Astana's Barys started the preseason tournament, the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup, in Ufa. Mikhail Kravets' team lost to the hosts of the competition – 1:4. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The first game day of the tournament opened with a match between Amur and Lada. The Far Eastern team routed the Volga side – 5:0. Following this, the Cup opening ceremony took place, and then Salavat Yulaev and Barys took to the ice.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Maxim Kuznetsov converted a power play. Before the end of the period, our team equalized. Alikhan Omirbekov finished off the efforts of American Chase Priski and Madi Dikhanbek – 1:1. After the break, the Ufa team again successfully played with a man advantage, and at the end of the match scored two more goals against Andrei Shutov – 4:1.

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup 2026 in Hockey

🏒 AMUR (Khabarovsk, Russia) – LADA (Tolyatti, Russia) 5:0 (1:0, 2:0, 2:0)

🏒 SALAVAT YULAEV (Ufa, Russia) – BARYS (Astana, Kazakhstan) 4:1 (1:1, 1:0, 2:0)

As is traditional, Barys held its first training camp in Astana. New players joined the team, but not all of the main roster made it to Ufa. Americans Justin Bailey and Mason Morelli are processing documents, and Alikhan Asetov is recovering under an individual program after an injury.

The players and coaching staff have determined the captain of Barys for the upcoming season. It will be Kirill Savitsky. The functions of assistants will be performed by Jake Massie, Samat Daniyar, and the aforementioned Morelli.

Tomorrow, Barys will play against Amur as part of the Bashkortostan Cup. And on the final day of the tournament, August 20, they will test their strength against Lada.

The Ufa offseason tournament was first held in 1999 under the name "Tournament for the Prizes of the Salavat Yulaev Hockey Club." From 2001 to 2012, it was called the "Cup of the President of the Republic of Bashkortostan," and since 2012 to the present, it is called the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup.

The hosts have won the main trophy 12 times. Among other teams, Yaroslavl's Lokomotiv has won most often (3), and once each the winners were Avangard, Ak Bars, Lada, Molot-Prikamye, Neftekhimik, SKA, Yugra, Severstal, and Slovakian Skalica. Barys took fourth place at the tournament in Ufa in 2018.