Alexei Zhamnov: "We lacked aggression in the attacking zone"

Following the final of the 2022 Olympic Games against Finland (1:2), ROC men's ice hockey team head coach Alexei Zhamnov shared his thoughts.

Head coach Alexei Zhamnov:

- I want to congratulate Finland and their coaching staff with their Olympic victory. They played well at the competition. If we look at our team, then something went wrong. However, the players fought until the end, and I am also grateful to our reserve players who helped the group. The Finns have a very organised team, they've been playing in accordance with the same system across a number of years. They compete with discipline and on the counter-attack, it's really difficult to break them down. Today, we lacked aggression in the attacking zone.

Ice hockey is changing, this is the first tournament was held on a Canadian-sized rink. On this ice, you have to fight for the neutral pucks and it's a compact battle everywhere. Finland have been using this system well for a long time already. In the future, we have to win the duels claim the neutral pucks and play with discipline.

Was I surprised by Finland's approach? No, apart from the first match at the tournament they displayed tactical ice hockey. They like to wait for mistakes from the opponents, but this wasn't surprising for us. I have a running contract with the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, I want to continue working with our national team at the World Championship.