by Peter Ferak, www.coverguy.wordpress.com
The Russian Championship (Gruppa A) was set to finish with a Final Stage in September, however, some of the games were postponed due to bad weather conditions and thus the Championship concluded in October. The Russian Champion for 2008 is MGPU, the team of the Moscow University.
MGPU had a strong season and was able to adapt to the new schedule of the championship best, since most of their players are students at the University and did not have working engagements. Last year’s champion Balashikha Tornado had trouble getting their best players to the week games (Thursday and Friday) and thus had to settle for third place overall.
The surprising team for this season was Moskvich which brought back players that had gone to other teams in past years. Unfortunately they could not handle the tough schedule. After a good start to the season they lost many games during the final months.
Final Standings:
MGPU 32- 8 .800 Moskvich 25-14 .641 Tornado 23-16 .590 Severne Zvezdy 19-21 .475 Patrioty 0-40 .000