"I have not seen any negative reaction in Canada to my upcoming trip to Russia"

The upcoming Channel One Cup will have a curious format. In addition to the national teams of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, it will feature the so-called KHL World Team - a team made up of foreigners playing in our championship. This team will be led by Mike Keenan. The 75-year-old Canadian specialist is a hockey legend: in 1994 he won the Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, and in 2014 he took the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg. In an interview with Izvestia and Sport-Express, Iron Mike talked about expectations from his upcoming work at the tournament, underwent heart surgery, his desire to return to the top level, and also gave advice to foreign coaches going to work in Russia.

Ilya Vorobyev was the first to invite me to the tournament

- What was your reaction when you got the offer?

- Ilya Vorobyev was the first to call me and ask what Mike Pelino (Keenan's longtime assistant) and I thought about it. We liked the idea very much right away. We agreed, and then people from the KHL got in touch. The vice-president of the league called me, and the issue was resolved. I am looking forward to this trip to have an interesting time, to communicate with old acquaintances and, of course, to do what I love to do.

- Taking into account the complicated political situation in the world, did any of your acquaintances discourage you from traveling?

- I am an adult and I make my own decisions in any case. But nobody said a word to me.

- What have you been doing lately?

- I recently wrote a book of memoirs and have been busy traveling and promoting it. It's called "Iron Mike. My Life on the Coach's Bench." The promotional campaign started on October 1, and I've been traveling a lot talking about the book.

- You haven't forgotten about the CHL?

- Of course not. My experience in Russia is in it too.

- What are you expecting from the First Channel Cup?

- In my career, I've already worked on short-term tournaments of this kind. I like them. It's both a challenge and a new opportunity to show yourself to the players, to unite into a team in a matter of days. Each national team will have only one or two training sessions. It's almost like the format of the All-Star Game. But high-level hockey players are always focused on results. They can't do otherwise. Coaching them will be a great thing for me.

- A lot of potential candidates for your team are going to go home during the break in the KHL championship to see their families.

- It was expected. I perfectly understand the position of the players and I don't see anything unusual in it. But those who want to come will go to St. Petersburg not by force. They will have the desire and enthusiasm not just to take part in matches, but to win them. The same can be said about other teams. It's a pleasure to work in such an atmosphere.

I am ready to work as a coach at a high level

- In April you had an operation, how do you feel now?

- Everything is fine with me. I feel great. I had open heart surgery on April 2 in New York. It was not an easy experience for me. Very serious surgery. But now I feel 100 percent strong and healthy. I went through different recovery procedures. Every day I pay attention to special exercises. For example, I spin the exercise bike.

- Does this not mean that now you will behave more calmly on the bench?

- That's a good question. But I doubt that I will become quiet and calm (laughs).

- Last season you worked together with Pelino in the Italian national team. What did you learn from it?

- Good experience. It's a pity that I was not able to go to the World Cup and finish the job because of the need for surgery. But working with the Italian national team and preparation for the Olympics-2026 was a good time. I had to give advice on different issues.

- Are you still ready to work as a coach at a high level?

- Since I agreed to accept the offer from the KHL, of course I'm ready. As you know, I don't sit still. I'm quite an active person and I'm not ready to write books just yet. I don't have a 100% plan to quit coaching at the moment. I really liked the idea of going to St. Petersburg for the First Channel Cup. The coaching profession is still to my liking. I'll say more. It's a privilege when you get such an opportunity.

- Some Russian clubs are looking towards foreign coaches.

- First, we need to enjoy the upcoming tournament without getting ahead of ourselves. We'll see how the situation develops further. For now, I can only say that I'm 100 percent healthy.

- Traktor has Benoit Groux working well, Avangard just appointed Guy Boucher. You've won a title in the KHL, so you understand what a foreign specialist needs to do to succeed.

- As soon as we arrived in Russia, I immediately told Mike Pelino about one obligatory thing. It is very important for any foreign specialist who went to work in the KHL or somewhere abroad. You have to understand, not you. In this case I mean the culture of the new country, the mentality of its inhabitants, the context in which you work, the league, the peculiarities of officiating, the size of the venues. For example, when I first came to Magnitogorsk, the arena there was 4 meters wider than in North America. Playing in such conditions has its own specifics. My advice for coaches going to the KHL would be simple - try to learn as much information as possible in advance about all sorts of nuances, details, people.

Answer to Velichkin

- How important was it for you to find a Russian assistant with knowledge of English?

- Pelino and I were lucky to have Ilya Vorobyev around. He was a great young coach at that time. He had a good command of English, not to mention Russian and German. Ilya had the necessary qualities that are highly valued in the hockey world. Vorobyev was solely a translator only at first. Then his role on the bench and in the locker room became invaluable to us.

- Was it surprising to you that he was able to build a successful career and win the Gagarin Cup? Now he's the coach of CSKA. Do you communicate with him?

- Yes, of course I do. He had a good school, he's the son of a very famous coach in Russia, he took a lot from him. Ilya already knew the game very well and learned a lot when we coached together. It's no surprise to me that he became a successful coach.

- What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you remember your work in Russia? The Gagarin Cup, colleagues, players?

- We had a lot of fun working with superstars: Mozyakin, Zaripov, Koshechkin and many others. We had good foreign players. A great environment to work in: good understanding both with the coaching staff and between the players. Great fans who supported us everywhere. It was a great unforgettable experience - to coach in the KHL. Both in terms of hockey and in terms of culture, the people who surrounded me. They all really loved hockey, and it's very similar to how it is in Canada.

- In Game 6 of the 2014 Finals in Prague, you were ready to go to battle with the referee. Recall how that went down.

- Yes, of course, I remember it very well. I took all the referee's decisions very emotionally. It's not easy to win everywhere you go. And we coaches tried to do everything to give energy to the players, additional opportunities to win.

- More recently, former Magnitogorsk general manager Gennady Velichkin gave an interview to our publication. He explained your dismissal in the second season by the fact that you constantly consumed alcoholic beverages, spent much less time on work and generally behaved unprofessionally. What can you say to that? It sounds a little strange to me personally.

- I'm very disappointed that he said that. I remember Gennady very well. He's a very emotional guy. When something went wrong, he needed to blame someone, so I think he blamed me. The second year we had a lot of injuries on the team. So we started losing. We had a goal of winning through the season, and as you know, that happened, so I think we would have met the requirements. I know that Mr. Rashnikov then fired Velichkin as well, but I don't know what for.

- There were rumors that you could lead the Russian national team at the 2016 World Cup. How true were they?

- Probably, such a possibility existed, but I'm not sure about it. There was too much politics in those rumors. But I don't know if it was real or not. I can say that I didn't receive any such offers.

- Was there any negative reaction in Canada to the fact that you were going to come and work in Russia again for a while? Not from the common people and the sports media. Maybe from the political ones?

- No negative reaction I haven't seen. I'm not immersed in politics, I'm immersed in hockey.