Vladislav Tretiak: "The idea of Russia and America facing each other on the ice is fantastic"

Vladislav Tretiak, the President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, has spoken about the possibility of Russia and the USA facing each other on the ice:

"It's great that both the Russian and US presidents spoke about ice hockey. Vladimir Putin's initiative is fantastic. The head of our state always uses the most effective instruments when it comes to fulfilling our country's tasks. And, his idea of holding ice hockey matches between Russian and American teams shows that the Russian President highly regards the potential of national ice hockey and sport's role in bringing countries together. The fact that Donald Trump supports this initiative proves that the US President has the same opinion.

"We have historical examples of cooperating productively together with hockey's help. The Cold War was in full flow during the 1970s. However, a Super Series was held between the best players of the Soviet and North American championships. Those games didn't just write their own chapter in the history of world ice hockey and change our sport forever, they also helped different ethnic groups to start respecting one another. The efforts of our players had huge ramifications for the world, not only ice hockey.

"Games between Russia and America can become symbolise a new chapter in relations between our two countries. They can once again emphasise the closeness of the two nations, two systems and two leagues; we can make sure that both the NHL and KHL are represented. This would be really easy to organise. Plenty of Russian players are leaders for their respective teams in the NHL, while lots of Americans play leading roles for KHL clubs. By staging games on Russian and American territory, we can show that we understand each other, want to work together and can cooperate in sport and other matters."