Interviews after the 2017 Black Sea Cup

Russia Reds head coach Oleg Bratash:

- It was a good final game, both teams wanted to win. It's great that we got to see how the players can cope in important matches. At this tournament, Russia Reds performed well on the powerplay. However, it's too early to talk about who will make the World Junior Championship roster. Dmitry Sokolov and Nikita Popugaev understood each other well, as did Andrei Altybarmakyan and Alexei Polodyan. 

Thanks to Switzerland and Latvia, this competition was more interesting than last year. We played against strong opponents.

Russia Whites head coach Yury Babenko:

- We didn't stick to the game plan against Russia Reds. Despite the players being young, it's tough physically to play three matches in as many days. When you don't score on the powerplay, it's difficult to win games. It's useful that we saw a lot of World Junior Championship candidates, we have time to make roster decisions.

Russia Whites forward Pavel Kukshtel:

- The team lost in the deciding game, but I still have good impressions from this tournament. We trained hard. We were a bit unlucky in the match with Russia Reds, the players started to understand each other better. However, we failed to score on the powerplay. 

Russia Reds forward Andrei Altybarmakyan:

- No one wanted to lose in the final match, both teams gave their all. The main thing is that we won. We all made friends in the team, I didn't know all of the guys before this competition. The coaches got to see 50 players and understand what we are capable of.

There is only one month left before the club training camps begin, I don't have time for another holiday!

Russia Whites goalkeeper Dmitry Lozebnikov:

- I was really happy to be called up. Overall, I think that I played well, all goalkeepers got 30 minutes in every game. It was nice that I played in all friendly and tournament fixtures.

I conceded three goals at the Black Sea Cup, managing to pick up one shutout. It was a tough game against Latvia, we ended up losing 1:2 in overtime. We spent the entire extra frame in their zone, but their one counterattack resulted in a goal. Everyone knows that around 14-15 of us will be called up for the World Junior Championship, we wanted to show our best qualities whole enjoying being in the national team.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation