Sergei Golubovich: "Records give the players more motivation to work hard"

Russia U16 head coach Sergei Golubovich:

- This tournament has left me with positive impressions. For the guys, this was the first major tournament. The opponents had all of their leading players competing. Together with our analytical coaches, we did everything possible to study how the opposing teams play. The result shows that the players understood what we told them to do. The defence did well, as did goalkeepers Yaroslav Askarov and Semyon Sharabarin. However, we didn't score enough goals. We had chances, but the players failed to take advantage of their opportunities. We will pay a lot of attention on to this component at the next training session.

- Since 1994/1995, no Russia U16 team had won the Four Nations without conceding a single goal.

- This is the players', coaches', staff's and analytical coaches' achievement. We didn't have a task of setting records, we simply got the players ready for each match. I am sure that this victory at the competition gives them more motivation for the future.

- Speak about the roster for this tournament.

- For this group of players, the Four Nations competition in February is the most important. We wanted to see how they performed when the result wasn't the main thing. Alexander Kiskakov, in the national team for the first time, performed really well.

- Can you single out any of the players?

- Everyone did a great job. I have already spoken about the goalkeepers, but it wouldn't be right to not mention the other guys too. Everyone worked hard to achieve the right result.

- What are the team's plans now?

- Next up is the Four Nations in Sweden. We are planning to call up more new players to the team. The main aim of this three year cycle is the World U18 Championship. In order to do achieve our goal, we have to see the maximum amount of players possible and see how they cope with the national team. Unfortunately, a couple of players were injured for this competition, we would also like to see those who play for North American clubs.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation