Ilya Gorbushin: "SKA's players can show what they are made of at the World Junior Championship"

The SKA Academy's sporting director Ilya Gorbushin spoke about the junior Russian national team's start at the World Championship in an interview with Radio Zenit:

- Any team needs time to get into a tournament. Our team have managed to do this - two wins over the Czech Republic and Finland. It's been a good start, and we can all see the team's potential. Valery Bragin's team looks balanced. Maybe some of the guys haven't got into the required shape yet, but I am sure that this is just a question of time. We have a strong team which is one of the medal candidates.

If we talk about SKA's players in the team, I think that they can show what they are made of at this tournament. Despite the fact that he plays in the fourth line, Alexander Dergachyov played both on the powerplay and on the penalty kill yesterday against Finland. This speaks about how the coaches trust him. He tries to stick strictly to Valery Bragin's system.

When you are a forward like Alexander, you should fight on the crease, score goals, but also not forget about the defence. Alexander can do all of this. We also have Egor Rykov, and the fact that he plays on the first line speaks volumes. First and foremost, we expect him to be reliable in defence. He is one of the team's leaders, and we would like to see how he performs in the VHL in these World Junior Championship matches.

The main Russian national team's head coach Oleg Znarok is carefully watching the tournament's matches. We know that Oleg trusts young players, and he always works hard with them. Even the players who didn't get into Valery Bragin's final squad will still be looked at as candidates for the first team. The junior team is our future. I am sure that we will see a lot of this team's players presenting the first Russian national team in the future.

At this World Championship, the guys are fighting for their country and for their coaches. Emotions and their psychological state come into play - especially if we speak about youth hockey. If the players will play for themselves and their coach, they will have the right team spirit which will give results.

Like at previous tournaments, we expect only gold from our team. I am sure that with such coaches, with such a squad of players, it's possible. This year it should all happen for our guys. We believe in this, and we support our team.