Oscar Fantenberg: "We need to play every game as if it's the playoffs"

SKA defenseman Oscar Fantenberg, who has contributed with five (0+5) points in 30 appearances so far in the 2021/2022 KHL regular season, spoke to Gillian Kemmerer about his targets for the remaining matches ahead of the Olympic break and how he's enjoying life in Saint Petersburg.

- You recently returned to the line-up after being injured. As a competitor, it was surely frustrating to watch the team’s challenging period from the sidelines.

- It's always tough to sit on the sidelines, especially when the team is struggling - you want to help, but you can't. You cannot really do anything except from trying to get back into shape. It’s stressful because there are times when maybe you can play, but there is a risk of making the original injury worse. Timing is the most important thing. Even though you want to come back earlier than what the doctors and coaches say, you have to focus on your health. It is difficult, but it’s something which I’ve learned to do over the last few years. Injuries come and go, but you have to just take care of yourself and be ready.

- Nearly the entire SKA defensive line received injuries at roughly the same time.

- If some defensemen get hurt, then the defensive core is affected. It’s the same with the forwards. The young guys who came up to the first team played really well. You have to be prepared to come back, especially when you know that you will immediately receive plenty of minutes. Moreover, it's always fun to play a lot!

- You were included in the leading defensive pairing during the comfortable away win against Kunlun Red Star Beijing this week. Given the flurry of media attention, did you have a lot of emotion for that particular match?

- It’s tough to play against some of the bottom teams of the conferences, because you don’t really know what to expect. If you just look at the standings, there’s a temptation to relax a little bit, but all games are difficult. They play differently, maybe not as structured as some of the other teams. We handled it pretty well after a couple of days off - we hadn’t been practicing a lot before that game. We played a good, team game with all of us working in accordance with our system.

- You’ve witnessed Roman Rotenberg’s progression from when he first stepped onto the bench to when he was named head coach this week. Tell us about the role he has played.

- He has been around a lot of coaches, and for years, he has been building this team. He has been winning here with SKA, he won an Olympic gold medal. He knows how to do it, and he was watching from above before - but he’s been on the bench for a while now. He has been around hockey for so long, and he knows what to do. It’s not a big change for us, it was more of just an announcement. Roman has been on the bench for the whole season and even before. It’s simply a headline for the media and for people who want to talk about it. For us, though, nothing has changed. He has been doing video meetings, talking to the players. He's been around since I’ve been here.

- How would you describe his approach?

- Roman wants to win, and he does everything possible in order to achieve this. He talks to players, he’s in the locker room helping the guys. He’s good at motivating people on the team. You can feel his desire to win right away, even if it’s just a scrimmage during our training sessions. That’s something that comes down to all of the players. You can feel it straight away - the main goal is to win the Gagarin Cup. You want to give 110%.

Sometimes there can be a language barrier [on Russian benches], but Roman can speak Finnish, English, he understands Swedish. It has been good for us to have him. Sometimes if there is a small adjustment, he can translate for us. Because he has been around so many languages, he has a feel for when a player doesn’t understand something.

- How would you describe SKA's playing style compared to what you experienced in North America?

- We play pretty aggressively and try to keep the puck, which I like. We have the puck a lot more regularly than in North America, which is something I had to think about coming here. I have adjusted pretty well and it’s always more fun to play with the puck than without. It can be hard to go from one game to another with completely different styles across the league.

- The team is sitting in first position of the West, but not comfortably - the race for the top spot of the conference is red hot. What will you need to focus on for these remaining games before the Olympic break?

- I think we are just focused on playing every match as if it’s the last. We know we are going to have time off, but we have to focus and not think ahead. We need to take it game-to-game. It’s easy to slow down, but we need to play every game as if it's the playoffs. We want to have that feeling going into the Olympic break.

- Are the 2022 Olympic Games something on your personal radar?

- I think that everybody wants to play at the Olympics, and I am hoping to make the team. You never know and there are a lot of good defensemen in the Swedish national team. It would be an honour to go to the Olympics, and I would have good confidence going in with SKA on top of the West. I want to be ready if I am going, and if not, to be ready for the playoffs.

- Can you remember your first impressions of Saint Petersburg upon arrival?

- It was really professional. They took care of me really well with everything outside of hockey too. We had a bunch of Swedes, so I knew everybody from before. That made things a little bit easier. I didn’t have specific expectations, but when I came here, it was a world class organisation from the doctors to the training facilities to the coaches and the equipment. I received all of my things immediately. I would say it’s the same as an NHL organisation concerning everything around the team - from the food to the entire medical clinic taking care of us. It’s pretty easy to just focus on hockey.

- What do you do with your free time?

- My girlfriend has travelled home, so I’ve just been playing video games and watching TV, trying to relax. When she’s here, we go walking, visiting restaurants and shopping centres. When you play as many matches as we have recently, it’s challenging and you don’t want to do much. The target is to save energy for the next game. However, I definitely need to go out and immerse myself more in the Russian culture.

- Do you Counter-Strike with Anton Burdasov and Igor Ozhiganov?

- No, I don’t! They are too good for me, I’ve heard. I’m staying away from those guys for now.