Russia will play against the tournament hosts

Today on the 28th of December, the junior Russian national team will play against the World Junior Championship hosts - Finland.

Before the tournament began, head coach Valery Bragin spoke about the fact that these first two games will be crucial. As we know, the team managed to defeat the Czech Republic in the first game 2:1 on penalty shots, and now the next opponents will be Finland. The Finns have begun the tournament as one of the favourites, and got off to a flyer beating Belarus in their opener. Russia haven't faced Finland in this tournament since 2014, when the Finns came out on top with a big win. In that match the players themselves confessed that they were too confident after two earlier victories, and today it should be a completely different match.

As earlier mentioned Finland are one of the main contenders for this year's title, and they do have some talented players on their team. Kappo Kahkonen is expected to be their starting goaltender, and he appears regularly in the Finnish league for the Espoo Blues. Moving forward players Patrik Laine and Kaspari Kapanen are recognised to be their main threats, and our defence will have to be on its guard. It's also worth taking into account that head coach Jukka Jalonen used to work in the KHL with SKA Saint Petersburg.

Following the opening day victory against the Czech Republic, Russia do have two points. A normal time win today inside the 14000 capacity Hartwall Arena in Helsinki would take the team above Finland with five points to three.

The Russia - Finland match will begin at 19.00 local time. Match TV will broadcast the game live in Russia, and you can also watch the match live on this website. The main events will be mentioned on the Russian Ice Hockey Federation's official Twitter account. 

Russian Ice Hockey Federation