Interviews ahead of facing Germany at the 2021 World Junior Championship

Junior Russian national team head coach Igor Larionov and forwards Yegor Afanasyev and Vasily Ponomaryov shared their expectations for the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-final against Germany in Canada:

Russia U20 head coach Igor Larionov:

- We held a morning training session today. The game against Germany will be different, as we have to play early in the morning. The last time the guys played so early in the morning was in their childhood! Nevertheless, despite this issue, we have a very serious match ahead of us. During today's training, we worked on our passing and moving away from old habits which aren't useful. We also worked on our powerplay and how to move out from defence into attack. For the game, we have a plan to immediately be aggressive and attack hard, we want to play at a high tempo. Of course, we respect Germany, they have good players and certainly don't have anything to lose. We have emphasied to the players the importance of not underestimating the opponents. Yegor Chinakhov? We don't know yet if he will be able to play. Mikhail Abramov is disqualified for this match? He understands what he did. All of our players know the goal which we have, but at the same time it's important that they have fun playing.

Russia U20 forward Yegor Afanasyev:

- We need to display our brand of ice hockey. Yes, Germany lost to Canada by a large score, but they will be highly motivated tomorrow. There aren't any easy games at the World Championship. We'll go to sleep earlier today, probably around 21:00 or 21:30. I will give everything on the ice! My line partners? I can play with anyone.

Russia U20 forward Vasily Ponomaryov:

- The last time when I played at 10 in the morning was at the local Moscow championship! However, once the game begins tomorrow, we will be fully ready to show our best ice hockey. We came together as one united team during the group stage, we have to be disciplined and patient in order to qualify for the next phase of the tournament. We are here to win the World Championship!