KHL: SKA Coach Riha Denies Season a Failure

© RIA Novosti . Vladimir Fedorenko / Go to the mediabankSKA St. Petersburg coach Milos Riha
SKA St. Petersburg coach Milos Riha  - Sputnik International
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SKA St. Petersburg coach Milos Riha has denied his club’s KHL season was a failure, as his future at the club hangs in the balance, in comments Friday.

SKA St. Petersburg coach Milos Riha has denied his club’s KHL season was a failure, as his future at the club hangs in the balance, in comments Friday.

SKA lost the Western Conference final series 4-0 to Dynamo Moscow with a 6-1 thrashing on Tuesday to end hopes of a first major trophy for the St. Petersburg club.

Riha is contracted to SKA for next season, but the club’s board will meet soon to discuss whether he will remain in charge, general manager Alexey Katsatonov told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

“Can you really call reaching the Western Conference final series a failure?” Riha told Russian business daily Kommersant.

“Before the season I set myself a task to reach the conference final, and we achieved that successfully. Although I can’t say I’m completely satisfied with the season.”

Riha would not be drawn on whether he expected to stay at SKA next season.

“That question isn’t for me, but for the club management. For myself I say that I’m prepared to continue working with SKA and being useful to the club.”

He denied he had been approached to rejoin his former employer Slovan Bratislava, a Slovakian club that has applied to join the KHL next season.

 Riha coached Atlant Moscow Region to a place in last year’s Gagarin Cup final, beating SKA 4-3 in a surprise series comeback, before replacing fellow Czech Vaclav Sikora as SKA coach at the end of the season.

In the Eastern Conference final, Avangard Omsk leads regular season champion Traktor Chelyabinsk 3-1 and can book its place in the Gagarin Cup final with a win Friday.

 

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