SKA - Vityaz. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"We attacked well today and scored good goals. I liked how we capitalised on our opportunities, but we did commit a few mistakes along the way. Even just the one conceded goal is too much for us. We'll now prepare for Thursday.

"Ivan Demidov was excellent today, I think that everyone enjoyed his performance! Ivan is improving with every passing training session and game, he listens to what we have to say and puts the hard work in. If he continues working hard, Ivan can score three or four goals in all of our games! That wouldn't even be a challenge for him.

"As I have already stated, Artemiy Pleshkov is our number one goalkeeper. We have made changes to our management group, with Maxim Sokolov currently working in the stands while Andrei Komissarov and Yury Klyuchnikov are next to the bench. Komissarov and Klyuchnikov are working with our goaltenders, with Sokolov monitoring the process and offering his advice. 

"Artemiy communicates effectively with the skaters in front of him. When Vityaz had chances today, Artemiy was sold in our net. 

"Amir Nugmanov played today? We're always in contact with Amir, and he has improved physically in comparison to the preceding campaign. Demidov, Nugmanov, Matvei Korotky and Pavel Moisevich are currently with our senior team after winning the Kharlamov Cup with SKA-1946 last season. Nugmanov tried his best today, but he took his penalty in the attacking zone as a consequence of his strong desire. Amir wins the battles and fights hard, so he will continue playing for our senior side.

"Unfortunately, Korotky will have to participate in the MHL Challenge Cup on Saturday, even though we had asked the KHL for another player to take his place because we need him for our match against Dynamo in Moscow. Regardless of this problem, we're obliged to win with any line-up!

"I liked how our line consisting of Valentin Zykov, Zakhar Bardakov and Nikolai Polyakov competed, they created plenty of goalscoring opportunities. We'll work on becoming more ruthless in front of goal. 

"I would like to dedicate this victory to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, those who helped our city during the Siege of Leningrad. It was important to win for them today."

HC Vityaz Moscow Region head coach Pavel Desyatkov:

"We were poor during the maiden two periods. While we were too busy admiring the names of the opposing players, they scored two goals. We were better in the third frame, though, chances were created and we should have taken advantage of our openings. The third conceded goal was difficult to recover from.

"We expected more from our players who previously represented SKA. We're constantly trying to find the right line combinations, but consistency is severely lacking. Vladislav Tsitsyura? He is one of our key players, especially when it comes to the PK. Our play when shorthanded is the only component of today's match which worked."