In modern history, the number of Belarusian hockey players performing in the NHL is less than two dozen. Among them is the current forward of Dynamo Minsk Sergey Kostitsyn, who for 5 years has demonstrated a high level of play overseas.
Belarusian starts
Kostitsyn Sergey Olegovich was born on March 20, 1987 in Novopolotsk. After graduating from the Novopolotsk youth and youth hockey school in 2002, the young Belarusian began his career as part of his native Polymir, for which he spent two seasons. In 2003, Sergei played several matches for Yunost-Minsk, but could not make it to the base, then moving to Gomel. As part of the current champion, Kostitsyn won the Belarus Cup, after which, having received an offer from the Canadian team “London Knights”, he went overseas.
Game overseas
For two seasons spent in the Ontario Hockey League, Sergey Kostitsyn showed an incredible result, gaining more than 200 points. As a result, since 2007, he began to play for the AHL team - Hamilton Bulldogs, which is the Montreal farm club, as well as for the main NHL team. Kostitsyn could not finally gain a foothold in the basis of the Canadian club, and in 2010 he moved to another club of the National Hockey League - Nashville.
In the first season, Sergey Kostitsyn became the key player in the American team. The hockey player took part in all meetings: both in the regular championship and in the playoffs, gaining a total of 55 points. As part of this championship, the Belarusian striker showed the best implementation of shots in the League, showing the result of 24.7% of successful shots. A year later, Sergei did not drop out of the team, having played another quality season in America, but upon completion of the contract with Nashville Predators decided to return to Europe.
Return to Europe
Omsk “Vanguard”, with whom Sergey Kostitsyn signed a three-year contract, agreed to accept the talented and still young striker. However, for the first time in his career, the Russian club striker played only one season. In the summer of 2014, Sergei moved to Kazan “Ak Bars” as a result of an exchange for Konstantin Barulin.
Every year, the player’s performance fell, and after three dozen points in Omsk in the Kazan club, the Belarus barely obeyed the mark of 20 points. As a result, for the next two years, Kostitsyn continued to change teams - after Kazan came the turn of the Nizhny Novgorod “Torpedo”, followed by the Belarusian hockey club Dynamo Minsk. In the composition of Minsk, the striker is one of the main links of the attack, and for 43 matches of the regular championship he scored 25 points, which contributed to the club getting into the playoffs.
Personal life
Since 2014, the forward has Russian citizenship, so he ceased to be considered a KHL legionnaire. In the summer of 2015, Sergey Kostitsyn married Elena Tabloich, who a few months later (September 6) gave birth to her daughter's hockey player. A happy couple called her Eve, and now her father spends all his free time with his family.
Sergei ’s elder brother , Andrei Kostitsyn, has also performed in the United States for a long time, and now plays for Sochi. In his interviews, Dynamo Minsk forward noted more than once that, despite kinship, both brothers act on the ice platform as the situation requires - even tough if necessary.