SKA - Avtomobilist. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

 - Avtomobilist are a really strong side which plays solidly in defence, so we wanted to start well and take the lead. We scored a good goal and subsequently played excellently for the entire 60 minutes. I would like to extend my gratitude to the team and the fans. However, we have aspects which require improvement – for example, we have to stop taking penalties. I would like to point out Zakhar Bardakov today, he was at fault at taking a penalty but he then made up for that mistake by scoring the winning goal. Just like in football, sometimes you have no other option than to commit a foul for the benefit of the team and be sent off. We were shorthanded for 30 minutes against Yaroslavl and Minsk! No other KHL team would be able to win in such circumstances. Nonetheless, we beat Lokomotiv while playing with only three skaters. This proves that we have character and team spirit.

Sergei Plotnikov has played in 901 KHL matches, while Pavel Dedunov has made 601 league appearances. If you add my 202 games to that tally, then we’re left with a grand total of 1704 matches. As general manager I worked over more than a thousand matches, but the KHL doesn’t take those games into account. The NHL, on the other hand, counts such statistics and extends its congratulations. Professionals are putting in an awful amount of work. I’m talking about everyone in general, not myself. Our serviceman Konstantin Rogatin will soon participate in his 50^th season! We need to congratulate him with this achievement together. It’s unique for anyone to work in 50 campaigns. How many seasons has Vladimir Yurzinov racked up?

- More than 50.

- Yes, 100%. And he is still working with us. Vladimir calls me on a daily basis after games. Sometimes, we speak for over an hour. Trust me when I say that he understands all details of the modern game. This gives us the opportunity to develop further. Such professionals like Konstantin Rogatin and Vladimir Yurzinov need to be celebrated, and we will do so as a club. However, I would also like the league to start doing the same. We’re working together, and the stars are the players, not the referees. Today’s officiating was good and honest. Everyone worked brilliantly today, all SKA employees were great. There was a wonderful atmosphere inside the arena. In order for this to become possible, a lot of work is being put in. I would like to thank our fans for the energy which they provided us with, but the organisation today was fantastic. Our team produced one of the best performances of the season against a strong opponent. I would like to thank the opponents for a good game, our team for the victory, our fans for their support and all of you. We have things to work on though, and we will now prepare for our upcoming games. Our next match is always the most important one.

- What was the ceremony in the dressing room after the game about?

- This isn’t an easy question, but I’ll answer it. We’re always open to questions from journalists in any situation. This victory was achieved because of the efforts of everyone, it’s a win for our whole city. I congratulated everyone with this true team win. It wasn’t an easy situation for Yegor Zavragin. In 2015, when Mikko Koskinen joined us, even he found it difficult at the beginning and lost a few games. He needed time to adapt. During that time, there were conversations about whether SKA actually needed him and whether we should offload him. However, I knew that we simply needed to be patient. I would like to thank coaches Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin, because we won the Gagarin Cup mainly thanks to our goalkeeper. If we look across the past 10 years, we can see that not many goalkeepers have won the Gagarin Cup. It’s important for us that all SKA goalkeepers and skaters are psychologically calm and confident. In modern ice hockey, a lot depends on the goaltender. We have the example of Ilya Nabokov, who won the Gagarin Cup with Magnitogorsk as a young goalkeeper. Anything is possible. We’re really grateful that we have guys who always work to their maximum and fight for the team.

- Starting from the second stanza, Ivan Vydrenkov took Danila Galenyuk’s place. Why did you make that particular decision?

- We spoke about this on the bench with Konstantin Shafranov. Vydrenkov is a great attack-minded defenseman. Ivan played a huge role in SKA-1946’s Kharlamov Cup triumph last season, he scored the winning goal in Yaroslavl in game five. He was a leading figure of our defence. We don’t have any issues with Danila, he’s a member of our group and we wanted to give him time to recover. Our risk paid off. Ivan is great with the puck on his stick, we’re grateful to him for his performance today. Sometimes we use all seven defensemen during matches, while on other occasions we only use six. We are flexible tactically.

- Vydrenkov boasted SKA’s best plus/minus rating of September with +8. However, excluding today’s game, he’s only participated in four October matches.

- Are you Ivan’s agent?

- No, but I work for the MHL and I’m consequently interested in SKA’s young players.

- We had been getting Vydrenkov ready for this match to ensure that he displayed his best ice hockey. I agree with you that Ivan’s playing great. The season is long, and there are situations where you have to train more. There are details which don’t need to be discussed publicly. Looking ahead, we have difficult opponents coming up. We’re working on helping Ivan improve and it paid off today.

- Ivan Demidov was the best KHL rookie of September and played in a line with Evgeny Kuznetsov, but after the latter’s injury he was demoted to the fourth line. Why has Demidov stayed in the fourth line after Kuznetsov’s return?

- Did you watch today’s game? Which line did Demidov play in?

- Alongside other partners, he played with Kuznetsov. However, Demidov was only on the ice for six minutes, whereas Kuznetsov played for 23. Why has his ice time decreased so dramatically?

- My answer is the same as the one regarding Vydrenkov – he needed to train more, work on the details and improve his game. You aren’t from Montreal, are you? Various articles are being published thanks to orders made by North American agents. In order for a player to receive 20 minutes on the ice for SKA, he should be one of the best in the world. Our players could play for any team on the planet, they have experience of playing in the NHL. We have experienced guys of the highest pedigree in our team, players boasting experience of winning major championships such as the Olympic Games and the Gagarin Cup. You need to have habits of a champion to win the Gagarin Cup. Our work with Ivan is paying off, he was great for us during today's most important moments. We trusted him with the decisive moments of this game. When we spot weaknesses within our players, it’s important for them to train more. We have to analyse situations with honesty. There are situations where agents from North America and even Russia pay journalists to write articles demanding that certain players are put in the line-up. Furthermore, it’s even worse when agents ring up clubs with their own coaches and demand the following: “If Ivan doesn’t play, you won’t work with the club any longer.” This is something which we have to get rid of.

Our ice hockey will develop if we’re objective, we’ll have games of playoff level like today in which teams display exciting ice hockey. It’s important that we analyse matches objectively. You’re speaking about ice time, so obviously you learned your trade in North America. However, we have to look objectively at all of the player’s qualities. Even if he only received one shift in which he scored the winning goal. I remember when at the World Junior Championship, a player of the US national team scored the game-winner during his sole shift of the match. This means that the coach ensured that he was ready for his shift. In football, you have golden substitutes like Ole-Gunnar Solksjaer who always scored winning goals for Manchester United when appearing off the bench.

- Have Avtomobilist became big rivals for SKA after last season’s playoffs?

- All games for us are vital. Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk are also important opponents for us.

- The sirtaki melody is being used for SKA this year.

- If we look at the history of sirtaki, then we can see that it’s a dance which unites people. Rugby has the haka. The main thing is to unite people. We can change our music choice for our next game.

- No, you don’t need to change it.

- I appreciate the fact that everyone likes our music choice. Everyone without exception can dance the sirtaki. We can gather 200 thousand people on Palace Square in order to dance together, but first we need to win. Our task is to win, then we can think about music.

- You were speaking about Koskinen and how you put your faith in him when he joined SKA.

- Who trusted him initially? Maybe only one person in our whole organisation did.

- Who was it?

- Take a guess.

- How much faith do you have in Yegor Zavragin? Will he be rotated?

- Koskinen also had serious competition in the form of Igor Shestyorkin. There were a lot of debates as to who was the stronger goalkeeper, and you know Shestyorkin’s level. In ice hockey, it’s crucial that you give 100% during every training session. You have to display commitment in every match and do everything possible in order to win. You must be psychologically strong. A lot of factors play their part, including your upbringing, parents, personal qualities and life experiences. Let’s give Yegor the opportunity to rest. Once again, I would like to point out that Pavel Moisevich, who won the Kharlamov Cup with us last season, cannot play at the moment. He played a huge role in our Kharlamov Cup triumph. An important factor is a player’s readiness to do everything possible for the benefit of our club. We also have Artemiy Pleshkov and Nikita Serebryakov – we need everyone. The season is long. Let’s give our players the opportunity to work calmly. But, as we can see, we’re being discussed even when we don’t have matches! It’s important to be a leading topic of conversation, this is helping us fill the stands both home and away. We’re grateful to everyone. As a person once said, bad PR is still PR. Please give us the opportunity to prepare for our next game.

HC Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin:

- I really liked our movement, combination plays and pressing right from the start of the first period. We created even more scoring opportunities in the second stanza, but we failed to capitalise on them. Unfortunately, our unnecessary penalties in the third had a direct effect on the outcome of the game, we conceded a quick goal and then SKA subsequently scored another. We were better than SKA in all of the statistical departments, but we ended up losing 2:5.

We lost the key battles on the slot for SKA’s goals. While we had the advantage in the second period, we should have made the most of the situation and converted the numerous chances which we managed to create. We also hit the post a couple of times. If we had scored more goals during that particular spell, it wouldn’t have been so difficult for us in the third frame.

How have SKA changed since last season? They’ve improved greatly in terms of individual quality. I can’t say that we played worse than SKA today, but they have more quality in their squad. Evgeny Kuznetsov is a true master of the game, and they also signed an excellent defenseman. SKA are a very talented team.