Sergei Boikov: "We know that fans in Russia are watching our matches"

Junior Russian national team defenceman Sergei Boikov gave his thoughts before the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship semi-final against the USA:

- What conclusions have you drawn from yesterday's quarter-final against Denmark?

- We need to play more aggressive hockey, look out for counterattacks, and play more carefully in defence - in my opinion, our mistakes in this component were the most serious.

- Russia had a tough match, while the Americans breezed through. Will this have an impact on this outcome of this match?

- No, I don't think so. The Americans will get ready specifically for our match, they know that we have a good team. We also now what a good team they are - quality hockey should be coming up.

- The USA are leading in the majority of the statistics. Will you pay attention to this?

- Tomorrow we will see who wants to win more. The result will put everyone into their place.

- A lot of fans here cheer against Russia. What do you think about that?

- I don't think that it makes any difference for the team. We skate out on to the ice and know that some fans cheer for us too, and in Russia people are watching our games. We feel this, and this has a bigger impact that anything else.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation