Arkady Rotenberg: "The World Junior Championship helped the popularization of hockey"

- What emotions do you have from the World Junior Championship?

- Positive ones. We had a real team, they became one big family, and played for each other, the coach and for the country.

- Nevertheless, the team didn't become champions.

- Yes, but the players fought until the end, didn't give up and showed their character. Overtime is a game, there can't be two winners. The final was interesting, and was a level match. In the RIHF, we are working over the fact that all small details count, and only a team which works as a united mechanisim can win in modern hockey. Everyone should be ready to give 110% to the cause.

- Did this play a part in deciding that the team would live far away from the center of Helsinki?

- Yes. We tried to make the players feel as comfortable as possible in Finland. I liked Radel Fazleev's recent interview, he spoke about how the team lived, how the players spoke with one another. Also, the official team's bus was especially brought in with "Red Machine" on the side, and not just a little logo that would have gone unnoticed. The players felt that they were an important part of our hockey family, and that they are representing the whole of Russia. 

- Is the silver medal down to Valery Bragin's work?

- Of course. However, we can't forget the work of the other coaches that were working with him. Our principles for the main national team were successfully shown at this World Junior Championship, and our analytic staff worked hard: every game was analysed with up to date technology, and the coaches picked out the opponent's strong and weak spots. We gave the players special tablets, and these mean that they can stay in touch with the coaching staff for the whole of this season.

- Is youth hockey getting more popular in our country?

- Yes! If before only true hockey fans and experts watched this tournament, now the whole country is watching it. The players gave everyone unforgettable emotions, made us happy with their performances. Yes, we got nervous a few times, but we are proud of our guys. The amount of attention put on to such tournaments shows how popular our hockey is. The interest shown in this tournament has shown us that we are moving in the right direction.

- A lot of people said that we didn't have any stars in our team.

- I wouldn't say that they are average players, they are the future of our hockey! Kirill Kaprizov, Pavel Kraskovsky and Ivan Provorov had a great tournament. And what a beautiful goal Egor Korshkov scored against the USA! I would single our Yaroslavl's hockey school, the players from that city were some of the championship's best. Now it is the job of club coaches and the federation to make sure that we don't lose such players, we need to develop them and take them on to the next level. In this team, there was a set clear system which allowed the team to play the right way. The guys stuck to the game plan in every game. This helped us win the match against Denmark, and when we played the USA, everyone said that they are better than us. However, the match showed that they don't have an advantage over us. Yes, it's a strong team, but if we stick to what the coach says, you can win. The championship showed that Russia are an excellent team, although we should keep on working - we didn't get the gold medal. All countries are moving forward, and we should do the same. Also, we have a big program in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Games. Our global and main goal is to play well there. 

- What are the federation's plans for the near future?

- In Canada are young female players are taking part in the World Junior Championship. In the group stage they defeated a strong Czech side, and shut out Finland in the quarter-final. They also gave Canada a good fight, and years ago we were just expecting a huge defeat against one of the most developed women's hockey nations - now we can fight with them. The Czech stage of the Euro Hockey Tour is coming up for the first men's national team, and work over the new Olympic national team is important for the development of players. A long but interesting year is ahead of us, and there will be a lot of reasons to talk about Russian hockey.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation