Russian Olympic champion says "we're just getting started" about the benefits of suspending Russia from sport

Olympic champion Vladislav Tretiak has spoken out about Russian hockey catching up with North American hockey in terms of popularity after Russian teams were banned from international competitions. The former USSR national team goalkeeper noted the level of the country's open championship with the words "we are just getting started", which echo dictator Vladimir Putin's statement about the war.

Tretiak said this in an interview with the propaganda news agency TASS. He added that the level of competition in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is growing, forgetting that CSKA Moscow has participated in six of the last seven playoff finals.

"The season became more interesting because there were more games, the teams were tired by the playoffs. Our hockey is not used to this, we had a few breaks before when we could somehow heal our wounds. Everyone here was in difficult conditions, CSKA, Ak Bars, Avangard, and in general, everyone had some failures, a series of defeats during the season. It was a completely different championship, different preparation, everyone in the NHL is used to it, we are just starting to get used to it," Tretiak said.

Earlier, the former State Duma deputy said that "not a single Ukrainian was hurt" and was outraged by Russia's suspension from the World Cup of Hockey.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the use of the flags of Russia and Belarus was banned at the 2023 World Ice Hockey Championship in Riga and Tampere. This caused hysteria among Olympic champion Boris Mayorov.

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