occupation andrei khomutov
In ice hockey , the goaltender is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team ' s net , thus preventing the opposing team from scoring . The goaltender usually plays in or near the area in front of the net called the " goal crease " ( often referred to simply as " the crease " or " the net "). Goaltenders tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots . In today ' s age of goaltending there are two common styles , butterfly and hybrid ( hybrid is a mix of the traditional stand - up style and butterfly technique ). Because of the power of shots , the goaltender wears special equipment designed to protect the body from direct impact . The goalie is one of the most valuable players on the ice , as their performance can greatly change the outcome or score of the ___MASK11___ . One - on - one situations , such as breakaways and shootouts , have the tendency to highlight a goaltender ' s pure skill , or lack thereof . Only one goaltender is allowed to be on the ice for each team at any given time . The Kontinental Hockey League ( KHL ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008 . It comprises 29 ___MASK52___ clubs based in Belarus , China , Croatia , Finland , Kazakhstan , Latvia , Russia , and Slovakia and it is planned to expand to more countries . It is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in Europe and Asia , and second in the world behind the NHL . Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a ___MASK47___ state in Northern Europe . A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west , the country has land borders with Sweden to the northwest , Norway to the north , and Russia to the east . Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland . Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia , which also includes Scandinavia . Finland ' s population is 5 . 5 million ( 2014 ), staying roughly on the same level over the past two decades . The majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region . In terms of area , it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union . National League A ( NLA ) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland . It is the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system and of the two - tier National League . ___MASK19___ to the 2007  08 season , the league was officially called Nationalliga A ( German ),. The NLA has the most attended hockey club in Europe , SC Bern , and is also the most attended league within the same continent , averaging 7 , 026 spectators for the 2015  16 season . Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice , usually in a rink , in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent ' s net to score points . Ice hockey teams usually consist of six players each : one goaltender , and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team . HC Fribourg - Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg , Switzerland , which competes in National League A . The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015 / 16 season with 6 , 156 spectators . Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a ___MASK47___ state between Central Europe , Southeast Europe , and the Mediterranean . Its capital city is Zagreb , which forms one of the country ' s primary subdivisions , along with its twenty counties . Croatia covers and has diverse , mostly continental and Mediterranean climates . Croatia ' s Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands . The country ' s population is 4 . 28 million , most of whom are Croats , with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism . The KHL ' s Chernyshev Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league ' s inauguration . It is one of 4 divisions and part of the Eastern conference since the second season of KHL when the conferences were established . It is named in honor of Arkady Chernyshev ; Soviet ___MASK20___ of Sports , IIHF Hall of Fame inductee and former Dynamo Moscow ___MASK6___ . Belarus ( lat . ',      ), officially the Republic of Belarus , formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia ( though this name is no longer used in Belarus itself , even in Russian language ), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast , ___MASK49___ to the south , Poland to the west , and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest . Its capital and most populous city is Minsk . Over 40 % of its is forested . Its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing . Until the 20th century , different states at various times controlled the lands of modern - day Belarus , including the Principality of Polotsk ( 11th to 14th centuries ), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth , and the Russian Empire . Russia ( from the  Rus '), also officially known as the Russian Federation , is a country in Eurasia . At , Russia is the largest country in the world by surface area , covering more than one - eighth of the Earth ' s inhabited land area , and the ninth most populous , with over 140 million people at the end of March 2016 . The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern , about 77 % of the population live in European Russia . Russia ' s capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world , other ___MASK41___ urban centers include ___MASK21___ Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod and Samara . Ice is water frozen into a solid state . Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or ___MASK70___ of air , it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish - white color . Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast , Russia , located northeast of Moscow . The historic part of the city , a World Heritage Site , is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers . It is one of the Golden Ring cities , a group of historic cities northeast of Moscow that have played an important role in Russian history . Population : Andrei Valentinovich Khomutov ( Russian :    ; born April 21 , 1961 in Yaroslavl , Russian SFSR , ___MASK8___ ) is a retired Soviet ice hockey right winger . He was the ___MASK6___ for Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League ( KHL ) and Kazakhstan national team during 2010 - 2011 season . He played for CSKA Moscow ( Red Army team ) from 1979 -- 1990 , then in Switzerland for HC Fribourg - Gottéron from 1990 - 1998 . He was most valuable player in the Soviet league in 1990 , and also led the league in goals in 1988 . Khomutov played for the Soviet national team from 1981 -- 83 , 1985 -- 87 , and 1989 ; and for Russia in 1992 , 1993 , and 1995 . He was on the winning side at the 1981 Canada Cup ; the IIHF World Championships in 1981 , 1982 , 1983 , 1986 , 1989 , and 1993 ; and the 1984 , 1988 , and 1992 Winter Olympics . Andrei Viktorovich Nazarov ( born May 22 , 1974 ) is a former Russian professional ___MASK68___ . He has formerly managed the Kazakh team Barys Astana ( of the Kontinental Hockey League ' s Chernyshev Division ), the Ukrainian national team and been joint coach of the Russian National Hockey Team . He has been nicknamed " The Russian Bear ", and in his coaching career , " The Russian Keenan ". Slovakia , officially the Slovak Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe . It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west , Poland to the north , ___MASK49___ to the east and Hungary to the south . Slovakia ' s territory spans about and is mostly mountainous . The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks . The capital and largest city is Bratislava . The official language is Slovak , a member of the Slavic language family . Hockey Club Barys , commonly referred to as Barys Astana or simply Barys , is a professional ice hockey team based in Astana , Kazakhstan . It is one of the founding members of the Kontinental Hockey League ( KHL ). They play in the league ' s Chernyshev Division of the Eastern Conference . Their home arena is the Barys Arena , where they starting to play in the 2015  16 KHL season . ___MASK19___ to 2015 , the team played its home games at the Kazakhstan Sports Palace for 14 seasons , beginning in 2001 . The ___MASK6___ is Andrei Nazarov and the president is Alexander Koreshkov . Yaroslavl Oblast (" Yaroslavskaya oblast ") is a federal subject of Russia ( an oblast ), which is located in the Central Federal District , surrounded by Tver , Moscow , Ivanovo , Vladimir , Kostroma , and Vologda Oblasts . This geographic location affords the oblast the advantages of proximity to Moscow and St . Petersburg . Additionally , the administrative center of the oblast  the city of Yaroslavl  is an intersection of ___MASK41___ highways , railroads , and waterways . Population : 1 , 272 , 468 ( 2010 Census ). The ___MASK8___ , officially the Union of Soviet ___MASK45___ Republics ( USSR " ) was a ___MASK45___ state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991 . A union of multiple subnational republics , its government and economy were highly centralized . The ___MASK8___ was a one - party federation , governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital . China , officially the People ' s Republic of China ( PRC ), is a unitary ___MASK47___ state in East Asia . With a population of over 1 . 381 billion , it is the world ' s most populous country . The state is governed by the Communist Party of China , and its capital is Beijing . It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four direct - controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ), and two mostly self - governing special administrative regions ( Hong Kong and Macau ), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan . The country ' s major urban areas include Shanghai , Guangzhou , Beijing , Chongqing , Shenzhen , Tianjin and Hong Kong . China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia , and has been characterized as a potential superpower . The Kotorosl River is a right tributary of the Volga in the Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia . The river flows from Lake Nero near Rostov past Karabikha and enters the Volga in Yaroslavl . In the medieval ages , the river was highly important strategically , for it connected Rostov with ___MASK41___ waterways of Russia . The Kotorosl ' s main tributary is the Ustye River , which flows past Semibratovo to Borisogleb .