Sergey Gomolyako: Chelyabinsk fans understand everything about hockey

Our meetings are starting to become traditional, and, as usual, we are beginning our conversation with the discussion of the current roster. With a budget as small as Traktor’s, how did you manage to lure in such solid players as Novotny, Koltsov, Mirnov and Szczechura?
I don’t know, maybe they just like me (laughs). In fact, we have been talking a lot with the agents of these players; Anvar Gatiyatulin also talked to them personally. The negotiations have been difficult, and it’s great that we managed to reach an agreement. Koltsov agreed to return to his hometown; Mirnov still has a lot to prove. Novotny, Repik and Szczechura all know how to be leaders, and we view them as such.

Novotny’s transfer return was rumored a year ago. Did the management want to sign him back then?
No, because he was still contractually obligated with Lokomotiv.

Many of the newest members of the roster had a very tough season last year – injuries, transfers etc. Are you confident that they are going to be able to reach this high performance level in Traktor?
I think they would certainly love that. Koltsov was traded to Torpedo with a lot of controversy; Ak Bars’ coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov did not trust Igor Mirnov. Then again, they still have a lot to prove, and I think they have what it takes to lead the team.

The majority of the signees are veterans while this is the first ever season for Anvar Gatiyatulin as head coach. Might there be disagreements between these veteran players and the coaching staff?
Once again, I would like to say that the management and the coaching staff talked with the recently signed guys, and I hope they understood that they are expected to be leaders of the team. They, by the way, assured us that they would not be questioning the coaching staff’s authority.

Let’s talk about the foreigners. Paul Szczechura is an experienced and solid forward, and so is Jiri Novotny. Michal Repik played in the Gagarin Cup finals, and he seems like a good choice. However, don’t you think he might become another Ruzicka?
Of course, there is always a possibility that someone might flop. Even when the managers of top clubs sign a foreign player, they can’t be one hundred percent sure that he will go out there and start scoring one goal after another. However, we believe that those guys that we signed are good in terms of price-quality ratio. Repik, by the way, performed very well at this year’s IIHF World Championship.

The current roster has a lot of right wing forwards and a deficit of left wingers. Do you think this is a problem of Russian hockey general?
The thing is, we have the forwards who shoot left play on both wings of the attack. Back when I was a player, I myself played at both wings and at center. Valery Belousov would often put me in the defense. You have to understand that professionals like these need to be able to play anywhere on the ice, and we have a lot of universal players. Of course, it is much easier for a center forward to play on the wing and not vice versa, but it is also not that difficult to get used to it. A couple of games, and they should be fine.

Will there be other transfers going forward?
Yes, we are still in the talks with a couple of players.

Which positions are we talking about?
It would be great to have a solid center and a couple of Ds, preferably a young gun and a veteran.

Let’s talk about the controversial leave of Yegor Martynov. After he left Traktor, he said in an interview that he had a misunderstanding with the management. Could you elaborate?
I would like to start off by saying that I did not consider Martynov to be the team’s leading defenseman. Yes, he was an attacking D, and he scored goals; however, I remember that he ended the regular season with a -10 rating (according to the official stats, Martynov played 55 games, collected 17 points and posted a -5 rating – editor’s note). As far as our alleged conflict is concerned, we did not have it. What he asked for, we gave him. He blamed me for not being open to the players, but it’s not true. Let us switch the topic, shall we? Martynov is now an Avangard player, and there is no point talking about him.

The upcoming season will be the 70th for Traktor. With that in mind, will there be any specific objectives set for the team?
Well, we had a rough last season. Even if it were not for the team’s seventieth anniversary, we would have to perform better and play famous Chelyabinsk-style hockey. Chelyabinsk fans understand everything about hockey, so we would love to give it our all. Our primary objective is to get into the playoffs. Some say that Gagarin Cup has to be every team’s objective, but I believe we need to set further objectives if we get into the postseason.

Did the financing undergo any changes? Judging by the transfers, more money was poured into the team.
I would not say the budget changed a lot since the past season. It is understandable that every manager wants more funds to get better players and strengthen the roster, but one can’t always get what they want. When Mr. Senichev took reins, things changed. Maybe there will be more money somewhere down the road. We are also very grateful to the Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast Boris Dubrovsky for his support, including financial. Our budget allowed us to organize a good training camp.

Speaking of which – could you compare last year’s and this year’s training camp?
I would not want to talk about last year. As far as this year goes, many of the players said the training camp was not that physically draining, but I think they are just more balanced; the players had the same training regimen, but the sessions were much more balanced. I think everyone did a great job.

And the final question – whom of the young players do we need to keep an eye on?
Well, we have several players who were on the main roster during the past season, like Afonasyevsky, Zinovyev, Sharov. Four players born in 1998 have enough hockey intellect to appear on the main roster but lack physical strength, so we need to wait a little bit before introducing them to the main roster. Vitaly Kravtsov is also very good, despite being only 17 years of age. He got really tired at the end of the training camp, and Anvar Gatiyatulin had to ease up on him a little. Still, Kravtsov is a talented player; he is our future. With that said, I think all of the guys I mentioned have a chance to be fixtures on Traktor’s roster within the next year.