Vladislav Tretiak: "We're all looking forward to the opening matches"

Dear friends!

We are all looking forward to the moment when ice hockey returns to our lives. As a result of the pandemic, the 2019/2020 season was cancelled in a lot of countries. while the World Championships were also called off. The entire sporting world took a break. However, just like other difficulties, this situation is making us stronger. The country is returning to normal life, and ice hockey isn't an exception.

The new season comes with its own challenges. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation is preparing for its start in accordance with the schedule.

First of all, as a part of the Ice Hockey Summer project, a youth tournament took place at the Sirius Educational Centre among players born in 2005. A lot of those players will subsequently be picked to represent the under 16 Russian national team.

For the first time, a Russian Ice Hockey Federation Development camp was held this summer, which was organised for players of the junior national team who play their club ice hockey in North America. The coaches received the opportunity to see their abilities and show them the style of ice hockey which the national team likes to play. In the future, the players of this under 20 team will be selected to play at the 2022 Olympic Games in China, so that was why we decided to let them play at the Sochi Hockey Open. The majority of the players performed excellently and gained vital experience.

Soon, the KHL, MHL and VHL will all begin. We are all really looking forward to the opening matches! I'm confident that we will see great ice hockey throughout the campaign as we experience wonderful emotions from watching our respective favourite teams.

Vladislav Tretiak
President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation