Gennady Timchenko: "SKA's training centre will become a significant place for all hockey lovers"

At SKA's 2016/2017 season presentation, club president Gennady Timchenko spoke about the club's new training centre:

- At our first presentation, I promised that our centre would be ready in two or three years. Unfortunately, the building process took longer than expected. Nevertheless, the grand opening will take place this year. Two ice rinks will be situated at the centre, and at one of them, there will be seats for around 1000 fans. The centre will have a medical section, as well as a gym and football pitch. I think that SKA's training centre will become a significant place for all ice hockey lovers, and it's convenient that it is situated next to the Ice Palace. I would like to thank Gazprom for their help turning this project into reality.

- Did this idea come about as a result of taking the best aspects of modern ice hockey?

- We knew that such a centre is needed. Also, young ice hockey players will be able to train at the centre. The main thing is that more ice hockey rinks are now available.

- Is the next step building a new Ice Palace?

- Yes. At the moment, we are working with the city about giving us a peice of land next to the Peterburgsky stadium. We want to build an arena with a capacity of twenty thousand.

- When will construction commence?

- Documents surrounding the land haven't come through yet, so I can't say anything for sure. However, we are searching for a company which is capable of building the most modern stadium in Russia.

- Does the fact that SKA have so many national team players make the league weaker?

- No. Personally, I do not think that SKA is the farm club of the Russian national team. Yes, Oleg Znarok is our coach and we have national team players, but that does not mean anything. What's bad about signing Sergei Plotnikov, Alexander Khokhachyov and Viktor Tikhonov? Our task is to take NHL players back to Russia. In turn, this will help the KHL's image. We have no conflicts with over clubs in the league, and during the pre-season, we have seen that both CSKA and Dynamo Moscow are still strong. We are making the championship better, and it's great that we have extended to China. Russia doesn't have enough big sponsors to be on one level with the NHL.

- How would you sum up the team's roster?

- In the past, we have lacked physical strength, so during this pre-season, we have been working especially on this aspect. Also, Ilya Kovalchuk is playing excellently with Oleg Znarok. Everything will be fine.