Reaction after playing Slovakia at the 2021 World Championship

Following the 1:3 setback against Slovakia in the third match of the 2021 IIHF World Championship, senior national team head coach Valeri Bragin, defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Vladislav Kamenev all shared their emotions:

Head coach Valeri Bragin:

- The opponents only won because of their commitment, now we know that you cannot beat anyone if you don't compete with the required amount of effort. How do Konstantin Okulov and Mikhail Grigorenko feel? We're hoping that Konstantin will be able to participate in future matches at this competition, and we did lack Mikhail's creativity today. He has a great shot in his arsenal. We've called up Vladimir Tarasenko, Ilya Samsonov and Dmitry Orlov from the NHL? If they arrive here tomorrow, they might be able to play before the group stage ends. I think that Nikita Nesterov will play against Denmark on Wednesday.

Defenseman Ivan Provorov:

- We have to immediately start playing our game instead of taking too long to get going, making less mistakes in all of the zones. All teams are starting their respective matches aggressively at this World Championship, so we need to do the same. Sometimes, instead of putting together passing plays, we simply have to get the puck on net and search for rebounds. We will continue to improve with every passing match.

Forward Vladislav Kamenev:

- We were too relaxed for this game. After our slow start, we did subsequently make an improvement, but we couldn't use our opportunities. Slovakia blocked a lot of shots, we should have made more unexpected decisions when in possession.