Salavat Yulaev newcomer answered on fan`s questions from the club`s social networks.
-What can you recommend for hockey players, who just started their career? How do become sucesfull in hockey?
- You need to work really hard for that. It is very important to listen your coach nad follow his recomandations. I think tha is a path to success.
- Which shirt number have you taken? Good luck, I hope you will strength our defense.
- I will keep my 48 number, so I am lucky that this shirt number is available.
-What do you think about Metsola`s play?
- He is great, active player. In the games agains Mettalurg he saved his team a lot of times. I admire his playing.
- With whom in line would you play?
- I did not think about it to be honest. I think coach staff knows better how to compose lines. Usually you can see on the preseasons games which lines work better.
- Which of Salavat Yulaev players was most difficult to play against in games vs Magnitogorsk
- Probably against the legionnaire three - they gave us a lot of trouble. Personally, it’s very difficult to play with Hartikainen, because he is big and well covers the puck with his body, which takes a lot of energy.
- How did you feel when you joined the team?
- After the contract`s signing I felt a little bit weird, becaure I used to play for so many years for one team. But now I feel great about this transition and I have competive spirit.
-Will you have any special feeling when you play against Magnitogorsk? Or is going to be just a regular game?
- Of course, I will! It going be unusual – for the first time in my career I will play against my own team, but we, as athletes, should not pay attention to this and do our work.
- Has anyone told you that you look like a Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal?
- To be honest, no one said that (laughs). I am surprised, but so be it, since it seems to someone.
-What are your rituals before the game?
- As such, there are no superstitions, there are just some habits - how do you warm up, how do you prepare before the game, nothing more.
- Who is your favorite coach in Metallurg? What can u say about Victor Kozlov?
- I can’t single out someone separately, because it was interesting for me to work with all the coaches, everyone has their own qualities and characteristics. I liked the fact that I draw something new from everyone. As for Viktor Kozlov, he is an excellent coach and, above all, an excellent person. Every year he becomes stronger as a specialist, and working with good specialists only benefited him. I think he has a bigger future.
- Why are Russians good in hockey, but not in football?
- Probably because in Soviet times we had a hockey cult, and after that a very good school appeared. I think that these traditions continue, but it seems to me that football is getting better every year.
-What is it like to challenge yourself at a young age and leave your comfort zone? (Artem Ivanov)
- This is a new stage in my life and it is very interesting for me to look at how to play in another team. This is a new stage in my career, which I am interested in getting up to.
- What time did you start hockey? Why did you choose 48 number? (Nikita Chizhov)
- I seriously started studying and went to the school of Metallurg at 11 years old. When we came to the first team, we were given a list of available numbers, and I chose the 48th because I liked him, and since then I have been playing under it.
- What achievements in your career do you consider the most important?
- All achievements in their own way are good, significant and expensive for me. Victory at the World Cup, Gagarin Cups and when they first became champions of Russia with Metallurg. There were different emotions.
- Do you remember your first goal in your career?
- Yes I remember. It was in 2005, when we just started playing in the first team, and I scored Severstal, it seems, in the power play. This goal was remembered forever.
- There is an opinion that you are a homebody defender, and Salavat plays agressive hockey. Did you learn the style of the team during the transition?
- Of course, I know their style, and I think that the coaches and management have seen my game and know how to use me. It ig going to work out good.
- They say you were offered the position of coach, why you did not take it?
- Yes, I was offered a position in the club. Thanks to the management for their trust, but I decided for myself that I want to play. I have the strength and emotions, it's too early to finish.
- How are you training now and getting ready for the season?
- I, like all the guys, are engaged in an individual program that was sent to us by the Salavat trainer for physical training. All perfectly.