Defenders SKA Alexander Nikishin And Stepan Falkovsky presented the President of Russia with a personalized club jersey dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad Vladimir Poutine and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, said the first vice-president of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) and head coach of the St. Petersburg club Romain Rotenberg .
On Sunday, the heads of state, together with Roman Rotenberg, SKA General Director Dmitry Konstantinov and St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, visited the multifunctional sports and concert complex SKA Arena. As a gift, Putin and Lukashenko received an SKA jersey with their individual names and numbers.
— Today the SKA team met with the President of our country, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and the President of Belarus, Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko. The heads of state came to see how our new SKA Arena was put into operation, how the main hockey team of St. Petersburg trained and adapted in the new palace.
The presidents toured the arena, toured the team locker room and spoke with players and coaching staff. Vladimir Vladimirovich highly appreciated our preparation, the level of the arena and the enormous contribution of the Gazprom company and Alexei Borisovich Miller personally to the development of the hockey club.
The meeting took place in a very positive atmosphere. SKA captain Alexander Nikishin thanked our president for the construction of the arena and for his contribution to Russian hockey, as well as the Belarusian for the preparation of the national team, our rival in international matches.
At the meeting with Vladimir Vladimirovich, I said: “Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, allow me, on behalf of the SKA and the FHR, the national team, the entire huge hockey family, as well as the army of several million fans, to convey words of gratitude to you personally, as well as to everyone who participated in the construction of the largest hockey arena in the world! Thank you so much! And I would also like to emphasize, in the presence of the respected Alexander Grigorievich, that no one will ever defeat Russia and Belarus, because in these difficult times, such ice sports palaces are being built, looking to the future!”
Our players Alexander Nikishin and Stepan Falkovsky presented the presidents with sweaters with the inscription “Leningrad”, on which SKA will take to the ice tomorrow in honor of the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the blockade. This visit will give SKA additional energy and positive emotions. Thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich for your interest and support in hockey! – said Rotenberg.
The SKA Arena, which can accommodate 21,500 spectators, was inaugurated in November 2023 and hosted the Fonbet KHL All-Star Game on December 9 and 10.
SKA Board Chairman Alexander Medvedev said in December that the club was considering moving to the SKA Arena during the KHL playoffs.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
