The U18 women's national team have lost to Canada

In Saint Catharines, Canada, the Russian women's junior national team began their 2016 IIHF World Championship campaign against the tournament hosts.

After six training camps in preparation for the tournament, coach Alexander Ulyankin had cut his squad down to 23 players from 48. For this match, he opted to put goaltender Valeriya Tarakanova in net.

During the opening ten minutes Russia attacked with purpose, but Canada were the ones to open up the scoring. Sophie Shirley was the first to beat Valeriya Tarakanova after eleven minutes, and then three minutes later Ashton Bell doubled their advantage.

The second frame saw Russia again begin positively, and this time it ended with a goal - Fanuza Kadirova netted our first goal of the tournament. Nevertheless, that only succeeded in waking the Canadians up again. Ryleigh Houston and Emma Maltais increased their lead, although Elizaveta Zenchenko pulled one back for the Russians before the period was out.

In the third stanza Russia managed to hold Canada at bay, but couldn't score themselves either. 2:5, and Russia's next tournament game will come against the USA on the 10th of January.

Russia head coach Alexander Ulyankin:

- After conceding two goals, we got back to within one. We thought that we could turn the game around, but we committed a number of errors and the goaltender played poorly in some episodes. We will prepare for the next matches.

Russian forward Fanuza Kadirova:

- We held the Canadians off in the first ten minutes, but then we conceded. Our nerves took their toll. We managed to score, but then conceded again. We skated forward looking to score, but we should have waited for our chance. The third period showed that we can play on a level playing field with Canada.

Match protocol:

Canada - Russia - 5:2 (2:0, 3:2, 0:0)

Goals:

1:0 Shirley (Knowles), 10.27

2:0 Bell (O Niell), 13.04

2:1 Kadirova (Beloglazova), 23.21

3:1 Houston (Potomak), 26.39

4:1 Maltais, 29.14

5:1 Watts (Shirley), 35.01

5:2 Zenchenko (Likhachyova), 37.29

Goalkeepers: Neatby - Tarakanova (Merkusheva)

Shots on target: 20 - 18

Penalty minutes: 8 - 6 

09.01.2016. Meridian Center, Saint Catharines, Canada.