TRETYAK: I AM THANKFUL TO BYKOV

There publish interview with president of the Russian Hockey Union Vladislav Tretyak, which is an extract from Igor Rabiner’s book "Hockey madness: from Nagano to Vancouver".


New book of the journalist Igor Rabiner named "Hockey madness: from Nagano to Vancouver" will be published soon. This book is devoted to three Olympic hockey tournaments, where the author worked as Sport Express special correspondent.

Today there's an extract of the interview with the president of the Russian Hockey Union Vladislav Tretyak, as you can read the full version of this conversation in the book.

"We had two candidatures for the post of the Russian national team head coach - Bilyaletdinov and Bykov", said Tretyak. "I respect Bilyaletdinov very much, as he is one of the best Russian coaches, but Zinetula was more oriented on his work in Ak Bars".

"He was honest while saying that he needs to pay more attention to his club and that he wouldn’t be able to work at several Euro Hockey Tour competitions, while the national team needs a constant coach, who is concentrated on the team’s problems. That is why I decided to see Bykov at this post, it was my personal decision".

"First of all I played with him and I perfectly know him. Secondly he got playing and coaching experience in Switzerland, and thirdly he showed himself as a good coach in CSKA. I asked him and he told me that he would be ready to head the national team with his assistant Igor Zakharkin".

"I mentioned that his tandem with Zakharkin is very effective and my intuition didn’t deceive me. I am thankful to Bykov, who managed to restore Russia’s former glory".

"He lived in Europe and it helps him find common language with our players from NHL. Bykov always knows how to talk with them".

"We set the task to seal the first place at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. However I suppose that any place on the podium at the Olympics is good for the team in any case. Olympic medals of any value deserve our supporters’ respect".

"Though I would repeat that it’s necessary to aim for the first place. We want to achieve maximum result, but I won’t consider the second or the third place as a failure".