Friendly match. Russia U17 - Russia U18 - 1:4

On the 1st of December, the under 18 Russian national team played a friendly against the under 17's in Novogorsk. The match was a part of the side's preparations for the upcoming World Challenge Cup.

It turned out to be a confidence boosting victory for the under 18 players, as the team took a 4:1 win. Klim Kostin, Kirill Slepets, Alexei Toropchenko and Nikolai Kovalenko scored the goals, while Alexander Zhabreev netted an under 17 consolation late on.

Russia U18 head coach Sergei Golubovich:

- The under 17's did a good job too, they made us work in our own zone. From our side, some of our players didn't give 100%, they thought that it would be easy. None of our lines have been formed yet, this is because extra players will join us in Canada. After today's game, we gave our defensemen a chance in a pre-planned penalty shootout. 

Russia U17 head coach Igor Efimov:

- The team only got together yesterday, we only had three lines at training. Unfortunately, Alexander Khovanov and Danila Zhuravlyov are out injured, and Grigory Denisenko has a broken finger. Nikita Okhotyuk and Danila Galenyuk will train with the team born in 1999. Unfortunately, our first line isn't here. Nevertheless, as the result, we have had the opportunity to look at other players. If we talk about today's game, the under 18's were stronger. They're preparing for the Challenge Cup. They played well. We still have time to get ready for our own tournament though. The competition in China will be an interesting one, we will see what Chinese hockey has going for it. Their KHL team are doing well for their first year. We are happy that the federation have given us the chance to travel there.

Match protocol:

Russia U17 - Russia U18 - 1:4 (0:2, 0:1, 1:1)

Goals:

0;1 Kostin (Lipanov, Slepets), 03.10

0:2 Slepets, 06.02

0:3 Toropchenko (Okhotyuk), 24.54

0:4 Kovalenko (Perelyaev, Marushev), 43.01

1:4 Zhabreev, 59.43

01.12.2016. Novogorsk.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation