Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Admiral in Sochi

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I liked how we played today. Young guys like Ivan Demidov and Matvei Michkov performed well. After being out for a year, Kirill Tankov returned today, but we decided to keep him on the bench during the third period. When you miss such a long period of time, you need time in which to return to optimal match condition, and there's no use in hurrying the issue unnecessarily so. Danila Moiseev had also missed a number of months. We were the better team 5-on-5, but we took too many penalties which let us down. We have to give credit to Admiral, they are a strong, experienced team. We'll now focus on our next game against Avangard.

- Why did you play Michkov as a centre forward today?

- Matvei possesses a superb ice hockey IQ. You saw for yourself just how well he thinks on the ice. When we had a conversation with Matvei, he stated that he has always dreamed of playing in the middle. As you can see, he doesn't boast the most powerful of physiques, but he is a hugely intelligent player. He has skills and abilities which other players simply don't have. However, he can improve, he didn't play in accordance with our system for the second conceded goal.

- How similar are Michkov and Demidov? They are Russia's two most talented young players at this moment in time.

- They are completely different players. At the age of 17, Ivan is already displaying fantastic ice hockey, but we need to keep calm and continue working hard. These two guys boast huge potential. Are they rivals for a place in the team when the KHL begins? Michkov now plays in the centre, whereas Demidov is a winger. As you can see, they are currently winning the competition within our team for a place in the line-up. Let's see what happens in the future.

- Tankov has returned after a year without playing ice hockey.

- Kirill still requires more time in which to get back to top shape. He is a true fighter, and I like his line with Sergei Tolchinsky and Arseniy Gritsyuk. Last year, we had planned to use Kirill in the KHL regularly, and we only sent him to the VHL with SKA-Neva for one game. However, in that particular match, he sadly received a serious injury. The main thing is that he's alive and can now play the sport again.

- When will your other players start competing in matches this summer?

- 14 players were sitting in the stands for us today. As I have already said, the guys who are currently engaging in more physical training won't compete at this tournament, they'll be on the ice when we play at our home competition in Saint Petersburg towards the end of the month. There is no point in overloading them with games, some of them played in 104 matches last season! Everything will start for us on September 2nd in Moscow against Dynamo