MOSCOW, January 18 Head coach of Nizhnekamsk “Neftekhimik” Oleg Leontyev believes that the Continental Hockey League (KHL) could resolve the issue of Novosibirsk Siberia's violation of the limit on foreign players without depriving the club of points.
On Wednesday, the KHL awarded Sibir four technical defeats for violating the limit on foreign players, and four points were deducted from the club. In the first four matches of the current season, the Novosibirsk club fielded four foreign players on the ice: Canadians Trevor Murphy, Andy Andreoff, Taylor Beck and Russian Fedor Gordeev, who has American sports citizenship. After the deduction of points, Siberia, which was in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, dropped to ninth place. Neftekhimik finished eighth.
“”Yesterday evening, as usual, we had a meeting. When I entered the hall, I heard some kind of buzzing. But I didn’t know about this information yet. The assistants told me. My first thought was… This my personal opinion, I respect the league’s decision, but my personal opinion is that we still need to treat people more gently and look at issues more broadly. According to the rules, regulations, the league did the right thing, but as a human being, each issue should be considered separately. I personally think that the issue could have been resolved differently,” Leontyev said at a press conference.
“We clap our hands with joy that they took four points from Siberia, we didn't clap. We respect the fans, all the teams in the league and we know how hard it is for them to win – including Siberia,” the coach added .
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