"The main cause of our performance was my mistake in choosing the captain. A captain should be an example of how to behave on the ice, in the locker room and outside the arena. We trusted Filatov with the captaincy hoping that his experience would help him and his teammates be successful.
"Unfortunately, Filatov did not get it. He failed as a leader. After the game with Switzerland, I came to the locker room and apologized in front of the team for my choice of captain. Filatov was not worthy of wearing the C.
"When I suggested Filatov as captain I was hoping for a different result, for a different approach to what we hoped to achieve. We didn't need an exhibition of individual skill on the ice. The number of points that Nikita got in this tournament he should have had in one period against Austria. And he got a lot of ice time.
"I had issues not only with how Nikita played, but also with how he prepared for games. How is it possible that I had to constantly tell an adult that he shouldn't be late for practices and warm-ups? A captain should be an example for everybody, not someone that puts himself above everyone.
"I had a serious talk with Filatov after the exhibition loss to Latvia. He assured me that everything is going to be fine, but then was once again invisible in our first game against Austria. I even told him, 'If you don't wanna play, leave the ice.' A captain has no right to play like that.
"We constantly practiced the power play, but it didn't work during games. We were relying on Filatov, but he seemed to play his own game. We told him many times that diagonal passes won't work, but he replied that HIS diagonal passes work. You all saw how well they worked.
"I do not accept any responsibility for this result. We did what we could with this squad. Our country should seriously think about youth hockey."
