A few days after winning the Ice Hockey World Championship with the Canadian team, André Tourigny is still on cloud nine.

The team’s head coach shared how he experienced the event in an interview with Jean-Charles Lajoie on Wednesday.

“The pressure is great. The players make the sacrifice of coming to Europe for a month after the season. You want it to be an extraordinary experience. You want to win for your whole country. It brings us all together for a common cause. Hockey is our national sport. We are very proud. Finland was number one but we just reclaimed our title as world number one. I’m very proud of that.”

The Quebecer paid tribute to his goalkeeper, Samuel Montembeault, who shone throughout the tournament.

“I can tell you he was good at Tabarnouche. He was really solid. Not only did he hold good games, but he was calm, reassuring and in control at all times. He did a really good job.”

Tourigny also responded to those who denigrated the level of play at the Ice Hockey World Championship, citing Latvia as an example.

“Do you think the players are not willing to die on the ice to win for their country? The determination of the players is immense. You are ready for anything. Before the game against Latvia I showed my players two sequences. One guy tosses his head to block a throw and another guy opens his hand to block a shot from the blue line. He stops like Jacques Plante. There’s nobody in the NHL who would do that, but they will do it for their country. There is a tournament that is very difficult to win.

The man, who also leads the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL, admitted he didn’t have time to attend to his team’s precarious situation during his time with Canada.

“What I don’t control doesn’t affect me. I have nothing to do with it. I have no idea. I’m following it on Twitter as are you. My job is to lead the team. What is said in the media doesn’t affect me that much. You’d be surprised to know how completely I don’t care about this case.

Watch the relevant interview in the video above.