Russia U18 arrive home from the World Championship

Vladimir Filatov, Vasily Podkolzin and Rodion Amirov all spoke with the media after travelling back to Russia fr om the 2019 IIHF U18 World Championship in Sweden, wh ere the team claimed a silver medal.

Russia U18 head coach Vladimir Filatov:

- We wanted more - a gold medal. The guys gave their all in the final, just like during the entire competition. Silver is a worthy result for us and this has been achieved thanks to the excellent work of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, management and coaches. The atmosphere after losing to Sweden? Everyone was upset. As coaches, it was our task to calm them down and make them realise that this should be the toughest defeat of their careers. I hope that their careers will be long and full of victories.

Russia U18 forward Vasily Podkolzin:

- We were very close to victory. My performance? I'm not satisfied. I could have done more. We came together as a team and really wanted to gain revenge for the defeat against the USA during the group phase. What were we lacking in the final against the Swedes? Strength and luck. We were great in the third period and that was our chance.

Russia U18 forward Rodion Amirov:

- I want to say thank you to all of our coaches and players for this competition. I became the team's top scorer at the World Championship? My goal was to help the team instead of personal targets. In the semi-finals, we beat America who were one of the main favourites, but we were unlucky against Sweden. The small details decided the outcome.