Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Avangard in Sochi

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I would like to congratulate Avangard with their victory, they're a great team. The best training session is always a game. Our young guys are displaying their best qualities, they're playing with character and for the benefit of the team. Yes, it's not easy for them, but we have to remember that for a lot of them it was only their second match at KHL level. We will draw the correct conclusions and move on.

- Avangard also had players on the ice who nobody knows.

- Which players are you talking about?

- Artyom Murylyov, for example.

- If we're going to compare the two teams, then let's see how many of our players were born in either 2003, 2004 or 2005. How many Avangard players were born in those years? Kirill Tankov was out for the entirety of the previous campaign. Ivan Remezovsky, one of the strongest defensemen born in 2005, has now received a serious injury. We have to ask why young players are in hospital instead of playing in games. Together, we must think about how we can change this. Last year, we remember that Matvei Michkov also received an injury which put him out for six months. We have to take dirty plays out of ice hockey.

- Even during pre-season, players who want to win the Gagarin Cup should be proving that they want to be included in the line-up. Don't you think that some of your players didn't prove that today?

- Which players do you have in mind?

- Vladislav Podyapolsky was substituted after conceded four markers.

- We can always blame the goalkeepers, but it isn't easy to play in that position. Avangard played on the counter-attack today, taking advantage of the mistakes which we committed. Our goaltender could have played better, but we are currently involved in an important stage of our pre-season preparations. Furthermore, we will only compete with our optimal line-up at the Nikolai Puchkov Tournament in Saint Petersburg. We also have to note that Sergei Ivanov was excellent after entering proceedings, and he will play tomorrow against Sochi.

- Experienced defensemen Artyom Zemchyonok and Artyom Sergeev didn't produce a strong performance.

- We aren't going to start blaming individuals for the result, we win and lose as a team. Unlike other clubs, we aren't choosing to play against other teams from different leagues, we want to compete against the best. This is consequently allowing for our guys to pick up vital experience.