Head coach Valery Bragin's thoughts after the win over Denmark
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The Russian junior national team head coach Valery Bragin gave his views after defeating Denmark in the 2016 IIHF World Championship quarter-finals:
- First of all, I want to wish all fans a happy new year! We tried, it didn't really go that well, but we congratulate everyone - this victory is dedicated to our fans. I am very happy that we won and are one of the top four teams in the world. From now on it's 50/50, we'll get ready. Knockout games are never easy, and when you take on any opponent you are on a level playing field. It's good that the team dug this win out, this is not the first match like this during the tournament. I am glad that everyone supports each other, that they are trying.
The third period was spent in one zone, but we couldn't score. It happens, the goaltender played well, we had a lot of chances. The main thing is that we managed to equalise and win in overtime. In the third period we played well and kept believing until the end that we can win. In think that such a win will help get the team going, they now understand that every game will be tense.
I wouldn't say that Vladislav Kamenev has become the team's leader, in the key moments a captain should play like that. Did anyone disappoint me? Everyone tried as hard as they could, now we need to calmly look over things. We had told the players how to play. The opponents went up, tried to hold the score, and we rushed some of our plays.
Two days before the semi-final is fine, we have been playing in the same regime the whole tournament. We'll now watch the USA - Czech Republic game, the Czechs are playing differently now. That match also has no favourite.