"Everyone believed that we could win": what they said about the comeback of the Russian national ice hockey team in the match with the USA at the UCCHM-2021

Sixth comeback in history

The Russian junior ice hockey team began their performance at the World Championship in the USA with an incredible victory over the hosts of the tournament.

Albert Leshchev's wards were inferior with a score of 1: 5, but in the end they won in overtime, scoring seven goals to their opponents.

This is not the first time that Russian juniors have recouped during a match with Americans, who are the most titled team in the under-18 age category.

This first happened in the 2004 finals.

Then the national team with Evgeny Malkin and Alexander Radulov missed the first, but ended the meeting with a score of 3: 2 and became the world champion for the second time.

The Russians made the next three comebacks in the group stage.

In 2009, a hat-trick of Vladimir Tarasenko helped to win back two goals, and four years later Pavel Buchnevich's goal and transfer allowed him to win back the same deficit in the first match of the Russians at the junior championship of the planet.

In 2015, the two teams met again in the first round, and then the Russians responded to one goal of the Americans with three of their own.

The last match of the two teams, which took place in the semifinals of 2019, was also remembered by the fans for saving the Russian team.

At the 44th minute, she was inferior with a score of 1: 2, but Semyon Chistyakov did not let the match end after the third period, and Rodion Amirov brought victory in the shootout.

The current comeback of Leshchev's wards can rightfully be considered the most impressive of all.

"We managed to win due to team spirit"

After the game, the head coach praised all his hockey players, but noted the unsuccessful start of the meeting.

“The game turned out to be ambiguous.

The first period was not for us, but in the second and third we found our game and started playing by our rules.

I do not want to single out any of the players, today we played as one.

Everyone who went on the ice worked, ”the press service of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) quotes the coach.

The key moment of the match was the removal of captain Nikita Chibrikov, after which the Russians conceded three goals within ten minutes.

However, Leshchev did not focus on this episode and noted that the players have the right to show emotions on the ice.

“At this age, the children are overwhelmed with emotions, this is an emotional moment.

High voltage, such deletions are obtained.

You never know how the game will go, so there must be a plan B.

We went over to it today, and it worked.

Let's analyze the video and see what mistakes we made, ”the expert summed up.

Chibrikov himself, who eventually became the author of the winning goal in extra time, apologized to the team for his removal.

He noted that no one in the national team stopped believing in victory, even when the backlog from the Americans was four goals.

“Hockey is an unpredictable game.

We believed until the last that we could win back and win.

We managed to score a good goal in overtime, we were able to turn the game around.

I did not expect that someone would open up for the transfer, I just acted according to the situation.

I saw free ice, rolled there, found a loophole, an open space at the goalkeeper, and made a throw there.

What can I say about my deletion?

If the referee removed me, then he saw a violation of the rules.

It was a shame, I apologized to my partners for such an oversight, "Chibrikov admitted.

Matvey Michkov scored a double in the match against the USA.

After the game, the 16-year-old hockey player noted that timely coaching changes in the links of the Russian national team helped to win.

“This game was very important for us - the first in the tournament after all.

The coaches saw what was happening on the site, and made changes in time: they changed links, added positive emotions.

The team cheered up, everyone believed that we could win.

It's good that everything turned out like this, ”said the striker.

The head of the Russian national team and the first vice-president of the FHR Roman Rotenberg said that the team spirit helped to start the World Cup with a victory.

He also urged hockey players not to relax, as the whole tournament is still ahead.

“Today we managed to win due to the coaching staff, team work and team spirit.

It is always difficult to start such tournaments, especially after the quarantine, it always affects the team.

We understood that she was well prepared, so the fact that the players managed to pull out this match was worth a lot.

Nice start, but this is just one game.

The victory is important, we beat a strong opponent, but everything is just beginning.

As for some mistakes and individual components of the game, the coaching staff will now figure it out.

Emotionally, it was very important to win this match, and we managed to do it.

Analysis of the game and mistakes will be at the meeting, I am sure that all of them will be leveled by the next match, and we will see progress, ”TASS quoted Rotenberg as saying.

"A Bitter Pill for Us"

The head coach of the US national team Dan Mewes noted the game of his team in the first period, but was dissatisfied with the second 20-minute, in which the Americans could not turn the tide of the meeting.

“Emotions have not subsided yet, this is a bitter pill for us. Events at this tournament are unfolding quickly, the main thing for us now is to move on, to the next match, to make sure that we are in a good mood. Tomorrow there will be a training session, a meeting. I liked our beginning, we played well in attack, we were able to come out ahead. But when two strong opponents play, you can't do without ups and downs. We controlled the game at the beginning of the meeting, Russia had several strong shifts in the second, made us defend. We need to better respond to such shifts, return the initiative. Unfortunately, we put ourselves in such a position, trying to defend the advantage of one puck in the third period and at the same time show the hockey that we want. It all ended in overtime ", - quotes Mewes" Championship ".

Defender of the American team Sean Behrens noted that the hosts of the tournament were unable to fulfill their plan for the third period.

He praised the Russians for their pressure to save the game.

“We started the game well, had a strong first period, but then missed the thread of the game.

The match did not end the way we wanted, but we will rebuild tomorrow and become better.

In the third period, leading in one goal, we had to dry out the opponent.

We didn’t succeed, Russia played great on the forecheck, in the third period it acted with an advantage, was able to equalize, ”the player said.

For the US Ice Hockey Federation, the defeat by Russia was a joke. On her Twitter, she asked subscribers if they remember what the last time this tournament started for the Americans. Apparently, it was a hint of the 2015 World Cup, when the US team also lost to the Russians in the first match, but then won gold for the ninth time.