Penza, 6 January 2015. PenzaNews. Penza professional hockey club “Diesel” will save over 2.5 million rubles due to the decision to withdraw its junior team from the Youth Hockey League (YHL) championship, said the club’s executive director Dmitry Koryagin.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

“We have decided to withdraw from the YHL championship after analyzing travel expenses and time spent away,” he said during a press conference that took place at “Diesel-Arena” sports complex on Monday, January 5.

The head of the club explained that long-distance trips, such as journeys to Krasnoyarsk or Angarsk, completely nullify all effort spent to train the team.

“If we get their by train, we, for example, arrive to Barnaul only in five days. And there are no direct routes. And after the team returns to Penza, they must spend a week or even two to recover. All matches end up as losses,” added Dmitry Koryagin.

At the same time, he stressed the fact that the decision to withdraw “Dizelist” from the Youth Hockey League championship does not mean the team will be disbanded.

“All the team stays as it is. Even more, we are going to attract future players born in 1999. Several ‘Dizelist’ players will train with the main team [‘Diesel’], play in bigger matches. Some players will be sent to the Russian Hockey League and the Junior Hockey League. The training will continue in full. Nobody loses, and ‘Diesel’ only wins – both in financial terms, and in preparing the boys,” said the executive director.

In his turn, Alexei Ryabov, first deputy chairman of the Penza region government, pointed out the decision to involve junior players in main team matches may be a positive one for the future.

“If we inspect the situation deeper and wider, there’ll be greater economy if expensive players will be replaced from ‘Dizelist’,” he clarified.

According to him, it will take no longer than 1-2 seasons to adjust the system and compile regional players into a “capable team that is able to fight for victory.”

“The region has nice basis, a school, its hockey history. This helps us train our own players. We must use it. Perhaps, the players will later on get into the top clubs of the Continental Hockey League through ‘Diesel’,” online resource “Penza-Sport” quotes Alexei Ryabov.