Big Boga Optimistic Ahead of Playoff Push

[Bojovnik 487]

For the fourth season in a row, Yaroslav Bogatyrev is gearing himself up for another push for the Continental Cup. The big-bodied Russian forward, drafted second overall in the S86 VHL Entry Draft, can no longer lean on his youth status. This is the time for Bogatyrev to establish himself as a leading player in the VHL following a stellar point-per-game season.

 

The Bears have been close but not close enough over the past two seasons. In S87, they fell at the Conference Final stage to the Vancouver Wolves. One season later, they had a 3-1 lead over the London United in the Continental Cup Final only to throw away the series with three straight losses.

 

“The last two seasons have stung. You try and take the positives from it, but at the end of the day, losing in the playoffs sucks. Especially when you look at how we played last season. The cup really did have our name on it, but we just let things slip. I don’t know if we thought that we had already got across the line, but it’s a major lesson that everyone on the team has learned. We can’t let up, not even for a minute, until we raise the trophy,” Yaroslav Bogatyrev told Shaiba.ru on Sunday.

 

The Seattle Bears are far less top-heavy than other VHL teams. The Washington-state side have two solid lines that they can roll out, meaning that minutes are spread across the team. Despite some personnel changes, Bogatyrev went on to register career highs in goals, points, shots, and hits, and he registered a team-high nine game-winning goals. In total, Bogatyrev had 34 goals, 48 assists for 82 points, and 236 hits. He also finished with a +22 rating.

 

“All in all I think I’ve taken a step forward this year. I think I’ve become a more complete player. I’d still like to score more, and one day take a run for the scoring title, but I don’t forget that I have a responsibility to be a solid player who can compete across all 200 feet of the ice. I want to be on the team’s top powerplay and top penalty kill. In fact, I think I now get more fun from stopping the opposition’s top line, than being the player who goes out and gets the goal. Sure, goals are nice, celebrating them is nice, but I think I can really take pride in how I’ve approached this past season and where my game has developed,” Bogatyrev said.

 

“I realize that it’s now my time to become a leader on this team. We have two guys, Tav and Hulk, who are going to be leaving the team after this season. Sure, we can bring in other guys, but now it’s time for Randy and myself to take over the reigns and become the players who the coach, management rely on. We want to set the tone, because although Seattle in the past has been successful, it’s been too long since the team won the cup,” he added.