Oleg Znarok: "We won't hold back"

After today's morning skate in Pittsburgh, Russian national team head coach Oleg Znarok spoke with the media:

Oleg Znarok, Russian national team head coach:

- Matches against Canada are always great for the fans. However, this is just a World Cup preparation game for us. There is no difference between playing Canada or the Czech Republic. The Canadians are a strong team, but we will see whether they are the tournament favourites.

The quality of the ice hockey will be a lot higher than in the 2015 World Championship final. All of the world's best players are here. Overall, I cannot say that we are in the best shape. We haven't had time to train, the players prepared individually. We have only been working out since the 4th of September, we haven't long been skating. We're not in peak form.

- Are you unhappy with the training time frames given?

- I am not happy at all.

- You have not played a friendly match against any of the teams in your group. Is this a positive or a negative?

- This decision was taken by the World Cup organisers. These three friendly matches have enabled us to see what we need to work on, and to work on our line combinations and special teams. We have information about our group opponents, and have watched their recent friendly matches.

- Will anyone hold back in this game? It's still only a friendly fixture.

- No. We watched how the Americans played against Canada, all of the players gave it their all.

- A lot of people are taking about the young North American team. Have you seen their games?

- Yes. We will also see their game today. They have a young team full of players who want to prove themselves.

- Were you not happy with how Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Ovechkin played together? And who will be the starting goaltender?

- I simply want to see if other line combinations will give a better result. Sergei Bobrovsky will be today's netminder.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation