On that game day RUS coaches decided to give up their routine morning skate, scheduled for  9 o’clock. That was done apparently to avoid early morning wake-up for players considering the distance from hotel to Arena Minsk

The game started with a surprise line-up reshuffles on the Russian squad. No matter, the first goal came in the 39th second when Nikita Nesterov skating in line 2 beat SVK netminder Rechicki. Four minutes later Yefim Gurkin lifted the Russian lead to 2-0.
However Slovaks seemed not to be bothered by what happened and tried to build up, playing durable and disciplined hockey. If RUS succeeded in progressing to play-off phase of the tournament, SVK had to solve a far complex task – to get to the third place and snatch a play-off berth. Therefore, Sergei Kostenko had it pretty tough in his cage through most of the game. Five minutes toward the end of the first period the Andrei Vyboh team managed to reduce RUS lead to one goal but another scoring effort by Yefim Gurkin turned the red light over SVK net.  The goal took the teams to the lockers with RUS 3, SVK 1. Strangely enough that score stayed unchanged up to the final whistle
In his post game interview Russian bench boss Mikhail Vasiliev commented:

- I have certain points to make to my players. I am not 100 per cent satisfied with the way they followed what they were told to do on the ice. We will check the game video and analyze the mistakes made. Our prime concern shall be efficiency on power plays. We’ve introduced some changes within the lines today and will continue reshuffling them for the remainder of the group phase.

- Are you satisfied with your opponents in QFs – Switzerland?

- Well, we came over here to play any opponent to the best of our abilities. And if someone thinks SUI to be an alsoran we wouldn’t not share such an appraisal. On the contrary, Suisse hockey is on the rise now. They iced a very good, strong team for this Championship. I have viewed their games against CAN and SWE today. We’ll let our players see some key points of their style of play, will discuss and decide on what to oppose.

- Didn’t it seem to you that after two quick goals your team somewhat slackened speed?

- No, it didn’t. The thing is that the guys took to a kind of hockey we didn’t want them to. At once there came holes on defense and, as a consequence – waste of physical power leading to fatigue, mental and physical. Had they observed the game plan more strictly there wouldn’t have been unneeded nervousness around the net and, eventually the score would have been different, too. So, I’d repeat, if I may: the thing was not slackening speed but simply a different kind of hockey. Quick goals are a double facet thing; your team may get more incentive through quick goal(s) and continue to build up pressure but on the other hand, there’s a danger of relaxing too early thinking the day is done. Which is especially true for junior hockey. In the first period my guys went on playing well, made some lay in but for the rest of the game they failed to produce and build up the lead through reasons I already described – said Vasiliev.

Russia - Slovakia 3:1 (3:1, 0:0, 0:0)
Goals: 1:0 Nesterov (Namestnikov) 0:39; 2:0 Gurkin (Berdnikov, Zheldakov) 5:54; 2:1 Matousek (Krempasky) 15:08; 3:1 Gurkin (Berdnikov, Kuznetsov) 17:53
Goalies: Kostenko - Riecicky

Russian Ice Hockey Federation
Press Service