Pavel Savin summed up the Irkutsk teams victory in the Asian hockey tournament, noting the success was hard won and made possible by the players dedication and the coaches work. He also stressed that Asian hockey is developing fast, and for Irkutsk it is especially important not to lose talented players and create conditions for their growth. The article also discusses the tournaments prospects, which may gain the status of the Asian cities junior cup, and the importance of such competitions for Russian and Asian teams.
"The victory in the tournament cannot be called easy," said Pavel Savin. "I want to thank all the boys for their dedication and all the coaches who have been training these players since childhood. Considering my coaching experience in professional hockey schools, I believe Irkutsk is very lucky to have talented players of this age."Pavel Savin also noted that the Asian tournament is developing in connection with Beijing's opportunity to host the Winter Olympics, and many of today's opponents are future Olympians. In the teams from Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul, Canadian, American, and Russian coaches are already working, and many players compete in Canadian junior leagues. In terms of the training process, most teams are ahead not only of the Irkutsk players, but also of many renowned hockey schools in the European part of Russia.
"This raises a big question for Irkutsk - if we lose these boys and do not create conditions for their growth, Irkutsk will not be able to assemble a similar team for a long time," Pavel Savin emphasized. "The specifics of ice hockey confirm that such teams are one-of-a-kind. For now, they are playing with tremendous enthusiasm."
As a reminder, in April of this year, at the invitation of the Chinese Hockey Federation, the head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, René Fasel, visited Beijing. Following the meeting, an agreement was reached to grant the tournament the status of the Asian Cities Junior Cup. At present, the Chinese Hockey Federation is actively addressing issues related to the creation of the Asia-Pacific Junior League. Hockey, which is actively developing in Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong, needs its own prestigious competition for children and juniors. The same task faces teams from Russia's Siberian and Far Eastern regions, which experience problems due to their territorial distance from Russia's European hockey centers. Participation in Asia-Pacific tournaments by hockey teams from Russia solves part of their organizational, sporting, financial, and transportation problems. At the same time, teams from Russia, the world leader in hockey, are a serious benchmark and sporting motivator for Asian teams.
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk city administration