The Youth Olympic Games are starting in Norway

Yesterday on the 12th of February, the Youth Olympic Games begun in Lillehammer, Norway.

An under 16 Russian national team will be competiting in this tournament, and preparation for the Olympics began way back last summer. Head coach Evgeny Filinov has been taking a good long look at all candidates for the team, and they competed in the inaugural Red Bull Ice Hockey Rookies Cup in Austria. They then went on to come third in the President's Sporting Club Cup in Minsk, and at the end of the calendar year they won two out of three friendly matches against the Czech Republic.

Four years ago at the previous Games, Russia came in second place after losing to Finland in the final. Games will be held in 15 minute period formats, and the four best teams will proceed to the semi-final stage. Russia's first match will take place today at 19:00 Moscow time against Canada, and then further matches will take place against Norway (15th), Finland (16th) and the USA (18th).

Russian Ice Hockey Federation