Open training before the 2020 World Junior Championship

An open training session was held for the media in Novogorsk for the under 20 Russian national team ahead of the upcoming 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The players trained in these following lines:

Goalkeepers: Miftakhov, Askarov, Isaev.
Whites: Romanov, Zhuravlyov - Denisenko, Khovanov, Alexandrov.
Blues: Misyul, Gamula - Voronkov, Sokolov, Dorofeev.
Reds: Pylenkov, Galenyuk - Marchenko, Morozov, Podkolzin.
Greens: Malyshev, Telegin - Komissarov, Sorkin.
Oranges: Zorkin, Gordeev - Groshev, Kruglov, Shablovsky.

On December 21 and 23, two friendly matches will be held against Kazakhstan and Slovakia respectively, before the World Junior Championship begins on December 26 with a game with tournament hosts the Czech Republic.

Group stage schedule:

December 26, Czech Republic - Russia, 17:00*
December 28, Russia - Canada, 21:00
December 29, USA - Russia, 21:00
December 31, Russia - Germany, 17:00

The quarter-finals will be played on January 2, before the semi-finals are held on January 4 and the third place playoff/final a day later.

*All start times are in accordance with Russian time

Head coach Valery Bragin:

- The two friendly matches will decide our squad for the competition. Has our preparation approach changed because the tournament is being played in Europe? No, it hasn't, but we would have flown out two days earlier had it been hosted in North America. Our captain? At the Four Nations, Grigory Denisenko was the captain, but we don't know about the World Championship yet. Yes, the Americans and Canadians are strong, but so are the Finns and the Swedes; they will call up players from NHL farm clubs. The Czechs, as hosts, will want to play well. Is this our strongest squad in quite a few years? The result will decide that.