Alexander Zybin: "The Slovaks played on the counterattack"

Russia U18 head coach Alexander Zybin:

- We started well, but the Slovaks played on the counterattack and we helped them by taking penalties. I decided to take a timeout and ask the players to play more solidly in defence, all of the goals were conceded when Slovakia took the puck behind the net. Daniil Isaev made a number of important saves to help us win. Unfortunately, Amir Miftakhov pulled a muscle at the start of the match and asked to be substituted. Danila Galenyuk's performance? He did a good job, but he did get lost at times. We need to watch the video analysis. We know the Americans well, they've had the same players competing in their team all year. However, they concede a lot of goals when playing on the larger ice. I think that Daniil Isaev will be our goaltender against the USA.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation