Dmitry Fedorov explained why he had to miss Vasily Utkin’s funeral

Commentator and host of , hockey coach “Seagulls” Dmitry Fedorov told that his close friend Vasily Utkin would have understood Fedorov’s decision to stay with the team in Nizhny Novgorod on the day of the funeral.

Utkin’s death was announced on Tuesday. On March 6, he turned 52. On Saturday in Moscow, a farewell ceremony took place at the Krylatskoye Central Clinical Hospital. The funeral took place at the Nikolsko-Trubetskoy cemetery in Balashikha.

— You went to the coaching bench the day Vasily Utkin, your old friend with whom you started filming “Football Club,” was buried in Moscow.

— Vasya and I have been friends since 1988.

—Did you have the opportunity to take time off from the match and go to the funeral?

– No. And I will explain to you: Vasya was a man for whom the interests of the company came first. And he would understand such an act. My mission on this day – Saturday, March 23 – is to be here in Nizhny Novgorod and work as a coach for Chaika. And we won. This means that everything was not in vain.

At the end of the MHL season, I will definitely come to Vasya’s grave. But the answer is clear: I should be here now. Moreover, this is also what is said in the Gospel: where should a person who has an important mission be found.

– What does it look like?

— Many Church fathers have had difficulty interpreting the episode where one of Christ’s disciples asked to be released for a time to bury his father. Jesus responded very harshly and did not let him go.

I’m going to offer you my interpretation, and you may not accept it. But the fact is that a high mission is more important to a person than a funeral.

I can be judged. But I am convinced that our team needed him here and now. We have an incredible team. And we won. Vasya would understand me,” Fedorov told .