Czech Republic - Russia. The first match

Today in the Czech Republic, the Russian national team will play their first match of this Euro Hockey Stage against their hosts.

This part of the tournament is being held in a different format to others, as we will play only againzt the Czechs. The team arrived in Ostrava yesterday during the day, and head coach Oleg Znarok has used this opportunity to try out many new players. Young faces such as Pavel Buchnevich, Igor Shestyorkin, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Ziyat Paigin and Anatoly Golyshev are all present, and they will all be striving to prove their worth at the highest level.

Our opponents the Czech Republic have more or less a first team squad, and they will give our young guns a real test. Plenty of familiar faces from the KHL such as Vladimir Sobotka and Dominik Furch are among their ranks, and the Czechs currently have an undefeated record against Russia in this season's Euro Hockey tour: they defeated our team 4:3 on penalty shoots in the Karjala Cup, and in Moscow they triumphed 4:2.

The Czech Republic - Russia match will begin at 20:30 Moscow time. Match TV Igra will broadcast the game live in Russia, while you can keep up to date with events by following our official Twitter account. 

Russian Ice Hockey Federation