One of the Russian hockey players who are on the verge of getting into the Russian national team is CSKA defender Nikita Pivtsakin. A 25-year-old pupil of Omsk hockey, despite his rather mature age by sports standards, was not yet a member of the main national team, however, he has had sufficient experience playing in the ranks of juniors and youth.
The beginning of a sports biography
Pivtsakin Nikita Vasilievich was born on July 23, 1991 in Omsk. Starting to go to hockey school, the young player was among a large number of talents, however, most of them could not be distinguished by perseverance and demonstrate themselves in all its glory. Pivtsakin, who was distinguished by a dedicated game on ice, was able to quickly become part of the youth composition of the Omsk “Vanguard” - in the club of the MHL “Omsk Hawks”.
Parish in the "Vanguard"
Since 2008, in parallel with the games in the MHL, Nikita Pivtsakin began to be called to the games for Avangard, and also took part in the junior competitions of the Russian national team, in which he won the silver medal of the World Cup in 2009. The debut of the young defender for the basis of the Omsk team took place on January 25, 2008, when he appeared on the ice in the KHL match against Khabarovsk Amur. The newcomer failed to mark himself with effective actions, and also no longer appeared in the team’s application this season.
A year later, Pivtsakin was again included in the lists of “Vanguard”, and now the Russian defender has become one of the main players. During the season, he played in 19 meetings and was called to the youth world championship as part of the Russian team, where in the quarterfinals the Russians lost to Switzerland in overtime. Nevertheless, the experience gained during the competition, seriously helped in the professional development of the athlete.
The next five seasons, Nikita Pivtsakin regularly appeared among the key players of the club. The hockey player, who once again played in the youth world championship in 2011, returned to the team as a champion and regularly appeared on the ice as part of the KHL games. In the same season, he was able to score his first scoring points, having made 5 assists in 32 meetings. A year later, Pivtsakin managed to throw a debut puck in the KHL, as well as become the silver medalist of the championship in the “Vanguard”.
Transfer to CSKA
As part of the “Vanguard” Nikita Pivtsakin built a successful career and was going to continue to play in his colors, but because of a little-known disagreement with the leadership of the Omsk club in 2015, the player was exchanged for CSKA for monetary compensation. As part of the “army”, as many believed, the Russian was only supposed to increase competition for a place at the base, but Pivtsakin not only made the hockey players of the first team nervous, but soon began to regularly go out on the ice himself, bringing Muscovites with bonuses as a game in defense and scoring points.
In his first season at CSKA, Nikita entered the field only in 20 games of the regular season, having made one goal pass, contributed to a fairly successful playoff pass, gaining 2 points in 14 games, and also becoming the second time in his career silver winner of the KHL championship. After the off-season, Pivtsakin returned already as one of the solid base hockey players, and following the results of 39 meetings of the 2016/17 season, he had 4 goals, as well as 8 successful pre-goal passes. A successful game as part of the “army” was the reason for the statements of several experts about the possible call of the Russian to the main national team.
Statistics of performances in the KHL
To date, in the KHL, Nikita Pivtsakin has acted as part of two clubs - Vanguard and CSKA. As part of the Omsk club, he took part in 38 meetings of the playoffs of the Gagarin Cup, as well as in 252 matches of the regular championship, gaining 42 points in total. For the Moscow team, the Russian went on the ice in 73 games, gaining 15 points.