Reaction after beating the USA at the World U18 Championship

Following the 7:6 overtime victory against the USA in the first match of the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championship, under 18 national team head coach Albert Leshchyov and forwards Nikita Chibrikov and Matvei Michkov shared their emotions:

Head coach Albert Leshchyov:

- The first period didn't go our way, but we subequently started playing at our level in the second and third frames. Everyone in the team tried their best. Nikita Chibrikov's penalty? At this age, the players have a lot of emotions, that's why we are seeing such penalties. You never know how the mach will turn out, so you always need a Plan B. Today, our second plan worked. We will now analyse our mistakes.

Forward Nikita Chibrikov:

- Ice hockey is always unpredictable, throughout the game we continued to believe that it was possible to win. My winning goal? I had space on the left wing, and after seeing that the goalkeeper had left a bit of space in which to shoot, I decided to take the shot. I apologised to my teammates for taking my penalty.

Forward Matvei Michkov:

- It was an important match for us, the first of the tournament. The coaches made the required changes at the right time, it turned the game around. We all believed that we could emerge victorious, and it's great that we managed to do so.