Schedule of youth hockey team games. They slipped on the ice: the Russian youth hockey team lost to Sweden and will play with the USA in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. World Youth Championship

The Russian youth ice hockey team lost to the Swedish team in the final match of the group stage of the World Championship among teams under 20.

The main time of the meeting ended with a score of 3:3, and the Russians were constantly in the position of catching up. He scored the first goal in the match - he equalized the score, two minutes later he again brought the Scandinavians forward - he restored the status quo, at the 55th minute Glenn Gustafsson seemed to put an end to the match, but even here the Russians caught up with the opponent.

In the shootout, luck was on the side of Tre Krunur.

This defeat threw Valery Bragin's team to third place in the group, which means they will meet the US team in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

This is perhaps the most difficult lot for young Russians.

If our team had won by two goals, they would have taken first place in their group and would have played with Slovakia in the playoffs. A one-goal win would take us to the Finns.

However, there was a defeat - and in the next round, the hosts of the tournament will have to confront the Americans.

Forward of the Russian national team Aleksey, who scored in the 57th minute with a score of 3:2 in favor of the Swedes and allowed our team to go into overtime, admitted that he still counts on winning the tournament.

“Upset because they lost, but in fact

we don't care who we play in the quarterfinals. We came to the World Cup to win.

Did the team go down in the second period? The guys wanted to win the fight, so there were pushes and unnecessary hooks - a lot of deletions because of this. Most of the period was played in the minority, so someone fell out of the rhythm, someone, on the contrary, outplayed, - the official website of the Russian Hockey Federation (FHR) quotes the forward as saying.

When asked about the strength of the American team, Polodyan answered calmly:

"The USA good team. But they lost to the Slovaks, played a draw with the Canadians. So we can do it too.”

Another striker of the youth "Red Machine" complained about not very high level team games:

“I can't say that I'm satisfied with the quality of the game. There were moments, but always something was missing.

We try not to concede such easy goals as in the first period, but when it happens, we stretch the game, play to the end.

The defender called the second period in the performance of the Russian team a failure.

“In the second period, we retired a lot, “five against three” constantly played, we lost a lot of strength.

In general, these 20 minutes failed due to deletions. Need to fix it. You can't win the game in the minority."

The head coach of the Russian national team Bragin also did not bypass a large number of fines in the second third of the meeting.

“We worked out a lot in the minority, this needs to be removed. The next match is the playoffs. On the other hand, it was good workout for us.

There were a lot of chances to win, but it happened that way. At the end, they changed the goalkeeper for the sixth player, they wanted to win in regular time, but it didn’t work out a bit, ”the mentor complained.

— Recession in the second period? Well, of course, it is associated with the game in the minority. We played like this for twelve minutes.

Some guys were loaded, they needed time to recover. Others play poorly in the minority, they did not go out on the ice.

Bragin appreciated the level of play of the next opponent of his wards - the US team.

“The team is good, very playing. You need to act tactically against it correctly. They have a good majority, so we need to clean up the deletions.”

The historical component of the coming confrontation can inspire certain optimism in Russians.

Our youth team met with their peers from the USA three times at the MFM quarterfinal stage and never lost.

Other pairs of 1/4 finals: Canada - Switzerland, Czech Republic - Finland, Sweden - Slovakia.

You can get acquainted with other news, materials and statistics on the Russian national hockey team, as well as in the groups of the sports department on social networks

The 2018 Youth Ice Hockey World Championship starts on December 26, 2017 and ends on January 5, 2018. The next draw of the tournament, like the last time, will take place on the territory North America in the American city of Buffalo. Leaders will come to the championship hockey teams. Spectators will see the teams of Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, the USA - a total of 10 national teams. But only one of them will win the trophy of the 42nd edition of the championship.

Where and when will the 2018 Ice Hockey World Youth Championship take place

Spectators will see the sports action from December 26, 2017 to January 5 next year. Hockey players will gather in the American city of Buffalo. Three modern sports complexes will be at their service: New Era Field, Cybank Center and Harbor Center.

"Harbor Center"

A multidisciplinary complex, which is widely used for exhibitions and concerts. The capacity is very low - 1,800. It seems that the organizers will seriously think about how to increase the number of seats.

"Kibank-center"

The home arena of the local hockey team "Buffalo Sabers", designed for 19,000 spectators. Within the walls of the SC, both semi-final matches and the final of the World Cup will take place.

"New Era Field"

Huge football stadium in the open air, in the stands of which more than 71,000 fans can fit. But viewers need not worry. The organizers are not going to freeze them for the entire tournament. Only one match will be played on New Era Field ice. But what - USA vs Canada! The game will take place in the group stage.

2018 Ice Hockey World Cup schedule among youth teams

Here's what the calendar of matches for the upcoming tournament looks like:

  • 26 – 31 December 2017: group round;
  • January 2, 2018: quarter-finals;
  • The 25th of January: consolation round;
  • 4 January: semi-final;
  • 5 January: final and duel for bronze.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the consolation round. This is a three-match series of games, which is played up to 2 victories. It meets the two worst members of the groups. The winner of the confrontation gets the opportunity to stay in the top division, and the loser is relegated to a lower league level.

Teams Ice Hockey U20 World Championship 2018

10 will come to the "hockey world championship" ice squads staffed by players under 20 years of age. The organizers of the tournament have already divided them into two quintets.

Group A:

  • Canada;
  • Denmark;
  • Slovakia;
  • Finland.

One match each will take place at New Era Field and Harbor Center, and the rest at Cybank Center.

Group B:

  • Russia;
  • Sweden;
  • Czech Republic;
  • Switzerland;
  • Belarus.

Hockey matches will be held on the ice of the Cybank Center and the Harbor Center.

Russian national team at the 2018 Youth Ice Hockey World Championship

Our "young shoot" will again try to win the gold medals of the competition. The schedule of the games of the Russian team in the group stage of the World Cup is as follows:

  • December 26, 2017: Russia - Czech Republic;
  • December 28th: Russia - Switzerland;
  • December 29th: Russia - Belarus;
  • 31th of December: Russia - Sweden.

The group is even. It is hard to imagine that the domestic squad will not be able to break into the playoffs. The main opponents for the first place in the quintet are likely to be the Swedes and the Czechs.

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Cup Final

It is difficult to predict who will qualify for the final. But if we turn to the statistics of recent years, the list of potential participants looks like this: Russia, Canada, the USA, Finland and Sweden.

Canada

16-time winners of the competition. Especially a lot of gold stamped "Maple Leaves" in the mid-90s and 2000s. There is no doubt that the Canadians will try to bring the number of their victories to 17!

Russia

The domestic squad boasts 13 awards the highest standard, 4 of which she won in the modern period. Last time our boys won gold in 2011. Since then, Valery Bragin's wards have been very close to success. But so far they manage to take only silver and bronze.

Finland

The Suomi team was the best 4 times. Last gold got them in 2016. It is noteworthy that already in the next edition, the Finns almost flew out of the elite division. In general, you don’t know what to expect from these strange Finnish guys…

Sweden

The Scandinavians took the World Cup trophy only 2 times. Not too much for such a serious hockey country. But Tre Krunur has a chance to improve!

The tournament will take place in an American city. Therefore, there is no doubt that the US team - the winner of the 2017 World Cup - will tear and throw, supported by native stands!

The organizers of the Youth World Cup in the American Buffalo put the national teams of Russia and Sweden in a privileged position. Yes, the price turned out to be quite high - I had to go out on the ice on the evening of December 31, local time, when the Europeans were celebrating the new year with might and main. But, closing the program of the group round of the tournament, both teams knew exactly what result of the face-to-face confrontation would suit them and who they would have to fight in the quarterfinals if something suddenly didn’t work out.

No feats were required from the Swedes: having scored at least one point, Thomas Monten's wards would finish first in group B and get an easy opponent in the starting round of the playoffs. The Russians, who entered the ice as the third team in their pool, had to win in regular time in order to somehow improve their standings, and smash the Scandinavians with a difference of three goals in order to push them from the top.

The maximum task seemed extremely difficult, because at the group stage of the youth world championships, the Swedish team had not lost since 2006. In particular, she inflicted six consecutive defeats Russian hockey players.

Valery Bragin's team would like to do the impossible, but during the entire fight, unfortunately, was one step behind the opponent. It all started with the fact that in less than 18 minutes, the Russians missed two offensive goals after their own mistakes in defense. Fortunately, both times the nominal owners managed to quickly recoup ( accurate throws Timothy Liljegrena and Klim Kostin, for example, were separated by only 46 seconds) and did not allow the opponent to take control of what was happening on the ice.

However, the first test turned out to be only a warm-up in comparison with what awaited the Russian youth team further. At the junction of the first and second periods, Bragin's guys kept three of them against five for more than two minutes. Anatoly Elizarov and Mikhail Maltsev left with an interval of three seconds, and even before they left the penalty box, German Rubtsov broke the rules. Vladislav Sukhachev had to show the miracles of goalkeeper technique in order to keep his possessions locked. And the Chelyabinsk resident coped, finally removing the questions about who will start the playoffs of the World Cup in the status of the main first number of the team.

This situation could not but affect the actions of Russian hockey players. Until the end of the second twenty-minute period, the youth came to their senses, only four times during the entire period disturbing the goalkeeper of the Swedish national team Philip Gustavsson. True, the Scandinavians were also depressed, having missed an amazing opportunity to take the lead again. Before the final siren, Elias Pettersson and the company played twice more in the majority, but could not distinguish themselves in unequal lineups.

But the calm nature - without a tangible advantage of one of the teams - the meeting did not last long. Five and a half minutes before the end of normal time, Sukhachev capitulated for the third time: Glenn Gustafsson made the life of the Russian team extremely difficult, being the first to finish off after the throw of Axel Junsson Fellby.

The Russian youth team, forced to prove themselves again and again, did not blunder. Alexey Polodyan managed to score a labor puck and restore parity on the scoreboard, and when a little more than a minute remained to play in the third period, Bragin went for broke and replaced Sukhachev with a field performer. The Swedes had to be pretty nervous, but the final assault did not bring a tangible result - the fight went into overtime, which was akin to defeat for Russian hockey players.

It is natural that in extra time and in a series of post-match shootouts, it was the Scandinavians who showed great interest in the outcome of the confrontation. Thanks to a scoring attempt by Oscar Steen, they extended their unbeaten streak in the main round of the World Cup to 44 matches, reaching the playoffs against modest Slovakia.

The tournament was the sixth as the head coach of the Russian “youth team”. The previous World Championships in Montreal and Toronto was the first in which Bragin did not lead the Russian team to the final - the team won bronze medals. Earlier, Russian hockey players led by Bragin won three silver medals (Calgary / Edmonton 2012, Toronto / Montreal 2015 and Helsinki 2016), and in 2011 in the same Buffalo they became world champions.

Back in Buffalo

For hockey fans, the American city of Buffalo is associated primarily with one of the main victories Russian hockey in the post-Soviet era - gold medals at the 2011 World Youth Championship. Then the Bragin team with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko won a crazy victory in the final over the Canadians, winning back from a score of 0:3. The historic victory in Buffalo 2011 remains the only one for the Russians at the MFM over the past 15 years.

Seven years later, the Russian “youth team” again had to play the World Cup near Lake Erie, and the same Valery Bragin is at the head of it. Unlike in 2011, the Bragin team arrived in the United States without hockey players who consistently play at an adult level, and the main star among the Russians was Andrei Svechnikov, who is considered the only real competitor to the Swede Rasmus Dalin for the first place in the 2018 NHL draft.

Group: two of four

Russian hockey players started the tournament unsuccessfully, losing in a bright match to the Czech team with a score of 4:5. Twice the Russians bounced back, with a score of 2:5, Bragin's team reduced the gap to a minimum, but the Russian team did not have enough time for more. A lot of criticism was caused by the game of the main goalkeeper Alexei Melnichuk, who conceded four goals.

“We will work, improve the game in the minority and the majority,” Bragin said after the match. “The first game is always difficult. The problem is that this year we didn’t play at the world championships, so they don’t have such experience, there is a completely different level of hockey here. the first game, and it was a little crumpled, although we played well at times."

Mirror for the Russians was the next match with the Swiss (5:2). They took the lead twice, but each time they let the opponent bounce back. The outcome of the game was decided by the pucks of Artur Kayumov and Georgy Ivanov. ended with the same score next game the Russian team - against the team of Belarus (5:2). Double scored Klim Kostin, who, together with Artur Kayumov, shared second place in the list of top scorers in the group stage (5 points) - only American Casey Mittelstadt was higher (6 points).

Complete group stage The Russian national team had a match against one of the favorites of the tournament - the Swedish team. By that time, Russian hockey players had already secured participation in the quarterfinals, and Vladislav Sukhachev staked out the place for the first number. Opponents gave out a “fiery” first period with four abandoned washers, and for the remaining 40 minutes they scored half as much. As a result, the Swedes put the squeeze on the Russian team in a shootout -.

“The optional removals took a lot of energy,” Bragin explained the defeat. “The washers missed in the first period, let’s say, were easy. Not the opponent showed skill, but our mistakes led to them. We will correct this. There were a lot of chances to win, but so happened."

As a result, the Russian team took third place in the group, letting the Swedes and the Czechs go ahead, and got Americans as rivals in the quarterfinals of the reigning world champions.

Quarter-finals: not enough puck

“The Americans have a very good team, they play very well, you need to act tactically against it correctly,” Valery Bragin said before the quarterfinals. “They have a good majority, so you need to remove the removals.”

The installation didn't work. Already in the first minute, the defender of the Russian national team Artem Minulin "grabbed" two minutes for a delay with a stick, and the Americans opened the scoring. Soon, the Russians again remained in the minority, but survived, after which Klim Kostin and Marcel Sholokhov entered the zone, and the last throw from an uncomfortable hand equalized the score. However, the US team's lead was still strong (19-6 on shots in the first twenty minutes), and Kyler Yamamoto put the Americans ahead in the 15th minute.

The Russians spent the ending of the first period and the beginning of the second in the minority - defender Vladislav Semin received a fine of "5+20". Having fought back, Bragin's team gradually began to equalize the game, and at the beginning of the third period, Andrey Altybarmakyan scored his first goal in the tournament. In the 53rd minute, the Americans took the lead again: Dylan Samberg threw the puck into the zone, and Kieffer Bellows was the first to rebound from the boards, behind whom Artur Kayumov did not notice. Marcel Sholokhov could equalize, but hit the post, and in the last minute of the third period, the Americans hit an empty net - 4:2.

“We didn’t have enough goals,” Valery Bragin said after the game. “There were chances, but this is hockey, with a tied score, the opponent managed to score a goal, not us. As for mistakes, we warned that the Americans were starting very powerfully. And today in the first period they had the advantage. In the second period, the advantage was already on our side. And the third was equal until the puck was scored by the opponent."

No experience, no masters

"Of course, (Russian) hockey players do not have enough experience, international experience, experience of playing in the KHL," he said to the R-Sport agency before the tournament. Olympic champion 1992, ex-head coach of the Russian junior team Vitaly Prokhorov. - Let's remember that in Bragin's teams, the result was always made by people who played in the KHL on an ongoing basis. Now there are no such people. Why not is a separate discussion.

The lack of experience definitely affected the result of the Russian team in Buffalo. Recall that the players in 1998 because of the "meldonium scandal" missed their junior world championship and had never played at a serious international level. All this, coupled with the lack of really bright players for this age, led to the fact that the Russian team became the worst in the tournament in terms of playing the majority (one realized attempt out of twenty).

It is significant that top scorers The Russian national team at the tournament was Klim Kostin (8 points) from the St. Louis Blues system and Andrey Svechnikov (5) from the Barry Colts. "Born in 1998 - well, you can see for yourself. Klim Kostin and Andrey Svechnikov are a year and two younger, respectively, but they looked stronger than many guys," said Valery Bragin after the quarterfinals.

Great hopes before the tournament were associated with Artem Manukyan, Mikhail Maltsev, Andrey Altybarmakyan, who played in Russia, but did not have much playing practice in the KHL, but in total these forwards scored only one goal. The Russian legionnaires Vitaly Abramov and Dmitry Sokolov also played clearly below their capabilities - both scored one goal each.

Youth Championship World Cup 2019 will be held in the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Victoria. The contract of the head coach of the Russian national team Valery Bragin expires at the end of the season, the specialist refused to talk about his future at the end of the tournament.

St. Petersburg delegated a record landing party to the youth team - six people. Goalkeeper Andrey Melnichuk, defenders Nikolay Knyzhov and Vladislav Semin, forwards Mikhail Maltsev, Andrey Altybarmakyan, Alexey Polodyan. All of them are now listed in the VHL club SK-Neva. And everyone in the team in the first roles.

True, at the start of the championship, they did not earn fame for themselves. Like the rest of the Russian team.

The national team of the Czech Republic at the youth championships has not been allowed further than the living room for a long time. She last won gold in 2001. By the way, then the tournament was held in Russia. And since then, only once the Slavs managed to cling to the medals - bronze.

This year, no one expects anything from the Czech team either. Especially after the Canadians smashed it 9:0 in one of the exhibition games.

However, the Czechs are capable of some surprises. And, unfortunately, the Russians fell under their hot hand.

At first, however, ours looked down at the opponent. The Czechs scored, ours with apparent ease returned the course of events to the original source. By the way, the author of the first goal of our team was just Polodyan.

It seemed that already in the second period, the wards of Valery Bragin would finally take over the advantage. But everything happened the other way around.

Mistakes in our area began to multiply, and this led to two more goals against Melnichuk. From the beginning of the third period, he was replaced at the gate by Sukhachev, but this reshuffle could not bring the team out of suspended animation.

However, in the end, ours were close to the usual miracle. Removing the goalkeeper for a minute and a half before the end of the period, they almost stole the victory from the Czechs.

That is, out of habit, having created problems for themselves, they then heroically began to solve them. Having confused the tournament situation at the very start, the Russians already in the quarterfinals can get into the favorites of the championship - the Americans, Canadians or Finns.

But Bragin did not find a way out of such impasses.

Czech Republic - Russia - 5:4 (2:2, 2:0, 1:2)

  • Goals: 1:0 Nechash-1 (Kaut, Zadina, Bol., 04:42), 1:1 Polodian-1 (Altybarmakyan, Zaitsev, 05:21), 2:1 Safin-1 (Khytil, Gayek, 07:28) , 2:2 Sholokhov-1 (Kostin, Semin, 09:36), 3:2 Zadina-1 (Kaut, Nechash, Bol., 25:34), 4:2 Khytil-1 (Safin, Zakhar, 37:26 ), 5:2 Kral-1 (Kaut, Galvash, 46:16), 5:3 Kayumov-1 (Manukyan, Rubtsov, 57:48), 5:4 Semin-1 (59:02)
  • Goalkeepers: Korenarzh - Melnichuk (Sukhachov, 40:00, 58:26 - 59:02, 59:20)

Russia: Knyzhov - Zaitsev, Altybarmakyan - Maltsev - Polodyan; Samorukov - Makeev, Sokolov - Rubtsov - Abramov; Shepelev - Minulin, Manukyan - Ivanov - Svechnikov; Semin - Elizarov, Kostin - Sholokhov - Kayumov

  • Fine: 14 (4+4+6) - 8 (4+4+0)

World Youth Championship

Group A: USA, Canada, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland.

Group B: Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus.

Schedule of matches of the Russian national team

* The beginning of matches on Moscow time.

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