Reaction after winning the 2024 Channel One Cup

Following the concluding game of the 2024 Channel One Cup. Russia 25 head coach Roman Rotenberg shared his emotions.

Russia 25 head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"We're really happy that we managed to win the competition two years in a row! Having spent a lot of energy and emotion in our preceding two games, we found it tough going at times today, but I'm grateful to the guys for producing a performance which allowed us to win. We also have to give credit to Kazakhstan, they defended solidly and their goalkeeper was solid.

"All of our opponents at the competition provided us with stern challenges! The KHL World Team contained some of the league's best foreigners, while Belarus always give us a difficult match. Ice hockey at international level is always very demanding, regardless of who you're playing against. Thank you to our fans here who provided us with incredible support throughout the competition!

"Vladislav Podyapolsky didn't play a single minute at the tournament? Vladislav is a great guy. However, we didn't want to take any risks today, so that's why we decided to play Ilya Nabokov again. Grigory Kuzmin has confirmed that he sustained a broken nose yesterday? Grigory is a key player for us on the powerplay, we're really disappointed that he's now going to be out for some time. Unfortunately, the referees missed the elbow which the Belarusian player landed on Grigory.

"When will we return to IIHF competitions? Let's discuss this issue after the US presidential change in January. We have to bear in mind that the IIHF doesn't make all of its own decisions."