2022 Nikolai Puchkov Tournament. SKA - Sibir. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I would like to congratulate everyone with the victory. This was an important game for us against a strong opponent, it was our second match in as many days. It was important to recover well ahead of the game. Right from the first minute, we had full concentration. However, due to having not played yesterday, Sibir were fresher than us initially. Our guys stuck to the game plan and improved as the match continued. Yes, we made mistakes, but we will correct them. We'll now prepare for Friday.

- How difficult was it to break Sibir's defence down?

- There is a lot of similarities in the systems which Severstal and Sibir use, but we are more focused on our own ice hockey. Despite that, we always analyse the opponents and see how we can compete against them. Sibir are a strong team, we prepared seriously and made changes during the game. All of the guys played well.

- Marat Khairullin is in great form at the moment. How difficult was it to sign him?

- He had previously played well when playing against SKA, so we had had an eye on him. Marat fits our system excellently, all players on the ice must help out in defence and attack. Just like the rest of our guys, he is a universal player. Every player in our team must improve with every passing day, teamwork is crucial. We want our leaders to play well and earn a lot of points. You can see that Marat is on the ice on the powerplay, on the penalty kill and in the decisive moments of matches. Today, it was a true team win. Furthermore, I want to thank the fans for their superb support, we are counting on them for the next game.

- Was it disappointing to concede a goal when competing on the powerplay?

- Ice hockey is a game of mistakes. Alexander Nikishin made a mistake, but he subsequently made up for that by scoring on the powerplay to equalise. We will learn from our mistakes. I must give the guys credit for not losing belief and for believing in the victory, they showed determination, commitment and character to earn the win.

- Goalkeepers Sergei Ivanov and Alexander Samonov haven't conceded a single goal in penalty shootouts yet.

- Goalkeepers are an important part of the team. We have to thank both the goalkeeping coaches and the players themselves. For the skaters, their job is to protect the goaltender and not allow the opponents to unleash shots on goal. Alexander was very solid in our net today.

- Following on from last season, SKA are very effective during the second periods of games.

- This is because of our training process, we always want to dominate on the ice in every period throughout the entire 60 minutes and score a lot of goals. I won't reveal all of the details of our system, we'll keep them to ourselves.

- What happened concerning the incident when Andrei Pedan engaged in a fight?

- The opponent provoked him. During that play, the Sibir player had landed a hit which could have potentially injured one of our players. This is why Andrei reacted like this. At the same time, however, we always ask our players to reply with goals and not to respond to provocation.

- Are you satisfied with SKA's performance on special teams?

- We are scoring goals 5-on-5 while not conceding, this is positive. In this match, we are disappointed that we conceded on the powerplay. Sibir are dangerous on the powerplay, Taylor Beck is particularly threatening.

HC Sibir Novosibirsk head coach Andrei Martemyanov:

- I think that both teams played well, a lot of scoring opportunities were created. We wasted our chances. The opponents have a lot of quality players, they were clinical on the powerplay. It was a good friendly match which will help us. We'll draw conclusions and prepare to play Avangard Omsk.

- You conceded three goals when shorthanded.

- As I have already said, SKA have a strong team. For one of their goals, there was a ricochet. Their third goal on the powerplay was excellent. Summer ice hockey is full of penalties, it's normal.

HC SKA forward Dmitry Buchelnikov:

- It was quite a tough game, Sibir had the initiative in the first period. In the second period, we improved in terms of our discipline and aggressiveness. We ended the match well, scoring goals with strong attacking play.

- How did you feel competing on the powerplay for the senior SKA team?

- It was great, and I am really happy that I helped the team with my goal. Thank you to the management and coaching staff for believing in me.

- Did you feel nervous in these two penalty shootouts with so many fans in the stands?

- Yes, I did a bit. I managed to score yesterday, but today the puck took an annoying bounce. As Roman Rotenberg says, there is no limit to perfection. I will continue working hard at training, and I will try to score with my penalty shots if I have the opportunity again in the future.

- SKA have high competition in the team. Does this motivate you?

- SKA always have a lot of competition within the team, every player here suits our style. Competition allows players to progress quicker and be more useful to the team.