National team players share their feelings after becoming Channel One Cup champions

Following the thumping 5:1 win over Finland which clinched the 2020 Channel One Cup for the senior Russian national team at the Legends Park, defenseman Dmitry Samorukov and forwards Maxim Mamin, Andrei Kuzmenko, Pavel Karnaukhov and Vadim Shipachyov spoke about their respective experiences at the tournament.

Defenseman Dmitry Samorukov:

- It was nice to make my debut for the senior national team at a home competition. I managed to gain experience from the older guys, while also meeting players who I hadn't known beforehand. It was a big opportunity for me. It's a dream of any player to wear the national team jersey on the ice, you're playing for the whole country and everyone is watching. I tried to simply play my game. Our fans mean everything to us, we play for them. At the moment, it's not the easiest period for everyone, but we're doing our job and the supporters are always with us. I think that we have given them a great present for New Year! I'm happy for Valeri Bragin, the team and our country.

Forward Maxim Mamin:

- We feel great after winning all three matches! Practically everything worked out as we wanted, we stuck to the game plan. Yes, of course it was tougher today physically, but the guys coped. All of us gave 100%. My line? It's really nice that we managed to score goals, this is the first time when Dmitry Voronkov and Pavel Karnaukhov scored for the senior national team. I enjoyed playing in one line with Dmitry, he works hard and causes problems for the opponents on the crease. I think that he has a big future ahead of him.

Forward Andrei Kuzmenko:

- I scored in every game? My teammates dished out excellent assists. This serves as extra motivation to continue working hard and to progress further, I will try my best every day. Do I feel as though I am a leader for this team? All of us are leaders, every line tried to win the matches. Overall, I am pleased with our performance today, we scored good goals and Alexander Samonov was solid in net. Which game was my favourite at this competition? Probably the match against Sweden on Thursday, I had so many emotions! That was also my father's birthday. The World Championship? I can't guess what will happen tomorrow, let alone in May. I'm not thinking about the World Championship at all. The main thing is how you spend your next day.

Forward Pavel Karnaukhov:

- I have wonderful emotions! We really did have to win the home stage of the Euro Hockey Tour. We played really well today and achieved an important victory. My line competed with a lot of energy, we stuck to our task and worked hard. We had good mutual understanding and took advantage of our opportunities. To be honest, there isn't a difference between scoring into the empty net or against the goalkeeper, I made use of the chance which fell its way to me. We'll now go back to our KHL clubs in a positive mood. We earned three great wins and made the fans happy - what could be better?

Forward Vadim Shipachyov:

- It's always nice to win this tournament at home which takes place not long before the New Year celebrations. I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays, health and success. Everyone in this team fought for each other. This team has big potential. Before the competition started, some of the players were a bit shy, but I told them just to enjoy playing for the national team for the week. They listened to me and played with a smile on their faces. There was a great atmosphere here, I would like to say thank you to everyone. I scored the national team's 2500th goal? I've only just found out about that! It's nice that my goal played a small part in the history of our national team.