Vladislav Tretiak: "Our U18 players will return even stronger"

Dear friends!

The 2021 IIHF World U18 Championship is over, with our team taking the silver medal home.

Our friends and colleagues at Match TV showed all of our team's matches live. Of course, I can't speak on behalf of all countries, but here in Russia we can see the interest in junior ice hockey is growing. Only junior ice hockey contains such crazy emotional games!

In terms of the final result, Russia should always only think about winning the gold medal, but this is sport. The main thing is always to draw the correct conclusions in order to earn major victories in the future. In the final, there was an opportunity to turn the match around, but we have to give credit to the opponents who were very solid in defence in the decisive moments. I can understand why our players had tears in their eyes after the game ended, they had worked really hard just to be in the final. Nevertheless, they will return even stronger!

The fact that our under 18 national team has now participated in two World U18 Championships finals in a row is a big achievement for us. Our Red Machine National Development Program is working! Six players of this under 18 national team, including Matvei Michkov who has a contract with SKA Saint Petersburg for five years, will participate at next year's tournament. Thanks to our program, more and more gifted players are emerging.

I would also like to thank our players for showing respect to the opponents after the final ended.

At the same time, our senior national team is continuing to prepare for the senior World Championship, which will soon take place in Riga, Latvia. Exciting ice hockey is continuing!

President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation,

Vladislav Tretiak