Tests before big tournaments

February is a very rich month of events for us. Five international tournaments will take place, and the sixth - the Youth Olympic Games - is continuing in Norway.

Our main national team showed good, committed hockey in the two Euro Hockey Tour matches against the Czech Republic. A young, inexperienced squad faced a first choice Czech side, and despite the hosts having an territorial advantage, our team managed to take a positive result. This is mainly down to the coaches' work.

The under 17 team pleased us with their first place at the Five Nations tournament in the USA, and they under 16's did as well with their victory at the Swedish Four Nations - they took three wins out of three. They got that result with the team's leading players away in Norway. 

In Finland, Vitaly Prokhorov's under 18 players took third place, just as our top women's team did. At the start of March and April, these teams will both begin their respective World Championship campaigns. I am sure that coaches Vitaly Prokhorov and Mikhail Chekanov have received maximum information for these competitions.

Right now, we wish our under 16 national team luck at the 2016 Junior Olympic Games!

RIHF president

Vladislav Tretyak