Silver medalist in ice dancing at the 2002 Olympics, choreographer, director, and producer **[Ilya Averbukh](https://example.com/tags/29053-ilja-averbuh/)** shared his reasons for inviting players from the VHL to participate in “Ice Age.”

“Why VHL hockey players? When selecting partners for this project, the main focus was on ensuring that the participants were capable of skating as much as possible. However, with the KHL season currently underway, active hockey players can’t take a break to skate and perform. Thus, we chose those who were eager to participate and willing to embrace new challenges; we needed dancers.

We have numerous participants from the project ‘Youth’, there are short-track speed skaters like Semyon Yelistratov and speed skater Ivan Skobrev. The primary criterion was to select individuals who are not starting from scratch; everyone has different skating skills, but drawing parallels to competitive sports wouldn’t be accurate.

This is a show that provides an opportunity for personal and artistic growth, where subjective evaluations play a significant role. There’s an eagerness to explore something new, but that’s the extent of it. It’s crucial not to make any comparisons.

Of course, there will be many different formats in the future, but the format that brings together hockey stars and figure skating stars can only happen during the summer months when everyone typically goes away for training camps,” Averbukh’s words are conveyed by Championship correspondent Rustam Imamov.

In the new season of “Ice Age,” former VHL players Nikita Ushnev, Georgy Slavorossov, and Belarusian Extraliga player Mark Rudakovsky will participate.