Russia - Finland. The 2016 WJC final

The 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship final will take place today between Russia and tournament hosts Finland.

In all of his four stints as Russian head coach, Valery Bragin has always made the final of this competition. He won it in 2011, before winning silver in 2012 and 2015. His presence brings the best out of our players, and Russia have been brilliant so far this year. The team have won all six games in the tournament, and have qualified for the final in true Russian style. After winning Group B we were 44 seconds from a quarter-final exit against Denmark, but captain Vladislav Kamenev saved the day. In the semi-final all odds were on the USA, however our players showed what they are made of pulling through 2:1 with Pavel Kraskovsky and Egor Korshkov netting.

Today's opponents Finland have had an equally exciting ride to the final, and became the first team to defeat Canada in the quarter-final stage for 18 years. In the semi-final they had to come from behind against Sweden eventually winning 2:1, and confidence in their ranks will be high before this match. First line partners Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi have been unstoppable during the tournament, and hold a combined 26 points.

During the group stages our team did play against Finland, and showed remarkable character to recover from a 1:3 deficit to eventually win 6:4.

The Russia - Finland 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship final will begin at 21.30 Moscow time inside the Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland. Match TV and our site will have live broadcasts, while our official English Twitter account will describe events as they unfold.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation