humo arena – Bill's Blog

Last night we watched Spartak Moscow defeat Minsk Dynamo 3-2 in overtime at the Humo Arena here in Tashkent. The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is considered to be the best professional hockey league outside of North America. Most experts say it is slightly below the level of the National Hockey League (NHL) but on par or better than the AHL, the top minor league for the NHL. I am not a hockey expert but I could tell the players were better than the Kazakhstan League Hockey we are used to seeing when Humo Tashkent plays. This was similar to the NFL playing games in London or Germany. It was a regular season game with Spartak in second place in the Western Division (53 points with 37 games played) and Dynamo Minsk in fourth place in the Western Division with 49 points. It was an entertaining game with Dynamo controlling most of the play in the first period and scoring the first goal, but Spartak scored a goal in the last couple of minutes in the first period to tie the game. After a scoreless second period, Dynamo scored again at the start of the third period, but Spartak answered right back with the late goal to send it into overtime. Spartak then scored in the first 30 seconds in overtime to win the game. It was technically a home game for Dynamo and Humo personnel (PA announcer, cheerleaders, etc.) were all dressed in Dynamo gear. It was cool to go to a Russian professional hockey league game because it is not advisable for Americans to travel to Russia now. I want to get a Spartak jersey!

We had a nice weekend unwinding from the busy school year. We are heading up to the mountains for a couple of days of skiing, mountain views, and fresh air! Below is a short video with the weekend highlights.

Owen, Sebey and Oliver make the big screen

I was pleasantly surprised attending the Humo Tashkent hockey game last night. The boys and I watched the game between Humo and Metallurg Novokuznetsk. The home team, Humo, won an exciting game 7 goals to 5! The two teams are part of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). The VHL is the second highest level of professional hockey in Russia. There are 34 teams in the league, with teams joining from Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan this year.

The boys pose with the Humo Cheerleaders!

Novokuznetsk is a small city north of Kazakshstan in central Siberia. They are currently in 10th place and Humo is in 16th place. (now 15th place after the victory) “Humo” is a mythical bird from Persian mythology and part of the Uzbekistan emblem. Humo Arena seats 12,500 and is the largest stadium in the league. It is new and modern with a great sound system, comfortable seats, cheerleaders, etc. It was a very entertaining evening. We had great seats for $7.