Ilya Yezhov is a hockey player who is well known to Russian sports fans, as this goalkeeper has been playing in the KHL for a long time. Yezhov has a high coefficient of reliability for many seasons. This is exactly what is valued by professional goalkeepers.
Career start overseas
Ilya Yezhov was born on January 12, 1987 in Krasnodar. At the age of seven, he and his parents moved to Canada. The boy began to play hockey in the hockey school of the club "Montreal". Thanks to discipline and work in childhood, he was the main goalkeeper. In 2005, he made his debut in the league QMJHL for the club St. John's Fog Devils. At first, Ilya Yezhov was a substitute. But after he spent seven matches without losing a single goal into his own net, he became the club’s main goalkeeper. For two seasons spent in the club, he spent 91 matches on the field. Thanks to a large number of games, Ilya Yezhov became more confident in playing at the gate. In the 2007-2008 season, Ilya moved to the Melfort Mustangs club, which played in the SJHL league. The goalkeeper spent one season in this club. In it, Yezhov managed to achieve a penetration coefficient of 2.01. Yezhov realized that the NHL clubs were not interested in him, and decided to leave for Russia.
Relocation to Russia
In 2008, Ilya Yezhov decided to pursue a career in Russia. At that time, his professional level did not match the game of the KHL goalkeepers. Therefore, this goalkeeper began to play for the club from the Major League HC Navy. He never regretted this transition. Ilya often recalls that it was the coach of this team that Kirill Korenkov taught him a lot. These skills were subsequently very useful to him when playing in the KHL. This player spent 3 seasons for the HC Navy club. And after the athlete, breeders from St. Petersburg SKA noticed and invited him to the team. After signing the contract, Ilya was officially the third goalkeeper, but then he began to replace Yakub Shtepanik. Yezhov’s chance to become the first goalkeeper appeared after Yakub got a neck injury in a game with the Dynamo club from Riga. In his ten matches, Yezhov had a reliability coefficient of 1.99.
Continuation of a career in the KHL and debut for the national team
Ilya played for the SKA club for 3 seasons. A couple of him were such famous goalkeepers as Yakub Stepanek and Sergey Bobrovsky. During this time, in the St. Petersburg club, the athlete showed a reliable game and was the first number of the team. But after the SKA club decided to return his pupil Alexander Salak, and Yezhov lost his place at the base. He, not being upset for a long time, began to work more and simultaneously search for himself a new team.
Moving to Tolyatti
In May 2016, it was announced that Yezhov had moved to the Lada Togliatti. In this club, this goalkeeper received more playing time and was able to realize himself as a hockey player. In Togliatti, Ilya was greeted very warmly. The coaching club was pleased that they had a goalkeeper of such a high level. In this city, hockey is loved and appreciated. During the first game, Yezhov was surprised at the atmosphere prevailing during home matches. Yezhov played his first match for the Togliatti team against his former SKA team. In this game, the famous hockey player Ilya Kovalchuk upset Yezhov with a hat trick. Despite the difficult departure from the St. Petersburg club, this goalkeeper has many friends left there. Ilya's closest friend is Salak. They often call each other and advise each other how best to play against an opponent.
Despite the fact that Ilya from an early age moved with his parents to Canada, he decided to play for the Russian team. He made his debut for this team in 2012 at the Eurotour. At the moment, for the Russian team, this player has spent only one game.
Personal life
Ilya Yezhov is a hockey player whose photo can now be often seen in sports magazines. He is married and this couple has a child. At first, Amy's wife found it difficult to get used to life in Russia. But then she began to like the city of St. Petersburg. Yezhov was very worried about how his wife would settle in the city of Togliatti. Indeed, in St. Petersburg she made many friends.
At the moment, Yezhov is 30 years old. This age for the goalkeeper is ideal to show good results. Ilya Yezhov is a hockey player whose biography is rich in events. He does not regret that he moved to Russia. He is engaged in his favorite business and is not going to end his professional career. On the contrary, he does not rule out that he might still return overseas and play in the strongest league in the NHL world.