Olympic ice hockey champion and former Soviet and Russian star Vyacheslav Fetisov offered a sharp response to Harri Harkimo, the Jokerit owner, after Harkimo commented on Jokerit’s performance in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Fetisov’s reply, captured by Match TV, underscores the ongoing tensions surrounding club affiliations and national funding in the sport.
Fetisov challenged the Finnish side, noting that some players may feel uneasy about the use of Russian funds in the league. The exchange highlighted broader debates about cross-border investment in hockey and the way national associations and teams navigate political realities that influence competition on the ice.
Harkimo had already admitted disappointment with Jokerit’s results in the KHL. The club and Dynamo Riga left the league in February 2022, a decision tied to the geopolitical situation in Ukraine. With Jokerit’s withdrawal, Spartak Moscow advanced automatically to the Gagarin Cup semifinals, altering the competitive landscape for the Finnish and Russian franchises involved.
Finnish teams have previously reached the Gagarin Cup quarterfinals twice, and during the 2020/21 season they finished second in the Bobrov Division, reflecting a historically competitive presence for Nordic clubs within the KHL framework despite recent upheavals.
On the centenary of its founding, CSKA celebrated a landmark victory by clinching the 2022/23 Gagarin Cup. The seventh game of the final series saw CSKA defeat Kazan Ak Bars 3–2. Goals for Kazan came from Anton Slepyshev, Vladislav Kamenev, and Darren Dietz, while Kirill Petrov and Dmitry Voronkov found the net for the winning side, cementing CSKA’s place in Russian hockey lore.
Earlier, a comment from Nazarov, the former Jokerit coach, referred to a famous Pushkin passage to respond to the club’s ownership during the period of transition, illustrating how language and literature have occasionally intersected with sports politics in contemporary discussions around club leadership and national identity in hockey.