“Definitely the match didn’t work out”: what was said in the coaching staff of the Russian hockey team after losing to the Czech Republic

Unrealized majority and mysterious second goal

After the victory over Sweden in the shootouts, the Russian national hockey team still had a small chance to win the Karjala Cup. To this end, Alexei Kudashov’s wards needed to beat the Czech team in Sunday's game in the main time, and then hope for the Finns to lose from Tre Krunur in the final game of the tournament.

Shortly before meeting with the Czechs, the Russian team suffered a great loss. Due to a microtrauma, the top scorer of the first two matches, Damir Zhafyarov, who managed to score the puck to the Swedes and arrange two assists, did not get into the squad. Instead, Nikita Soshnikov climbed into the third link, and assistant captain Alexander Kadeikin became the 13th striker. The coaching staff made another major substitution of their own free will - goalkeeper Alexander Samonov made his debut for the national team.

The Russians started the match in the same way as the previous game - almost complete domination in an alien zone, but with a lot of unrealized moments. The Czechs practically did not touch Samonov, but it was they who opened the account. The mistake of Ivan Mishchenko led to the interception of Michal Rzhepik, and he gave the puck to the throw of Jan Kovarzh. The persistent Rzhepik could have doubled the score at the last second when playing in the majority, but still the advantage of the Czechs remained minimal.

In the second period, the Russians were in no hurry to turn the tide, although there was a great chance for this. Opponents earned two deletions with a difference of five seconds. But almost two minutes of the game “5 on 3” did not lead to goals against Roman Will. Conducting the 23rd match for the national team, Anton Burdasov could not give up his first goal, as did Soshnikov and Igor Ozhiganov, who did their best for this.

The third period did not differ in intensity of the struggle from the second - the Russians did not have any dangerous moments that would give hope for a good result. The Czechs periodically clung to their chances. The turning point was the episode in the 52nd minute, when clutter arose at the gate of Samonov. The referees took a long time to figure out what happened there and noticed how Damir Sharipzyanov covered the puck, for which a bullet is usually assigned. But further verification showed that the puck completely crossed the goal line, so that a free throw was not needed for the goal, and the defender received a two-minute removal.

Having scored the second goal, the Czechs earned ten minutes of penalties in nine minutes of the game, but it was they who increased the difference in the score even more, having thrown the Russian team into the empty net. The Czech team won the Karjala Cup, and now Kudashov’s wards should try to rehabilitate for their unsuccessful performance in Finland at the home Channel One Cup.

“It's a lot harder to score here.”

The head coach of the national team admitted that the match with the Czechs was a failure. Kudashov said that he did not practice the game “5 on 3” with hockey players, and noted the experience gained by the candidates for the national team as a positive outcome of the tournament.

“Definitely the match did not work today. If before the first mistake we still played, there was movement and moments, then after that we stopped. Stopped playing aggressively. A separate moment is the majority that we have dropped out. Tournament Results There are positive and negative points. We watched all the candidates, the players gained international experience and realized what points should be paid attention to. Someone pleased, someone fell out. The game "5 on 3" we did not even have the opportunity to play. Explained only through the scheme, without training. Here is a different level, it is much more difficult to score here than at the club level, ”the Championship quotes Kudashova.

Mentor of the team did not criticize Burdasov for the lack of goals, while the head of the coaching staff Roman Rotenberg recalled that the forward gave a lot of assists for the tournament.

“I would not want to switch to last names. If you take his game in the first two matches, then the moments were more than enough. It was only necessary to get. Therefore, we hope that this is a matter of time. If there were no moments, then there would be a problem. There are moments, with his throw he must score, ”said Kudashov.

“We have three points scored Zhafyarov and Burdasov. Not scored, but gave three assists. This also needs to be taken into account, ”added Rotenberg.

Kudashov also commented on the absence of defender Yaroslav Dyblenko in all three matches, who did not wait for his chance in the national team.

“In fact, we know him well and decided to check other players. Why was he calling? We had to have a depth of staff, ”said the specialist.

Rotenberg also expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the meeting, but noted that the team is now in search of worthy players for the 2022 Olympics.

“Naturally, defeat is disappointing. Last year we won the Karjala Cup. Definitely, we are unhappy with this result. But there are also positive points. We checked all the candidates, saw who is able to play at this level. There are completely different speeds. We hope that the players made the right conclusions for themselves from these matches. We still have many matches ahead, and by the results we will already see who deserves to play for the national team. The Olympics will take place in 2022, and we need to check as many players as possible. We have 50 candidates, and a test is underway at these tournaments, the strongest will play, ”said the vice president of FHR.