KHL team Spartak Moscow has extended coach Andrei Sidorenko’s contract after he led the struggling team to seven wins in its last 18 games of the regular season, Sidorenko told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Sidorenko had been widely believed to be working on a temporary basis since he took over in December, replacing veteran Slovakian coach Frantisek Hossa, who only lasted eight days in the coaching job.
“Due to the season’s results, the management offered me a contract to sign and I’m very happy and thankful to the management for showing they trust me and for the honor of working at a club like Spartak,” Sidorenko said.
The club and Sidorenko did not disclose the length of the contract, but the coach said he hoped to remain at the club for a long time.
“I think that we will work together long-term. Of course, everything will depend on the results,” he said.
Spartak failed to reach the playoffs, and Sidorenko suggested that he and the management were using the long break to identify transfer targets.
“So far no one’s set me any targets, we’re working on acquiring players for the team and everything will depend on that,” he said.
Sidorenko, from Belarus, has coached KHL teams Amur Khabarovsk, Traktor Chelyabinsk and Metallurg Novokuznetsk, as well as the Polish and Belarusian national teams.
Spartak is one of three hockey clubs in the Russian capital. It was a force in Soviet times, when it won four titles, but has not won a major trophy since and spent time in second-tier Russian Major League before the KHL was formed.
