- Well, stand! the builder in orange uniform called out to the reporters menacingly. - Do not move on. Put this on.
He held out shoe covers, which are usually given in hospitals. It was a curiosity. You will not see this in any other palace in the world. They say that this measure is temporary, while construction is ongoing. But we know how easily everything temporary becomes permanent.
Although, perhaps, the construction that is still going on in Khodynka is really to blame. Everywhere they knock, drill, paint. The smell of paint is simply unbearable. He is everywhere: in the press center, by the ice ...
“And in the locker room, too,” Vyacheslav Bykov admitted. - But this is a small problem, get used to it.
- How do we get used to it ?! - one of the players was perplexed. - It is absolutely impossible to breathe! Nothing on the ice, but in the locker room ...
A few minutes before the start of the lesson, a group of national team personnel appeared at the side and began to move the bench for the players. The operation was led by general manager of the team Igor Tuzik.
“Damn it, it’s not possible to push it aside,” he lamented, addressing the confused arena workers. - Here clubs do not fit, here the door does not open well.
“So what's the problem?” - he was clearly not understood.
- So after all, the coach wants to be behind the players. But it will not work. What to do?
It was not possible to create a passage. However, Bykov here did not inflate the problem.
“This is the first tournament for the new palace,” he reasoned calmly. - We will now note all the problems. Say what to redo. And everything will be corrected for the World Cup.
But, of course, the chairs will not change. They are colorful in the palace. Like in Sokolniki. This caused laughter in the only appointed team captain Alexei Morozov:
- Ha! I don’t even know what to call it. But it’s annoying ... Because of these armchairs I can’t even appreciate the palace.
There are two more problems that fans and guests of Channel One Cup may face. First: not all palace workers know what and where it is located. And some people who came to the arena are really lost. The corridors are very confusing. And nobody understands anything.
The second problem is the possible visit of the president of Russia.
“Guys, urgently pass the passport details,” the press officer of the federation told reporters. - FSO asks.
If the president really arrives, then it will become difficult to get to hockey, and indeed to get to the Sports Palace on Khodynka.
As for the training, it was not too saturated and lasted only an hour. In conclusion, we played a two-way match, after which the losing “black” five, consisting of Alexei Simakov, Artem Chubarov, Pyotr Chastny, Vitaly Atyushov and Evgeny Varlamov, had to crawl on the ice (as a punishment).
At the very end, goalkeeper Alexander Eremenko was injured.
“Now they’ll take me to the hospital to take a picture,” he said. “I don’t know how serious this is.”
Evgeny Varlamov (and he and Alexander Kharitonov were appointed assistant captain) stood at the side and was sad.
- Eugene, how is ice? - called out to him.
The hockey player made such a face that it became clear: I did not like the ice. However, the Swedes will be even worse. They didn’t even smell the paint, as they only arrived in Moscow late in the evening.
Alexey Shevchenko