The Russian men’s under-18 and women’s hockey teams put in “unsatisfactory” performances at their respective world championships, Russian Hockey Federation officials declared Monday.
The under-18 team finished fifth at their world championships after a quarterfinal defeat to Canada, while the women’s team lost all their matches, including a 9-0 thrashing against the United States and a 14-1 drubbing by Canada.
The under-18 team did not work together, and this caused a 4-2 group stage defeat to Germany, Russian Hockey Federation president and three-time Olympic gold medalist Vladislav Tretiak said at a meeting of the federation’s executive committee.
“Vladislal Tretiak noted the lack of a team game, which was especially clearly manifested in the first game against the Germans, and mistakes in the psychological preparation of the players,” a statement on the federation’s website recording the meeting said.
The women’s team had failed to make progress, federation vice-president Nikolai Uryupin said.
“Nikolai Uryupin, assessing the situation, said that the Russian national team had not made steps forward in the last year and that now many European teams are catching up with us,” the statement said.
The committee had voted to rule both teams’ performances “unsatisfactory”, the federation said.
Russia’s senior men’s team will try to win its first world championships since 2009 when it travels to Finland and Sweden next week, after a fourth-place finish in 2009.
The world championships will take place from May 4 through 20. Drawn against Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Latvia, Denmark and Italy, the Russian national team will play all its group stage matches in Stockholm.
