Reaction following the U18 victory against Finland

Following the entertaining 5:2 victory against Finland in the opening match of the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, under 18 Russian national team head coach Vladimir Filatov and forward Ilya Rogovsky both shared their opinions:

Russia U18 head coach Vladimir Filatov:

- I liked how the guys worked and managed to clinch the victory in the third period, the first two frames had been really tough for us. I thanked the players for showing their character. Naturally, we understand that there isn't any room for error in this competition, only two teams from the group will make it through to the next phase. To be honest, it's very warm inside the arena here, it took a while for our players to catch their breath during the first stanza. Our philosophy is to compete on the front foot, we will try to do this in the upcoming games.

Russia U18 forward Ilya Rogovsky:

- During the break, the coaches told us to compete with more aggression and at a faster tempo. In the third period, we eventually managed to stick to the game plan and earn the victory. I didn't feel any nerves before the match began, this isn't the first major tournament for us as a group. Our goalkeeper Sergei Ivanov was great between the pipes for us, he always is! We're ready to face Switzerland tomorrow, we prepared well for the competition at our training camp in Novogorsk.