Vladislav Tretyak: The strongest rivals are invited to Sochi

Today in Sochi a press-conference dedicated to excibition games of Russia and Canada national women's teams (8 and 10 September, the Ice Arena "Shaiba") was held.  Among speakers were president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak, Executive Director of the Russian IceHockey Federation Valery Fesyuk, Head coach of the national women's team Mikhail Chekanov, general manager of the national team Alexei Yashin and National team captain Ekaterina Smolentceva.

Vladislav Tretyak, "Russian Hockey Federation pays significant attention to women's hockey. And now, after third place at the World Championship, we are preparing for the Olympics. We invited to Sochi, perhaps, the strongest team in the women's hockey at the moment  - the team of Canada. And it was on purpose. Here is example: in this country, according to official figures, around 86,000 girls play hockey. Therefore it's difficult to compete with North American athletes, but the level of women's hockey in Russia has increased. We used to end up with 8 or 9 place in World Championships. Now we fight for medals, in which the great merit belongs to the coaching staff. I would like to thank for that the Head coach Mikhail Chekanov and Alexei Yashin, General manager of the National team.

We have tried to create necessary conditions for our team. I would like to thank the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation for its great support. I am pleased that our guests highly estimated our sports infrastructure and readiness of arenas.

In general, despite the defeats in these matches, I think that the main task has been acheived. We acquired great experience, girls were able to play on the ice that will soon host the Olympic hockey tournament. We should always strive to approach the strongest. "

Russian Ice Hockey Federation officials also held a meeting with women's National team. President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak, Executive Director Valery Fesyuk talked to the team staff, discussed outlook for development of women's hockey in Russia and prospects of our national team in the Olympics. The girls received flowers and gifts - a talisman of the upcoming Winter Olympics.