- Ivan! Congratulations on your return to CSKA!
- Thank you! It's nice to play in the club that raised me. This has always been my dream. As a boy, I used to come to the stands and watch the game and the training sessions of CSKA goalkeepers Lawson and Konstantin Barulin. Then I imitated their movements in my training sessions.
- You have a photo of Vladislav Tretyak on your helmet.
- Every goalkeeper in his childhood probably dreamed of being like him. I've watched a lot of documentaries about him, about how he worked. I managed to work out with him a couple of times at the training camp in Riga. I saw his approach to the game: it was great.
- What have you acquired overseas?
- A tremendous experience in life and I became stronger mentally and physically. At this stage, the KHL is a strong league that is developing well. A lot of strong guys are coming back. I think this KHL championship will be the strongest in history.
- The confidence you have gained allows you to compete with goalkeepers in the CSKA system. How do you feel about this?
- It's okay. The guys are young and promising. I'm helping them with advice somewhere. And I can spy on them sometimes, you always need to learn new things from everyone. Therefore, we worked well with all the goalkeepers, I am very glad to be in the CSKA team. We have a great working atmosphere in our team, I mean all the players.
- At the debut home game of the KHL championship on September 8 against Admiral, who will support you?
- I hope the whole family will come, my parents. I'll probably have to order 20 tickets - for friends and acquaintances as well. I have never played professionally in Russia. I've been waiting for this myself for a long time. It will be very interesting!
