“Other countries play slow hockey on ‘aerodromes’, from which the public yawns and we grow” – Roman Rotenberg

First Vice President of FHR, Head Coach of SKA and Russia 25 Romain Rotenberg told “” that Russia is trying to promote hockey in the right direction and “will play ahead of the curve” in the case of the development of the “3 on 3” format.

In June last year, the Russian Hockey Federation announced the establishment of the All-Russian 3v3 Hockey League. According to , the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) plans to discuss the Ice Hockey World Championship in a similar format.

– The International Federation promised to make the 3 × 3 format Olympic – why is it still there, and only Russia promotes such hockey? After all, he is the future.

– The IIHF moves at its own pace and we are ahead of the curve. The 3v3 format is really very promising – you’ve seen huge success with the public this season, since last summer. And while the International Ice Hockey Federation is in slow motion, we are moving forward so that when 3 on 3 becomes Olympic, we will not only be ready, but unconditionally the best in this discipline.

It’s always important to play ahead of the curve and not adapt to the new reality. While other countries are still playing slow defensive hockey on ‘airfields’ which has audiences in the stands yawning as they rack their brains over how to put stadiums together at the World Championships, so that there are no noisy “Russia – Canada” signs, but there is “Slovenia – Hungary”, we not only adapt our players to a more attacking game, from small rooms, to “3 against 3”, but also attract more and more people to the stands, develop schools, build ice rinks. We embrace the experience of other sports and apply best practices to ensure that our hockey not only grows, but outpaces other countries. We are always looking to the future,” Rotenberg told .

At the moment, Russian teams are not allowed to compete under the auspices of the IIHF due to the situation in Ukraine.