Andrei Bykov said goodbye to Gottéron on the evening of April 10, 2024, just after the elimination of the Dragons in the semi-finals of the play-offs. The number 89 remained on the ice at the BCF-Arena to absorb, one last time, all the love from the Friborg supporters. He then returned to the locker room where he thanked all his teammates. A moving end to the evening that will remain engraved forever.
A month later, the Fribourgeois, who celebrated his 36th birthday at the start of the year, agreed to take stock of his long and rich career. He played a little game: draw lots from the words and tell what they mean to him. Excerpts.
Sports retirement
“I don’t realize it yet. It’s like every year. It seems like it’s just the end of a season. Life went on. I have a family. I take care of my daughter, because my girlfriend I spend a lot of time with her so I didn’t have much time to procrastinate, to analyze what had happened.
“It’s difficult to accept, because I still want to continue playing hockey. Also the fact of having been eliminated in the semi-finals – a negative result for me – gives me motivation, the desire to do better next year, but there won’t be any need. I almost feel like I should start summer training a week early to get in shape. That won’t be necessary either. . For the moment, I’m in a kind of fog.”
“There is an element of fear, it’s true. I don’t know how I’m going to react when the next season starts. The fitness coach told me that I could visit them from time to time, just to break the stress. cord smoothly. Maybe when I see them running and I don’t have to do it, it will feel good too.”
A trainer
“I’m going to name two, because I had two lives as a hockey player: that of a professional and that of an apprentice. I’ll start with Ruedi Raemy. He asked a lot, but he also gave a lot. He was tough, but I loved to do everything he asked of me. It was for my own good, because I needed to be pushed to be able to improve. He was able to detect the limits of his young people. It’s difficult to know how to do that. with teenagers. And off the ice, he was a father, a friend. He had a legendary sense of humor.
“As for my professional career, I will choose Mark French, who was not unanimous in Fribourg, but for me, he taught me a lot about hockey, about the game, about tactics. .. I got lost in his system and I say that in a positive way. I devoted myself body and soul. Beyond that, he also had a psychological approach with his players that I found brilliant. “He’s the most meticulous coach I’ve known during my career.”
Adrian Lauper
“We clicked straight away. We became best friends. We went through all the stages together, but he made it to the first team before me. I remember being a little jealous, even if it didn’t make me feel better. ‘motivated. When I found him on the first team, we almost scored on our first presence on the ice. I picked up a puck and gave it to him at the far post. The puck jumped a little and Adrien didn’t. Couldn’t push it in, but it would have been great to score.”
“He had his experiences in other teams and especially at Ambrì-Piotta, a legendary club in the Swiss championship. He settled there, he made his life there, he built his family there, etc. “They’re the kind of people you can lose sight of for several years, but as soon as you see them again, you have the impression that nothing has changed.”
Listen to the entire interview here:
RadioFr. -Marie Ceriani
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