 - Hudler (Weinhandl), 26:14
2:6 - Strbak (Jagr), 31:15
3:6 - Fedorov (Radulov), 31:59
4:6 - Sushinsky (Yashin), 34:52
4:7 - Hossa (Stumpel, Radivojevic), 35:10
5:7 - Zubov (Babchuk, Tereshchenko), 38:33
6:7 - Sushinsky (Yashin), 39:34
6:8 - Vasicek (Peltonen), 40:33
6:9 - Peltonen (Hossa, Kukkonen), 44:27
6:10 - Thoresen (Rachunek), 45:04
6:11 - Jagr (Gudler, Kukkonen), 49:51
7:11 - Babchuk (Sushinsky), 51:47
8:11 - Morozov, 54:30

Before the gala match, Team Yashin secured the Skills Competitions relay with a 5-3 score.

Read also:
All-Star Game rosters released

Linus Omark, who plays for Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, attempted another fancy shoot-out in the January 20th regular season match against Dynamo Minsk, months later his amazing goal against Team Switzerland that made him famous around one year ago.

This season Omark scored so far 19 goals and 31 points in 50 regular season games with Dynamo.

Here is the video of Omark's attempt:

The complete KHL All-Star Game rosters have been released today. The event will be held in Minsk, Belarus, on January 30th.

This is how the rosters look like:

Team Yashin (Russian stars)

Goalkeepers: Georgy Gelashvili (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Andrei Mezin (Dynamo Minsk)

Defenders: Sergei Zubov (SKA St. Petersburg); Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan); Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Anton Babchuk (Avangard Omsk); Konstantin Korneev (CSKA Moscow); Vitaly Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

Forwards: Alexei Yashin (SKA St. Petersburg); Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan); Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi); Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Denis Parshin (CSKA Moscow)

Team Jagr (International Stars)

Goalkeepers: Karri Ramo (Avangard Omsk); Michael Garnett (HC MVD)

Defenders: Kevin Dallman (Barys Astana); Sandis Ozolinsh (Dinamo Riga);Martin Strbak (HC MVD); Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk); Karel Rachunek (Dynamo Moscow); Jaroslav Obsut (Spartak Moscow)

Forwards: Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk); Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga); Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow); Patrick Thoresen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Josef Vasicek (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Chris Simon (Vityaz Chekhov); Jiri Hudler (Dynamo Moscow); Ville Peltonen (Dinamo Minsk); Jozef Stumpel (Barys Astana)

Read also:
Fedorov, Babchuk, Kalinin, Simon added to All-Star Game roster
KHL All Star Game's starting lineup announced

NHL Blue Jackets forward Nikita Filatov, playing on a loan basis for CSKA of the KHL, was knocked down by Darcy Verot of Vityaz Chekhov in Monday's game between Vityaz and CSKA.

After the famous bench-clearing fight Vityaz, a team having an enormous for the KHL amount of tough guys, didn't fight at all. There were rumors that players were told not to fight in order to calm down fans. The KHL even warned Vityaz to exclude the team from the league in case of another cancelled game.

The peace didn't last long as on Monday Darcy Verot knocked down youngster Nikita Filatov with a cheap shot to the head and got a game misconduct.

Here is the video of Verot's cheap shot on Filatov:

Sergei Fedorov, Anton Babchuk, Dmitri Kalinin, Chris Simon and others were added to the All-Star game roster today as KHL journalists decided the teams' second lines.

The All-Star Game will be played in Minsk, Belarus, on January 30th and it will be a challenge between Team Yashin (Russian Stars) and Team Jagr (International Stars).

The second lines look like that:

Team Yashin (Russian stars)
Goalkeepers: Andrei Mezin (Dynamo Minsk)
Defenders: Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Anton Babchuk (Avangard Omsk)
Forwards: Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi)

Team Jagr (International Stars)
Goaltender: Michael Garnett (HC MVD)
Defenders: Martin Strbak (HC MVD); Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk)
Forwards: Patrick Thoresen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) – 112,681; Josef Vasicek (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Chris Simon (Vityaz Chekhov)

The KHL will name the third lines on January 28th.

Read also:
KHL All Star Game's starting lineup announced

Former NHL and Team Russia center Alexei Zhamnov decided to lace them up again after more than three years of absence. The 39 years old from Moscow, Russia, spent the last seasons as KHL's Vityaz Chekhov General Manager.

This is what he declared to Sport-Express:

Zhamnov: "It's extremely unpleasant that they consider us guilty for the fight during the game against Avangard. It's not correct, and I want people to talk well about Vityaz. Therefore I decided to return on ice, but for now I will only train with the team so to understand my physical conditions. After this, probably, I will sign a contract with the club until the end of this season."

Alexei Zhamnov played a total of 807 NHL games, with 249 goals, 470 assists and 719 points. He spent 13 seasons in North America, with the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins. He also played the NHL All-Star Game in the 2001-2002 season.

Latvian Martins Karsums signed with Dinamo Riga a contract up to April 2010, opposite to the news that were spread through Tampa Bay's official site, which reported that the 23 years old right winger signed with HC MVD.

Instead of his national team head coach Olegs Znaroks, Karsums will join many of his future team mates in 2010 Olympic Games as Team Latvia roster will feature 16 players from Dinamo Riga.

Most likely Karsums will play his first game with Dinamo in their home match against Metallurg Magnitogorsk scheduled for January 16th.

The starting lineup for KHL All Star Game has been announced today as the fan voting has been closed today.

The most voted player has been Kevin Dallman of Barys Astana, with 114,957 votes. Dallman will play for Team Jagr, the International Stars team that will face Team Yashin, Russian Stars.

The second most voted player was Team Jagr's Sandis Ozolinsh, with 113,167 votes, while Alexei Morozov has been Team Yashin's fan favorite, with 105,433 fans' selections.

This is how the lineups look like:

Team Yashin (Russian stars)
Goalkeepers: Georgy Gelashvili (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) – 55,048 votes
Defenders: Sergei Zubov (SKA St. Petersburg) – 103,136; Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan) – 101,261
Forwards: Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan) – 105,433; Alexander Radulov ( Salavat Yulayev Ufa) – 104,004; Maxim Sushinsky (SKA St. Petersburg) – 99,344

Team Jagr (International Stars)
Goaltender: Karri Ramo (Avangard Omsk) – 104,649 votes
Defenders: Kevin Dallman (Barys Astana) – 114,957; Sandis Ozolinsh (Dinamo Riga) – 113,167
Forwards: Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga) – 112,681; Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow) – 105,000; Branko Radivojevic (Spartak Moscow) – 98,949

The rest of the lineup will be voted by hockey journalists. The KHL All-Star game is scheduled for January 30th in the brand new Minsk-Arena.

Latvian right wing Martins Karsums has been assigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL to KHL's HC MVD. Karsums, 23, has been waived by the Lightnings five days ago.

The Riga, Latvia, native started the season in the AHL with the Lightning's affiliate, Norfolk Admirals, and scored four goals and sixteen points in thirty-six regular season matches. He has a total of 24 NHL games under his belt, six of them played with the Boston Bruins, the rest with Tampa Bay, scoring a total six points.

He will play now under Olympic Team Latvia's head coach Olegs Znaroks, which has called him for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

The participants of the Saturday's bench-clearing brawl in the KHL, Jaromir Jagr's Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov, set a new world hockey record getting 840 PIMs. The KHL disciplinary committee met on Sunday to spend 7 hours studying the incident.

As a result, the total number of PIMs was increased from 691 to 840 minutes. Six Vityaz and one Avangard player were suspended for one game. Both teams got fined for the total of $133,000. Vityaz was warned that in case of a similar situation happening in future the team will get excluded from the KHL.

According to Russian newspaper Sport-Express the teams were awarded with enormous 840 PIMs. Vityaz got 421 minutes, Avangard -- 419. The teams surpassed the record set by NHL's Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in 2004, when teams together earned 419 PIMs. It should be noticed that Vityaz beat this record just by themselves having 2 more PIMs than Senators and Flyers combined.

See also:
Video: KHL game cancelled after bench-clearing fight, teams get 691 PIM
Jaromir Jagr: "I've never seen a fight like this before"

Jaromir Jagr, playing for Avangard Omsk of the KHL, spoke about the yesterday's massive brawl in the game against Vityaz Chekhov.

The game was canceled because there was not enough players to continue the match as the lion's share of them got game misconducts. Jagr himself fought against Darcy Verot.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of this Jagr interview to Sovsport.ru.

Jagr: "I've never seen anything like this before. I have never even heard of such situations. And of course it never happened in the NHL when I was playing there. It just couldn't happen.

Why not?
Jagr: "The rules. If players fight during the warm-up or jump from the bench to the ice during a fight they can get suspended for 20 games. And it means losing a quarter of the salary. To tell you more, the suspension can be even more severe -- 6 months or a year. No one would like to get a one-year suspension as a result of stupid behavior."