Retired NHL star Slava Fetisov, 51, skates in ‘very intense’ loss with his Russian club

Fetisov, 51, skates in loss for Russian team

MOSCOW — There was no “Miracle on Ice” for 51-year-old Slava Fetisov.

Shortly after Fetisov became the oldest Russian to play in the Continental Hockey League for CSKA Moscow, he said it would be his last game.

Fetisov hadn’t played competitively in 11 years, and called the 3-2 loss Friday to SKA St. Petersburg “very intense.”

“I think that was the only game for me to take part,” he said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. “We have plenty of young guys.”

The Russian club called up its team president and former hockey star to skate after a player was injured. Fetisov admitted it was physically challenging, adding, “I tried to hold on, I tried to play to the maximum.”

Several Russian cabinet members and other top officials were among the crowd of more than 5,000 at the game. Fetisov is now a member of the Russian parliament.

The defenseman and former captain of the Soviet national team ended his professional career after winning a second straight Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 1998. Fetisov played on the Soviet team that lost to the U.S. in the semifinals of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

CSKA coach Sergei Nemchinov doesn’t want to retire Fetisov so fast.

“He did it well today,” Nemchinov told RIA Novosti.

Fetisov’s return led the news on Russia’s state television channels throughout the day.