Russia have lost to the reigning women's U18 world champions

The junior women's Russian national team, coached by Alexander Ulyankin, played their second  match of the 2016 IIHF World Championship against the USA in Saint Catharines, Canada.

Despite seven outfield players and reserve goaltender Milena Tretyak taking part in the morning skate, no changes were made to the line-up following the game against Canada. Goaltender Valeriya Tarakanova was still between the pipes, and she had an outstanding first period. Despite the Americans dominating she managed to get the Russians through to the first break level, and confidence inside our camp was increasing. However, that hope was shortlived: the USA aren't the reigning world champions for nothing, and they blew our team away in the second frame. Natalie Snodgrass, Alex Woken, Rebecca Gilmore and Sydney Brodt all found the net, and that prompted Alexander Ulyankin into pulling Valeriya Tarakanova in favour of Valeriya Merkusheva.

That didn't too much difference though, as Alex Woken and Rebecca Gilmore both scored their second to make it a final score of 0:6.

Russian head coach Alexander Ulyankin:

- In the first period, we stuck to the game plan. However, our mistakes in defence led up to us conceding goals. We had chances, but couldn't score. 

After the match, the IIHF revealed that Valeriya Tarakanova had set a new tournament record with eleven games played in World Championships. This is what she had to say after the game:

- It was nice to find out about the record. I want to play in all matches so that the record will keep growing. Today the first period went well, and our girls tried their best. Unfortunately, in the second we fell away and conceded. We will now prepare for the next matches, hopefully everything will go well there.

Match protocol:

Russia - USA - 0:6 (0:0, 0:4, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Snodgrass (Wente, Barnes), 24.29

0:2 Woken (Bowlby, Barnes), 30.18

0:3 Gilmore (Wente, Snodgrass), 35.26

0:4 Brodt (Norby, Woken), 36.30

0:5 Woken (Norby, Brodt), 45.26

0:6 Gilmore (Wente), 46.10

Goalkeepers: Tarakanova (Merkusheva, 40:00) - Gulstene

Shots on target: 11 - 46

Penalty minutes: 18 - 2 

10.01.2016. Saint Catharines, Canada.