Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 15 March, a press conference of the Humo hockey club was held at the press center of the Humo Arena on the results of the 2023/2024 season.

General manager Juris Opulskis, head coach Evgeniy Popikhin and team captain Ivan Fishchenko took part in it.

The speakers spoke on the results of the season.

Juris Opulskis:
- This season can be divided into three stages: the Kazakhstan Cup, the regular season and the playoffs. We handled the first two stages perfectly, but the third, unfortunately, turned out the way it did.

Evgeny Popikhin:
- First of all, many thanks to the fans, I haven’t seen such crazy support for a long time. All of Tashkent was behind us. This unity was very important to us, and the team felt this support. People were with us, believed to the end, it’s worth a lot.

Special thanks to the press, you did your job, look how many people come to our games. I’ll say this about the season: we set a course for rejuvenating the team, and the guys did it. The team fought until the end. We made no mistakes in the team, the people and the players. This year the team was seriously ill three times. The last one was just before the playoffs. On the day of the game with Nomad, many of the guys had colds and played on injections, but everyone took to the ice.

The first two games with Saryarka set the tone for the playoff series, but we pulled through. Unfortunately, we lost in the last game, there are no little things in hockey, every detail can turn the game around.

In terms of the season, in terms of people’s attitude, I am very grateful to Tashkent, the fans, and everyone around me.

Ivan Fishchenko:
- For the first time in my career, I’m eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. This is very unpleasant and offensive. We worked honestly and believed until the end that we could return the series to Tashkent. This season we didn’t have as big of a playoff spot as last season, but everyone came out and fought.

Evgeny Popikhin on why he failed to maintain his early season form for the playoffs:
- The regular season and the playoffs are two different things. Many of our guys did not take part in such games. I’ve played in the finals for the last four years, so this is a big blow for me too. The opponents had more experienced players.

I didn’t have enough patience; unnecessary mistakes failed somewhere.

Before the last game, Vadim Kravchenko did not train; he had a severe cough and fever. But he immediately said: “I am 150% ready and will fight.”

This is a great experience for the young guys; at the beginning of the season they were sparrows, now they are men. I hope these guys take a big leap in the future. There are no weak guys in our team. I was lucky with the coaching staff. When I was sick, they worked and led the team. They did a great job, and I thank them.

Juris Opulskis on the possibility of holding exhibition matches of KHL teams in Tashkent:

- In December we planned two games of KHL teams. We even changed our team’s match schedule for this, but it’s not easy and, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Work is underway in this direction as well.

Ivan Fishchenko spoke about the players’ motivation to continue training after the end of the season:

- In any case, you always need to stay in shape, take care of yourself and prepare now for the next season. In professional sports you have to constantly develop, so I don’t see any problem in continuing to train.

Juris Opulskis assessed the upcoming youth championship of Asia and Oceania in Tashkent and Samarkand in April this year:
- I think this is a real bomb. Such an event is very important for the popularization of hockey in the country.

Evgeniy Popikhin shared his plans related to the U18 Uzbekistan national team:

- We immediately said that we wanted to help the guys prepare. We ourselves are also looking at the guys, there are strong and interesting players there. The Asian and Oceanian Championship is a big event, and, of course, we want the guys to win it.