St. St. Petersburg SKA’s head coach Roman Rotenberg reacted emotionally to the fight between his ward Ivan Zinchenko and Avangard player Mark Verba.
“Zinchenko almost died on the ice. Hockey fight, men’s sport. The men get into a fight, the fight ends, the referees come, the opposing player continues to hit his prone opponent in the head. He was scarred for life! It could have been much worse. If he had hit the temple he would have died.
Such things are unacceptable in our league. These aren’t even fights without rules! We have no rules in the league today!” – Rotenberg said after the match.
On November 2, SKA lost to Avangard with a score of 2:5 in the regular season match of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). At the beginning of the second period, Verba and Zinchenko took off their helmets and started fighting with their fists. A player from the St. Petersburg team fell to the ice and the opponent continued the kick. Both hockey players were given a five-minute penalty.
SKA is in ninth place in the Western Conference after 24 games. The St. Petersburg team lost three matches in a row. The Omsk team is in fifth place in the Eastern region.
Previously reportedCSKA beat Spartak in KHL.