Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Konstantin Savchenko Named Baikal-Energia's New Captain

BOULDER, Colorado -- After the tragic departure of their captain Nikolai Kadakin this off-season to the hated Dynamo Moscow, Baikal-Energia Irkutsk had to find themselves a new emotional and offensive leader. They found one in midfielder Konstantin Savchenko.

The 31-year-old Savchenko has played seven of the last eight seasons in Irkutsk, spending the 2005-06 season with now-defunct SKA-Zabaikalets Chita. He has 291 career games to his name, 191 those with either Baikal-Energia or the Sibskana, and 131 goals, 84 of them in an Irkutsk uniform.

It has long been a tradition in the Irkutsk club that the players vote for their captain by secret ballot. Savchenko received 17 votes, while goaltender Alexei Negrun - who has played for Irkutsk since 1990, back when the team was called Lokomotiv, making him the longest-tenured member - finished second with 14. The voting was done August 7 soon after the team completed their training camp in the nearby city of Baikalsk.

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