TRETYAK: I AM IMPRESSED BY VARLAMOV AND OVECHKIN

The president of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak speaks about his visit to the North America.


The outstanding Russian hockey player Vladislav Tretyak visited the match between Montreal and Washington Capitals to watch candidates to the national Olympic team in action. Despite reserved place in the press box, Tretyak decided to watch the game at the VIP box.

"I arrived to the North America two days ago", said Tretyak. "I was in Toronto where I took part in the charity dinner with the fans. We gathered money for children and veterans of Saratov region".

"I am not going to visit other cities, because I will return to Moscow tomorrow. I will come to America for the second time in December, as I want to visit Chicago, Pittsburgh, Phoenics and Miami to meet our foreigners".

"I had a meeting with Andrey Markov and we talked about process of his rehabilitation. Andrey is in good mood, he is getting prepared for getting back to the ice".

"Of course it’s difficult process for him, as he hadn’t training for two months, but I told him that we believe in him and count on his services".

"And after this match I want to talk to Ovechkin and Varlamov, as for it’s very important to watch how Semyon plays. I would like to know about their mood. We have enough time before the Olympics, but they should feel that we keep an eye on them and support them".

"After the final whistle the general manager of the Russian national team was in perfect mood, as Washington sealed 4-3 victory in shootout series".

"Varlamov is a real hero, as he played so confidently in shootout series, said Tretyak. I am impressed by Ovechkin’s performance too, however it seems to me that he gets little playing practice, because coaching staff takes care of his after his injury".

"Canadian coaches said that they would unveil the roster for the Olympic Games on December 31, but we want to do it later, since we have a lot of players who want to play in Vancouver".

"Preliminary squad of the Russian team is very strong and we would like to prolong rivalry between candidates to the final roster. If we announce the squad now, many players, who will stay out of this list, will level down standards and lose motivation, so we will keep intrigue until the very end".

"NHL wants to announce the final roster beforehand, because they want to do advertising, while we don’t need it. We have already made our choice according NHL players, but we need to choose candidates from KHL. We keep an eye on everyone, as we want to give a chance to all players, who are included to the preliminary squad".