The “Carolina Hurricanes” continue to celebrate their long-awaited championship. By defeating the “Vegas Golden Knights” in six games of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff finals, the “Hurricanes” have won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006 and the second time in their history.
The decisive match took place on the night of June 15, Moscow time, in Paradise, a suburb of Las Vegas. The “T-Mobile Arena” hosted an NHL playoff final for the third time in its history, deciding the league’s strongest team. It was at this arena in 2018 that history’s greatest goal-scorer, Alexander Ovechkin, along with his teammates from the “Washington Capitals,” Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov, claimed their first and most coveted Stanley Cup. On this same ice in 2023, Russian forward Ivan Barbashev of Vegas became a two-time Stanley Cup champion.
This year, the roster of Russian NHL champions expanded to include Andrei Svechnikov, Alexander Nikishin, and Pyotr Kochetkov.
“Our Russian trio,” the Carolina media team proudly highlighted the success of the Russians, publishing their photo with the trophy under that headline.
Hurricanes players Alexander Nikishin, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Andrei Svechnikov | © Photo: x.com/canes
In the championship locker room, Svechnikov, Nikishin, and Kochetkov, who won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their careers, were among the most active Hurricanes players celebrating the loud triumph. Joining them in the celebration was Andrei Svechnikov’s older brother, Evgeny—who previously played in the NHL for teams like the “Detroit Red Wings,” “Winnipeg Jets,” and “San Jose Sharks,” before returning to Russia. In the new season of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the elder Svechnikov will play for Moscow’s “Spartak,” with whom the forward signed a two-year contract, but for now, he is in North America to support his brother.
During the locker room festivities, the Svechnikovs, Nikishin, and Kochetkov eagerly doused themselves with champagne and sprayed everyone else. Their exchanges were perfectly clear:
“How do we do it, brother?”
“In Russian!”
“Russian style!”
The Hurricanes spent the entire night after the championship match in Las Vegas. Andrei Svechnikov, for instance, lit up one of the city’s nightclubs, dancing on stage with the Stanley Cup.
The very next day, Carolina returned in full force to Raleigh—a city where the only major sports team is the Hurricanes. It’s no surprise then that thousands of fans flooded the streets due to the Hurricanes’ championship. The team chose a bar as their celebration spot. By that time, the players had managed to damage the trophy, severely denting the bowl, which is the main and primary part of the Stanley Cup.
Speaking of the trophy itself. In 2022, the NHL, despite its principles and intolerance toward discrimination based on nationality, showed hypocrisy by banning Russian champions from bringing the Stanley Cup to Russia, thereby denying them the tradition of spending a day with the trophy in their homeland. This ban remains in effect today—the league is in no hurry to lift it. Regarding this, the Svechnikov brothers, Nikishin, and Kochetkov had a separate conversation with Phil Pritchard, the well-known Hockey Hall of Fame employee and chief keeper of the Stanley Cup, who is almost always with the trophy.
“We sorted out the issue about bringing the cup to Russia,” Pyotr Kochetkov wrote on his social media, posting a group photo with Pritchard and the trophy itself.
Finally, five days after the championship, Carolina held a triumphant parade. The event lasted about three hours. Players, coaches, Hurricanes management, and club staff rode through Raleigh’s central streets in several cars and buses, stopping near one of the city’s main squares, where a stage had been set up.
En route to it, the Svechnikov brothers, Nikishin, and Kochetkov—riding in one bus with their relatives, as well as goaltender Brandon Bassi and forwards William Carrier, Nicolas Deslauriers, and Marc Jankowski—brought Russian flags with them.
Pyotr Kochetkov, Alexander Nikishin, Andrei Svechnikov, and Evgeny Svechnikov with Russian flags at the Carolina Hurricanes championship parade | © Photo: Social Media
The Hurricanes players draped the Russian tricolor over their shoulders and placed one flag on the bus. Sergei Bobrovsky and Dmitry Kulikov, for example, acted similarly during the Florida Panthers’ championship parades.
On stage, Andrei Svechnikov, Nikishin, and Kochetkov also appeared with Russian flags. The first drew extra attention. The event hosts noted the significant contribution Svechnikov made both to the development of the Hurricanes as a franchise and to the club’s victory this year.
In the past season, Andrei recorded 70 points (31 goals and 39 assists) in 79 regular-season games and 11 points (6+5) in 19 playoff games. His Canadian teammate Jordan Martinook recreated his own gesture, which has long become one of the main internet memes for all of Carolina, shouting: “Mista Svechnikov!”
Evgeny Svechnikov (left) and Andrei Svechnikov (right) with their mother | © Photo: Evgeny Svechnikov’s Social Media
During this appearance, Nikishin managed to rip off Svechnikov’s shirt, and the latter, bare-chested, thanked the fans:
“Unbelievable. I want to say two things. I am very grateful to my teammates and the coaching staff. I love them. Our team has the best coaches and the best players. Secondly, I thank you, the fans. You are the best supporters in the world. We are champions!”
Nikishin and Kochetkov were introduced by the event hosts as tough Russians unafraid to engage in physical play. Alexander, for instance, also gave a speech, but it was very brief, asking the fans—of whom there were several thousand at the championship parade—to “make some noise.”
The Russian’s address was accompanied in a rather unusual way by his teammate Jackson Blake—the American forward for Carolina swore twice in Russian profanity. Who taught him those words remains a mystery, but a few days earlier, the same Blake, along with Canadian Seth Jarvis and Finn Jesper Kotkaniemi, were riding in a car with Nikishin, and Kotkaniemi sang a song in Russian with almost no accent that was playing in the Russian’s vehicle.
In the coming days, Carolina’s Russian players will return to their home country. Nikishin and Svechnikov, for example, will take part in the third-ever “Match of the Year” featuring Russian stars from the NHL and KHL. This year, the charity event will take place in St. Petersburg: the game, which will include players like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Kirill Kaprizov, and Artemi Panarin, is set for July 25 at the “SKA Arena” in St. Petersburg.
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