Interviews after the under 17 win against Sweden

Russia U17 head coach Igor Efimov:

- I am pleased for goalkeeper Daniil Isaev, he took a shutout by stopping a lot of clear Swedish chances. Unfortunately, we do have problems in defence which need to be sorted out with the guys. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the result and with six goals. We decided to move Vladislav Kotkov back to Alexander Khovanov's and Grigory Denisenko's line, they did a great job today. However, the entire team were united, it's pleasing that they all fought for each other. Alexander Khovanov scored a captain's hat trick, while we are happy for Yury Platonov's first goal.

Russia U17 forward Alexander Khovanov:

- I try to prove myself in every match. Yesterday, nothing much went my way, but I managed to calm myself down and analysed my mistakes. My father helped say when I needed to improve. For my first goal, I knocked home a rebound. When I netted the second, I beat my defenseman, charged to the net and scored a great backhand goal. My hat trick was sealed when we had a two on one odd man rush. My line was excellent.

- Can we say that your line played at 100%?

- Yes, we can. The key factor is that we had the right mindset and made sure that Sweden knew they were going to lose. I don't think that the Swedes expected such a heavy defeat, they had already beaten the USA. We stuck to our game plan and the score proves this.

Russia U17 goalkeeper Daniil Isaev:

- We didn't think about needing to earn a large victory, we simply prepared for this match mentally. We understood how important this game was against Sweden. 

- Did you have thoughts about a shutout go through your mind?

- No, the main thing is that the team won.

- Even when you were 6:0 up?

- Well, maybe when it was 6:0 I thought about that a bit.

- What was the toughest part about today's match?

- I can't pick out any certain moment, all Swedish chances on our crease were dangerous. They created a lot of openings, their team has talented players. However, we had analysed their previous games. I was told where they shoot. They key moment was the second period, where we scored a lot of goals.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation