Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Neftekhimik in Nizhnekamsk

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- There was a wonderful atmosphere inside the arena. I would like to congratulate Neftekhimik with their victory, we knew that it was going to be a difficult game. It's always tough for us in Nizhnekamsk. We started well, created a number of opportunities, but our profligacy in front of goal let us down. And, of course, their goalkeeper was excellent. This is a lesson for us, and we now have to focus on our next important match on Monday.

- You made changes to your lines ahead of the third period, and we didn't see Alexander Kadeikin on the ice anymore.

- We were searching for options to increase the tempo. Everything was going in accordance with our plan, but then our discipline let us down. We had previously had problems with our discipline at the start of the campaign. When you are chasing the game in the third period, it's unacceptable to take penalties. After that, we played for four minutes without our goalkeeper, showed character, but the hosts competed with commitment. We needed to drive to the crease and score.

- SKA recently signed Andrei Chivilyov and Amir Nugmanov. What will their roles be?

- They are both determined players. By the way, Emil Galimov is also a product of the Neftekhimik youth system. Nizhnekamsk is a city of people with character! We saw this today on the ice, Neftekhimik were very committed. They scored their first goal on the counter-attack following a mistake from us. To be honest, maybe we should have put our players from Nizhnekamsk on the ice today.

- In the future, is there a chance that the Russian national team will play in Nizhnekamsk?

- Yes, I think so. This would be the right thing to do. The supporters are brilliant here, and Neftekhimik also have an excellent academy. The city possesses a lot of great players. The level of ice hockey in Tatarstan is very high, both in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk. As we saw today, Nizhnekamsk always play with a lot of commitment, but I think that we produced a good performance. We will work on our finishing in front of goal, we have to be focused when presented with an opportunity to score. We needed a hero in this game, but we didn't find one.

- You also lost here last year. How can you defeat such opponents which know how to frustrate SKA?

- Just like in boxing, you have to land the knockout punch. It's all about quality, not quantity. In order to win, we must land the decisive punches, and this can be said for all of our games. We have to change our psychology, the issue is in our head.

- The schedule is rather strange this year, with SKA playing every two days and then resting for almost a week. Taking the calendar into account, how difficult is it to train and keep the players in optimal shape?

- Just like last year, we have 68 games in the regular season. We played three times at home and then three times on the road. However, this season, the schedule is completely different. Sometimes we compete in six games during a short period, while other times we rest for almost a week. It's the same for all teams in the KHL, and as a consequence we're seeing that more injuries are being suffered and teams are playing in waves. I don't know why the KHL changed its format, but I think that they will review it for next season.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin recently spoke about the importance of dealing with those who are taking talented young players abroad. How will the Russian Ice Hockey Federation fix this problem?

- It's vital to create the required facilities in Russia to ensure that young players won't move abroad. We're talking about children who are either 10 or 11, when their parents make their decisions for them. Unfortunately, we know of cases when entire teams from the regions are taken abroad. How does this happen? Agents work with the players' parents. I know of cases when agents have paid players' parents large sums of money to take their children abroad. Our task is to ensure that parents will keep their children in Russia to play ice hockey, and for this to happen we need to construct the required facilities in all of our cities such as Nizhnekamsk, Kazan, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. There are plenty of cases when young players end up finishing their careers in North America. Together, we can fix the problems which our ice hockey is facing.