Former guardian of Sibir Anton Khudobin in an interview with , he said that the hockey players of the Novosibirsk team were very worried about the KHL’s decision to grant the club four technical defeats in regular season matches.
In January, the KHL handed Sibir four technical defeats and deducted four points from the club for violating the limit imposed on foreign players. In these matches, the team, in addition to foreign players Trevor Murphy, Andy Andreoff and Taylor Beck, included defender Fedor Gordeev, who at the time of application for the season had American sports citizenship.
— How unhappy were the Sibir players that the club was deducted four points for violating the limit imposed on foreign players?
— The guys were very worried, to be honest. There are families, children, every penny counts. And at the end of the season, take it and throw it off the track? Of course, this situation did not have a very good effect on the team. The management spoke with the players, we discussed it within the team.
Then I even gathered the guys myself and talked. After that it seemed to work. But other teams played very well – the same Amur and Neftekhimik played well. These four points were not enough to catch them.
– A penny in the account – do you mean the loss of bonuses for reaching the playoffs?
– If I understand correctly, yes. There was a nervous situation with these glasses. When you want to get to the Cup Eight, play hockey, go higher… I told the guys, “You don’t need to pay attention to that. Just go out and play.”
Of course, it’s urgent. On the other hand, it is also a kind of motivation to score even more points. Unfortunately, as it happened, it happened. This is no longer a question for me, but for the “acting officer”.
— How did Gordeev handle this story?
– He was very worried. I spoke to him and supported him. Fedor understood that he would not play another game in the KHL until the end of the season. But he is a young defender who is starting his career. And then there was a situation that left him out of the game,” Khudobin told .
“Sibir” ultimately took 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings and did not participate in the playoffs.
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Source : MatchTV
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