MOSCOW, January 18 Novosibirsk “Sibir” expressed disappointment with the decision The Continental Hockey League (KHL) announced sanctions against the club for violating the limit on foreign players, as reported on the club’s website.
On Wednesday, the KHL deprived Siberia of four points for violating the limit on foreign players. In its first four matches of the current season, the Novosibirsk club fielded four foreign players on the ice: Canadians Trevor Murphy, Andy Andreoff, Taylor Beck and Russian Fedor Gordeev, who has American sports citizenship. The results of all relevant matches were cancelled, the individual statistics of the hockey players will remain unchanged.
“Sibir expresses disappointment with the KHL’s position on this issue, despite the ambiguity of the situation and the preliminary readiness of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) to resolve this issue with the league and club, taking into account the interests of the Russian national team and the hockey player,” the message says.
< br>«»In conditions when Russian hockey was excluded from the international system of competitions, formal adherence to the currently irrelevant statutory rules of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF), without taking into account the interests of the hockey player — a citizen of Russia, who has expressed a desire to play in his native country, and the club, which as a result of the most difficult negotiations managed to return Fedor to his homeland, is a blatant injustice. The young Russian defender, who showed himself successfully in the first half of the season, was actually deprived of the right to a profession in his native country. It raises serious doubts that this precedent will contribute to the decision recently designated by the President of Russia personally the task of counteracting the departure of young players abroad, including the return of those who had previously left,” the club notes.
The club also emphasizes that since pre-season training Gordeev has been positioned as a Russian citizen with Russian sports citizenship.
«»Gordeev is a citizen of Russia, born in Omsk, where he began playing hockey at the age of 5. Having moved with his family to Canada, he played in junior leagues, in ECHL and AHL clubs. He did not play for the national teams of Canada or the USA. From the very beginning of the pre-season «The application company positioned Gordeev as a Russian citizen with Russian sports citizenship. The identification of exceeding the limit on foreign players was revealed by the KHL only in December, although the first excess occurred on September 2, 2023. That is, 4.5 months of the championship have passed,» the club's statement says.< br>
“»At the same time, the league admits that «the automated system for checking the legitimacy of using selected players to participate in the match did not work.» This means that from the very beginning of the season, Gordeev actually passed in the KHL systems as a hockey player with a Russian sports license. citizenship, which allowed him to be included in the matches. Moreover, if not for the injury, he would have continued to play for the team to this day,» Sibir emphasizes.