The well-known hockey coach Gennady Kurdin, head of the Avangard-Zapad Academy branch, denied accusations of attacking referees during a friendly match of children's teams, in which his wards met with Molniya near Moscow.

“What match?

There are no such matches.

What conflict?

I didn't have any conflict, ”Sport24 quotes Kurdin.

The incident became known on the evening of November 23.

In the middle of the third period, the chief referee removed one of the Avangard players, leaving the team with three.

According to the arbitrator, Kurdin criticized this decision, while speaking obscenely.

The meeting continued until another controversial episode.

The specialist considered that the opponent had broken the rules and deserved to be sent off.

The referee did not agree with him, which again pissed off the coach.

But this time, the matter was not limited to insults and a stick flew into the back of one of the judges.

After wrangling, the referees were forced to interrupt the game and take the teams away from the site.

According to judge Nikita Ognev, who served the meeting, they tried to calm Kurdin, but he refused to obey them.

“They called him to leave the shop.

He refused.

We said, "Until you leave, we won't start the game."

He replied: "I will not leave."

He took a club, began to swing it and say: "Come here, then I'll leave."

We said that we would not drive anywhere and that he would empty the shop.

He again refused, and then it was announced that we would end the game.

He replied, "Finish."

That's it, we blew the whistle about the end of the match and sent the teams to the locker room, ”Ognev stated his version of events.

But the scandal did not end there.

Leaving the rink, the referees walked past the bench, when Kurdin ran out of the locker room to them and, together with his assistant, attacked one of them.

“There were no blows as such, but there was a struggle.

He knocked one of the judges down, and the assistant at that moment held the second referee so that he could not help his comrade.

Kurdin knocked him down and did not let him get up.

He already says: "Let me go, what are you doing?".

The coach eventually let him go, we went to the locker room, while hearing insults in our direction.

Then he came to our dressing room and began to "explain" to us.

Swung his club, insulted.

And everything is in this spirit, "Ognev added.

According to media reports, no one was seriously injured in the scuffle.

Avangard has not yet reacted in any way to the scandal involving the coaches of their academy.

At the same time, referee Alexander Zaitsev spoke about his negative experience of communicating with a specialist.

He called for life to remove Kurdin from working with children's teams, as he continues to behave inappropriately, despite numerous warnings.

“I crossed paths with Kurdin at the site.

At the international tournament in Dmitrov, he started yelling.

I dealt with him for a long time, he said that if the screams did not stop, removal would follow.

He threatened to take the team away.

I replied that the club will receive a technical defeat and leave the tournament, "RBC quotes Zaitsev.

The situation in the Avangard - Lightning match is not the only scandal involving Kurdin in recent years.

In February of this year, it was reported that the coach was suspended from work in the team after several parents complained about his cruel treatment of the charges.

The club denied these rumors.

According to him, the parents of young hockey players were dissatisfied with his working methods, which led to the conflict.

“The children's coach is too vulnerable.

Now all the more we are working under these cameras.

If someone wants to find some kind of compromising material on a coach, they will easily do it, ”Kurdin said.

A few weeks earlier, another incident had occurred at the Vanguard Academy.

CCTV cameras recorded how the coach of the players born in 2010, Igor Nikolaev, beat the players on the head with a club, and even threw one of them on the ice.

The investigation of the episode began after the parents' complaints.

The story received wide publicity, and the actions of the specialist were condemned by the ex-goalkeeper of the Russian national team Ilya Bryzgalov.

At the same time, Kurdin defended his colleague, expressing confidence that he did not commit anything criminal, and such cases are far from uncommon in hockey.

Nevertheless, the management of the club removed Nikolaev from work.

Kurdin is the Honored Coach of Russia, who received the Anatoly Tarasov Medal in 2008 for his contribution to the development of youth hockey.

His most famous students are Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and New Jersey Devils forward Nikita Gusev.

Both of them began their hockey career under his leadership at the Moscow "White Bears".