"There were no balloons at Sochi when Krikunov was there"

In recent years, the Sochi Hockey Club has traditionally lost its chances of reaching the playoffs long before the end of the KHL regular season and finished at the bottom of the standings. Before the current draw, he also shocked many by first appointing Vyacheslav Kozlov as head coach and firing him a month and a half later. Under his leadership, Sochi has not played a single match and has not even practiced once.

The team was led by Vladimir Krikunov, a legendary 75-year-old specialist who had not coached in the KHL for three and a half years. He is considered a proponent of unusual training methods. In particular, his invention was strength training, when a heavy car tire is placed on the ice, a hockey player sits on it, and another player carries this load on belts. The main star of the team was striker Pavel Dedunov, who joined the southern club in the summer, played for SKA St. Petersburg in the last two seasons, and before that won the Gagarin Cup with Avangard Omsk. In an interview with Izvestia, the 35-year—old hockey player told whether Krikunov continues to use his heavy exercises and explained the reasons for the defeat in the first match of the KHL season, away from Spartak Moscow (3:4).

— What impressions did the match with Spartak leave? Is there anything to build on when building a team to compete for the playoffs?

— There is always something to push off from. You can even push off from the bottom. But we move away a lot — this is the first thing that catches your eye after the match with Spartak. We need to remove the deletions, play more "5 on 5". And maybe the result will be in our favor. The majority worked well for us, in which we scored two goals. We didn't do well outnumbered, there were too many penalty minutes, as many as 16 — that's almost the whole period. The teams spend a lot of time in unequal formations — this leaves its mark on the attack and on the game as a whole. A lot of effort is spent on defense.

"I will be glad if Ovechkin and Malkin continue their careers in our league."

KHL President Alexei Morozov talks about the possible return of two NHL superstars to Russia, the chances of new clubs appearing in the championship, and the relationship with RUSADA.

— If you remove so many deletions from Sochi, does the team have a chance to reach the playoffs?

— Yes, you are absolutely right when you said that Sochi can solve serious problems in the KHL. We played against Spartak, a good, strong team that attacks well. We lost in some moments, but these moments are related to our deletions. During them, the initiative passed to the best players of Spartak. Because when we left, they were on the field. They felt confident, a sense of goal came to them, a sense of the moment. And due to this, they kept the initiative.

— After playing for Avangard and SKA for many years, have you already lost the habit of playing for a team with a small budget, which is not fighting for the Gagarin Cup, but for reaching the playoffs?

— The clock is ticking. Nothing stands still. What kind of budget, what tasks the team is facing — we take all this for granted. As for transitions, they all have their own specifics, their own moments, which you need to get used to, accept them and move along with them. This was the case with Amur, Avangard, and SKA.

— How do you like the game led by Vladimir Krikunov?

— A positive atmosphere in the team. We have an experienced coach who knows how to win as a team and knows how a team should be built. Emotions are only positive.

— Krikunov has long been associated with the general public due to exercises at training camps with carrying heavy cylinders. Have you encountered this?

— No, there were no cylinders. The most interesting thing is that there were no such cylinders. Not once. We didn't even see them along the clearing. No one even cooked them.