Head coach of SKA Romain Rotenberg criticized the game of “Salavat Yulaev” from Ufa while working at the Finnish coach’s club.
SKA On Sunday, they defeated Salavat Yulaev on the road with a score of 4:3 in the Fonbet KHL championship match, the Ufa team scored three goals in the third period.
— The KHL is gradually sliding towards soft hockey, but you like to play hard. Are you against this mitigation?
– This is the world practice. It is important to have entertainment. You remember very well, even here in Ufa, at the start of the season, the stands were not full. What was this related to? Maybe the team didn’t play as brilliantly. They changed the system and now they play very well. They play well with the puck, play offensive hockey – and it gets results. If you have three opponents clinging to you, there is no way you will be able to play offensive hockey. There are rules of the game of hockey: they must be respected. It’s important for entertainment, for fans to come. We play for the fans.
Today the stands were full. That’s great, but if a hockey player on your team had three opponents hanging on him at the time of the shot, it would be impossible to score. It’s great that we are moving in this direction – towards more spectacular, more offensive hockey. Many teams are already changing their approach. Ufa is a great example. They completely changed their approach. You all remember it very well: there was a Finnish coach here who promoted so-called Finnish hockey. Traps and barbed wire: who is interested in this kind of hockey? To be honest, no one. Nobody develops in this type of hockey. Impossible to develop players. If your goal is to hang with your opponent, you should choose another sport. There are different sports, but even judo has rules. You must follow the rules.
— Do you think tenacity is necessary for the public?
— There are different concepts: dirty hockey and hard hockey. We don’t need dirty hockey. But you need tough, masculine hockey.
— Let me clarify: when did you say that the stands were not full in Ufa?
— When there was a Finnish coach.
“Here, the stands were full.
– Not always. Were the stands full in September? Let’s look at the statistics.
— In some matches, there were empty stands. You’re right.
– Let’s look at the statistics. Today the stands were full.
— You talked about the stubborn game…
—Are you now speaking on behalf of the Finns?
– You are closer to the Finns than me…
– Let us not discriminate based on nationality. It is not needed here. Who is closer to who is a question,” Rotenberg said according to the SKA press service.
Finnish specialist Tommi Lämsä was head coach of Salavat Yulaev from 2020 to 2022. Another Finn, Erkka Vesterlund, led the team in 2017-2018.
SKA leads the KHL Western Conference with 83 points, Salavat Yulaev (79) is third in the East. Both teams qualified for the playoffs.
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Source : MatchTV
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