Reaction after beating Canada West at the Challenge Cup

After beating Canada West 5:3 at the World Challenge Cup, Russia U18 representatives shared their views:

Russia U18 head coach Sergei Golubovich:

- I'm satisfied with the result. I don't usually criticise the refereering, but today I had a nasty surprise. In North America, generally there aren't any problems, however I have never seen such refereeing before. Our players even said that the referees used foul language in their direction during the match. As a result, we have asked the tournament's organisers to tell the head referee about this situation. Alexei Lipanov's line was excellent. Can they improve even further? We hope so.

- Veniamin Baranov went off injured.

- He has been taken to hospital for analysis. We don't know how serious the injury is yet. Two of our defensemen also got hurt, our doctors are working with them. It's a tough schedule, the guys need to have a bit of rest before playing Switzerland.

Russia U18 goalkeeper Dimitriy Rayko:

- We have mutual understanding with the defensemen about how to play, we communicate during games. Unfortunately, we conceded in the third period. Nevertheless, the main thing is that we turned the match around. When Canada had a penalty shot, the player didn't try and beat me with skill, he just had a simple shot. Physically, I feel great, we will now prepare for the next game. Is it nice to be named the match's best player? Yes, but nothing more than that.

- What happened to Canada in the third period?

- Their goaltender made a mistake and we took advantage of it. Overall, we put a lot of pressure on them. It was difficult during the final few minutes, but we held on. 

Russia U18 forward Alexei Lipanov:

- We schieved the victory which we wanted. We began well before letting in goals. The coach picked us up and made sure that we turned the game on its head in the third period. I was on the ice when Dimitriy Raykov fell over, but, fortunately, he's fine. Our goalkeepers are the most important members of the team. Tomorrow will be a difficult game, it won't be easy. Switzerland have a technical and mobile team.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation