The winner of two Stanley Cups and two times Olympic champion has donned the Number 2 shirt once again.
“It’s a challenge for a 51-year-old man to play in the big league. And another thing is to bring attention to other things. There is a lot of negativity in the world right now, starting from the world financial crisis and so on. But hockey is a positive moment in our country. We have got the KHL, which is successful. [Russia] is world champion at the moment,” he commented.
The defender’s return to the sport has happened in a home game against top-seated SKA Saint Petersburg, and Fetisov confessed he was thrilled to be back in action.
“I feel very excited right now. I have not played for [CSKA] for 20 years. And I have not taken part in competitive hockey for 11 years. The players around me are young kids. But I like the atmosphere in the dressing room,” CSKA’s playing president said.
Ahead of the game, SKA players said that they were not going to hold back playing against the veteran.
“We are going to play full strength against Fetisov. It was his decision to come back to the ice and he should be ready for everything,” said Maksim Sushinsky, Russian international and SKA’s forward.
Fetisov decided to unpack his skates after a proposition from the coach of his former club CSKA and partner in the Soviet team – Sergey Nemchinov, which came on Wednesday. The Muscovites have recently slipped to fifth position in their conference, due to an epidemic of injuries.
“We had a lot of injuries recently. And after another player – defender Denis Kulyash – was out of the game I told Vyacheslav Fetisov, the following: If this goes on this way you will have to go out and play because it’s hard to cope with six defenders,” Sergey Nemchinov told Sportbox.ru.
It was just a joke, but the president took it seriously. And Nemchinov said it will not be hard for him to return to the ice as Fetisov is “in good form” as has been training on a regular basis both on ice and in the gym.
“His very presence on the bench, in the dressing room, and on the ice will be an invaluable experience for the players,” Nemchinov stressed.
Vyacheslav Fetisov last played an official game back in 1998. After retiring from hockey he worked as the general manager of the Russian national hockey team, was Russia’s Minister of Sport and occupies the position of CSKA president.
He is one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport. Besides two Olympic golds, the defender won seven world championships with Russia and two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings.
Fetisov was included in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
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