Roman Rotenberg speaks after beating Sochi away

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"Sochi played a really committed game today, they fought hard and made it a difficult challenge for us. Given that Sergei Zubov is their head coach, it's no surprise that Sochi are solid in defence, but I'm happy that we managed to break them down in the end.

"Unfortunately, one of our players received an injury today after taking a check to the head. We need to investigate why so many of the KHL's leading players are receiving injuries, we need those guys on the ice so that they can make everyone happy with their wonderful skills. I don't know what the reason is.

"Our work on the transfer market? It's vital for us to find the right balance between defence and attack. I'm really happy that Dmitry Yudin is returning to SKA, we're in great relations and I never actually wanted him to leave our club in the first place back in 2017. We had previously tried to re-sign him, but only now have we managed to do it. Dmitry is a determined player full of character, he's strong and solid in defence. By the way, Dmitry is about to land here in Sochi in order to join us for our New Year celebration. 

"I think that Dmitry will take to the ice against CSKA Moscow on 3 January. It should be easy for fellow defenseman Ilya Karpukhin to settle in, because he already knows our system from when we worked together with the Russian national team. Ilya is a top defenseman, he'll help us achieve success. 

"Ivan Demidov picked up three points today? Success is 99% down to hard work and 1% talent. He's a guy with fantastic work ethic, Ivan works as hard as he possibly can and we can see just how far he's come. Ivan has the highest demands for himself. He is deservedly playing in the first line, he always tracks back in defence and blocks pucks.

"What SKA will we see in 2025? The SKA which played against CSKA in the third period on Wednesday and the SKA which played against Sochi in the third period today! Furthermore, our leading players such as Valentin Zykov, Grigory Kuzmin and Artyom Zemchyonok will return from injury."