Former Russian national team striker Yevgeny Ketov said he calmly made the decision to retire.
On Monday, Ketov’s farewell match took place at the SKA Arena. The striker, a two-time Gagarin Cup winner with the St. Petersburg team, ended his professional career in April at the age of 37. Since this season, Ketov has served as SKA’s player development coach.
— Were you impressed by the scale of this farewell match? Marketing, sweaters, caps, advertising in the city, many guests.
— This is the functionality of SKA. Our club loves and knows how to put on such shows. When I arrived at SKA, I immediately realized that everything here is at a high level. Attributes, uniforms, organization of matches, no problem. This is the best in the KHL and I’ve never seen anything like it.
—How important is it to kill the player in you when you become a young coach?
– Hard to say. But I no longer have the feeling that during a game I can’t wait to get on the ice. This summer I decided to end my career – and I took it in stride. I wasn’t torn. Obviously I could go somewhere with the guys to run and train. But that’s just to stay in shape. No task to get in great shape or learn something. That’s it, it’s already gone. Now I just want to get a little high, sweat and lose some calories.
— Could you work as a coach all your life, like one of your mentors, Pyotr Ilyich Vorobiev?
“I don’t want to make any assumptions and I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.” It is clear that we must look to the future. Analyze what could happen to my career. But now we live day by day, and now everything suits me. I am part of the technical staff and I still have a lot to learn.
— Do you admire the examples of guys like Ilya Kovalchuk, who returned to big hockey after two and a half seasons?
– Ilya is great. Missing so much… I think he has an iron character. And he can handle it. Ilya has repeatedly proven that through his discipline, dedication and insight he can improve the team.
– Tomorrow you will have to resume your coaching routine.
– What routine? It’s my favorite job. We had a training session today. I arrived at the arena in the morning. And then I stayed and met the players before the farewell match. And tomorrow we have another training session at Hockey City in the morning. So I do what I like, ”reports a correspondent, reporting Ketov’s words.
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Source : MatchTV
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