The Russian puck influencer believes that Finland, along with others, is copying the Soviet way of playing.
PDO
Head coach and CEO of the Russian hockey club SKA St. Petersburg Roman Rotenberg believes that today’s ice hockey playing style and the demands of the sport at the top level are based on the inventions of Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Rotenberg told the Russian Matchtv’s in an interview that the Russians were many steps ahead in ice hockey, but the other big ice hockey countries are now close. Rotenberg was present at a camp for young hockey players in Moscow and emphasized the strengthening of the coaching of the Russian Juniors, so that Russia would once again become the clear number one in hockey.
– Children must be developed individually and they must be taught to play together. This is how the council school works. It is clear that our colleagues, Canadians, Americans, Finns, Swedes, took everything from us. And how are they playing now? Rotenberg adds, “Soviet play, combination play and controlling the puck.”
Rotenberg’s project is to open new hockey schools in Russia. He hopes that Russian youth would continue to be taught Russian hockey and that they would not be bred too young for international fields.
– We want to raise a generation that competes at its own level in international competitions against Canada and others. Instead of beating the Maple Leafs in eight-year-olds, we could beat them in 15-16-year-olds. Let the children grow up. That is our main task, says Rotenberg, one of the organizers of the Punakone junior program.