Double Olympic hockey champion Vyacheslav Fetisov says that KHL it is necessary to return to the championship those clubs that have made a great contribution to the development of hockey in Russia, citing Novokuznetsk as an example “Metallurgist” .
The club was founded in 1949 and participated in the USSR Hockey Championship, the International Hockey League and the Russian Championships in different years. Kuznya played in the KHL from 2008 to 2017.
— Do you like the current KHL standings, in which Lada and Spartak are in the lead? You were behind the creation of the league.
— I created the EAHL — the Euro-Asian Hockey League. But we have lost 15 years of development. Our hockey would have been at a different level in terms of quality a long time ago. We don’t know why we went through so many thorns. But we now see that competition is stabilizing. And that’s exactly the point. The interest is different.
And we remember how they took Spartak out of the KHL and kicked them out of the blue. They robbed the girl and took her away. Where are these guys now? I don’t really track it, but I would give them the opportunity to play.
I managed to save CSKA, which could have suffered the same fate. Thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for responding. Without traditions, without equal opportunities, without respect for sporting principles, without strategic planning and without development, it is difficult to have a future. And it doesn’t matter who the president of the IIHF is. He won’t play for you.
It seems to me that we need to invest where there is interest in hockey. I think Novokuznetsk should return to the KHL. Historically, they love hockey there; miners and metallurgists are waiting for a big match there. Most of our megastars have recently grown there.
– But there is a problem: Metallurg is not allowed to play in the renovated stadium. Conflict between the team and local authorities.
– This is not the right message. I spoke with the governor more than once. We are currently opening an academy named after me in Novokuznetsk. Local authorities are campaigning for the return of the KHL. Large companies must do everything for this. And ordinary fans are already ready for this. And I know there will be a full stadium at every KHL game. This is true for this region. First of all, the KHL must return the clubs that historically developed our wonderful game, ”the correspondent reports, reporting Fetisov’s words.
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Source : MatchTV
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