How will Rotenberg respond to the removal from the national team. Announcement of the semi-finals of the KHL

The semi-finals of the Gagarin Hockey Cup will start on Saturday. In the West, SKA and CSKA will fight for reaching the final, in the East - Metallurg and Tractor. What to expect from confrontations general DIRECTOR and HEAD coach of SKA Roman Rotenberg Important All series are played up to four victories of one team; Matches SKA - CSKA will be held on April 2, 4, 6, 8 and, if necessary, on April 10, 12, 14. Matches of the series Metallurg - Traktor - April 3, 5, 7, 9 and, if necessary, April 11, 13, 15. SKA and Metallurg took first place in the Western and Eastern conferences following the results of the regular season, so they have the advantage of their own ice. If it comes to the seventh match, these teams will be the hosts. Matches of the series Metallurg - Traktor - April 3, 5, 7, 9 and, if necessary, April 11, 13, 15. SKA and Metallurg took first place in the Western and Eastern conferences following the results of the regular season, so they have the advantage of their own ice. If it comes to the seventh match, these teams will be the hosts. Matches of the series Metallurg - Traktor - April 3, 5, 7, 9 and, if necessary, April 11, 13, 15. SKA and Metallurg took first place in the Western and Eastern conferences following the results of the regular season, so they have the advantage of their own ice. If it comes to the seventh match, these teams will be the hosts.

Andrey Potaichuk, the former striker of the Russian national team, coach of SKA and Spartak, acted as RBC's expert for the third round of the playoffs.

SKA — CSKA

The Army teams will meet in the Western Conference Finals for the fourth time in a row. However, this year their confrontation is special.

The fact is that in the autumn the leadership of the Russian national team changed, and before that the head of the national team headquarters was Roman Rotenberg, the first vice-president of the Russian Hockey Federation (FHR), deputy chairman of the board of directors, vice president, general director and head coach of SKA.

Rotenberg did not find a place in the new headquarters of the national team, including because of the position of CSKA President Igor Esmantovich, who, after the appointment of Alexei Zhamnov as head coach, became his adviser. This was reported to RBC by two sources close to the national team. The position of head of staff in the national team is no more.

Interlocutors of RBC claim that Rotenberg was hurt by the removal from the national team. In this regard, the series with CSKA, already fundamental, is extremely important for Rotenberg personally.

It is no coincidence that the Russian national team for the Olympics included seven representatives of CSKA and only two SKA players, one of which was reserve goalkeeper Alexander Samonov.

The headquarters of the national team was criticized by many for the fact that Andrei Kuzmenko was included in the squad for the Olympics only as a substitute. Now the SKA forward is the second scorer in the playoffs (six goals and five assists in nine matches). According to the results of the regular season, he also became the second most productive player - 20 + 33 in 45 games. The series against CSKA will also be very important for him.

SKA and CSKA, if you look at the series scores, defeated their previous playoff rivals without any problems. Petersburgers beat Dynamo MINSK and Spartak 4-1 and 4-0. CSKA passed Lokomotiv and Dynamo Moscow undefeated.

Next come the nuances. First of all, it should be noted that SKA, which became the first in the regular season, had simpler opponents. The class of opponents of CSKA (third place) was higher.

Plus Muscovites showed more meaningful hockey. The Petersburgers, although they defeated Spartak with a score of 4-1, finished all victorious matches with a score of 2:1. SKA is a richer club and has a larger number of high-level masters. At the decisive moments of the matches, it was these athletes who tipped the scales in his favor. In the last two meetings, the decisive goals were scored by Kuzmenko and Nikita Gusev, one of the best forwards in the entire KHL. And CSKA defeated Dynamo with a much larger margin of safety - 3:2, 4:2, 2:1 and 6:3.

Despite the significance of the series for SKA, CSKA is the favorite of the confrontation. But it is unlikely that the series will develop for Muscovites as easily as the previous ones.

Potaichuk: CSKA head coach Sergei Fedorov found a common language with hockey players. Goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov plays very well. These two factors are of great importance. The team has great potential. But I don’t think that CSKA will easily pass SKA, after all, the semi-finals are ahead.

The potential of St. Petersburg, in my opinion, in the first place, in attacking actions. We must pay tribute to Spartak, who played great in defense. But in any case, the leaders of SKA should score more. This is the reserve. Plus - actions in the majority.

"Metallurg" - "Tractor"

There are no undercurrents in this series. "Tractor" was more fortunate with a rival in the second round, as "Salavat Yulaev" was weakened by the departure of all legionnaires, and no one left the Chelyabinsk team.

The absence of leaders, of course, significantly reduced the potential of the Ufimians, but they played well, won two matches and could count on more - Traktor won the last two matches with a minimum margin of 2:1. In decisive moments, Salavat lacked skill, especially the trio of Olympic champions Teemu Hartikainen - Sakari Manninen - Markus Granlund.

The departure of two good Finnish defenders Oliver Kaski and Ville Pokka from Avangard made life easier for Metallurg (only goalkeeper Juho Olkinuora left Magnitogorsk, but the team has Vasily Koshechkin - a goalkeeper no worse), but did not prejudge the outcome of the series.

Metallurg knocked out the reigning champion from the playoffs in the second round, having played a difficult seven-match series, which gives Traktor a slight advantage in freshness, but in general, the teams' chances are approximately equal.

Metallurg scores the most in the playoffs (47 goals), but the most (along with Avangard) and concedes - 36 goals. Traktor is more pragmatic - 28 goals and 16 goals conceded.

Potaichuk: Metallurg show very nice hockey. In the series with Avangard, I had confidence that it was Magnitogorsk that would go further, even when they were losing 0-2. There are many talented players in the team, the goalkeeper Vasily Koshechkin is very good.

However, the confrontation between Metallurg and Avangard turned out to be difficult. This may give Traktor some advantage. Chelyabinsk players also have interesting players. I read an opinion that goalkeeper Roman Vill plays unstably. But I think he's having a good season. I look forward to an interesting and tense series, in which, perhaps, there will be seven matches.