Interviews after beating Slovakia in Canada

Russia U20 head coach Valery Bragin:

- Everyone understood the importance of this match. At times, the players played just how we wanted them to. It's a deserved victory, we didn't give the opponents any chances to score apart from when they were on the powerplay. The first line had a number of chances, Kirill Kaprizov and Mikhail Sidorov both hit the post. 

Now, we'll begin preparing for the game with Denmark. Not long ago, we played a friendly match against them, and I can say that they are stronger than last year.

Russia U20 goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov:

- I didn't have many shots to save today, it was difficult to keep my concentration. It's important that we took a shutout, the guys blocked a lot of shots. Thanks to them.

Progress? We have progressed since the first game, I think that it's clear for all to see. We don't feel the pressure so much now, the players understand how to play at this level.

Last year, we didn't underestimate Denmark, we were simply a bit unlucky. I don't think that we will have any problems.

Russia U20 forward Kirill Kaprizov:

- It's good that we were patient, we had to win. We had lots of chances, we were denied by the post on a number of occasions. Overall, we stuck to the game plan and didn't put ourselves under pressure.

How would I sum up the group stage? We lost two matches. However, we will now move on. It's not important who scores, we are a team. Denmark have strong players this year, they won two matches in their group. We will prepare for them.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation