In the final match of the group stage of the youth world hockey championship, the Russian team defeated the German team. Domestic athletes did not leave a single chance to the opponent, sending six goals into his goal, and thereby guaranteed themselves access to the playoffs of the competitions.
In anticipation of the duel with the Germans, domestic hockey players were not in the most comfortable position. The victory of the Americans over the Czechs deprived them of a chance to take the first or second place to the group and thereby guaranteed not the most favorable draw in the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, Valery Bragin's squad will meet with one of the leaders of Quintet A in the person of Sweden, Finland or Switzerland, who cannot be called convenient rivals.
Thus, in order to avoid a clash with the first team of the parallel group, Russian athletes needed to beat the Germans, and also hope that the game between Canadians and Czechs did not end with the triumph of the tournament hosts in overtime. In this case, “maple leaves” will bypass the “red car” in the number of points, and the hosts of the championship - in personal meetings.
At the same time, Grigory Denisenko and the company should not have thought about the playoffs in advance, because the risk remained and did not get into the list of the eight strongest teams on the planet. The teams approached the full-time confrontation with three points in the asset, as a result of which the defeat from Germany automatically left Russia in last, fifth place in the group.
In addition, the Bundestim itself, if it did not inspire fear, at least made it necessary to reckon with itself. At the tournament, the wards of Tobias Abstraiter managed to beat the Czechs, as well as provide serious resistance to the North Americans. In the match with the Americans, they did twice in the long run, but could not keep the advantage. The meeting with the Canadians turned out to be less competitive, but even there they had a chance to catch.
It was also worth paying tribute to the current composition of the youth team of Germany. Separately, it is necessary to note one of the favorites of the upcoming draft of the National Hockey League (NHL), striker Tim Shtuttsle, as well as Moritz Zayder. Unlike the younger partner, the defender has already managed to take part in the talent fair and left her under the common sixth number. For comparison, Vasily Podkolzin was chosen tenth.
The situation of the Russian team was complicated by the absence of Nikita Rtishchev. In a match with the USA, CSKA striker entered into confrontation with Oliver Walström, during which he tried to hit him with his head. During the meeting, the referees did not notice a violation in the athlete's actions, but already at the end of the meeting he was disqualified. It is noteworthy that earlier the same sanctions were applied to Canadian Joseph Veleno. As a result, 18-year-old Maxim Groshev appeared in the fourth three.
However, this loss did not prevent domestic hockey players from confidently starting the final match of the group stage. From the first minutes, they began to put pressure on the gate of Hendrick Hahn and skillfully exploit the inconsistency in the actions of the German defenders. Skillful forekking has repeatedly allowed the Russians to break into the enemy zone at speed and create dangerous moments. Already in the third minute, Cyril Marchenko could open an account, but the goalkeeper played above all praise.
Subsequently, Hana rescued the team several more times, but still was forced to surrender. Nikita Alexandrov gave the pass from the side, but the same Marchenko broke through on the right. SKA forward did not share the puck with partners and powerfully threw him into the far corner, scoring his first goal in the tournament.
Seven minutes later, the same Marchenko doubled the advantage of the Russian squad, and Vasily Podkolzin and Dmitry Voronkov shared responsibility for this success. Hockey players played a spectacular three-run at the gates of Hane, after which Cyril “shot” the goalkeeper of the Bundesmannschaft. It is worth noting that by this time, Bragin's wards had already managed to play in the majority, but again failed to transfer the puck into the net. Thus, for the 15th time in a row they did not take advantage of the numerical advantage in the championship of the planet.
If in the first half of the period the Germans acted extremely unsuccessfully and toothless, then in the end they managed to create problems. At first, the same Stutzle had a great chance to reduce the backlog, and then the Abstraiter’s wards could not realize the majority. In this, they were prevented by Yaroslav Askarov, who replaced at the gate of the unsuccessful duel with the United States Amir Miftakhov.
The second period, the Russians traditionally began very actively, but in the middle allowed the Germans to seize the initiative. The reason for this was two consecutive deletions as part of the Bragin squad, which almost cost her a pair of conceded goals. Closest to the goal was Dominic Bock, but he did not hit the empty corner. In the remaining episodes, Askarov famously acted. The talented goalkeeper unsuccessfully met with the Czech Republic, but on this day he was practically not mistaken.
The game of the young goalkeeper inspired the partners so much that they solved all the questions about the winner in the end of the second 20-minute. Only with the 17th attempt, the Russian team interrupted an unsuccessful series and abandoned the majority, and did this three times in a row. With a difference of 40 seconds, Grigory Denisenko and Pavel Dorofeev scored, and then the forward of Magnitogorsk “Metallurg” scored a double. Marchenko twice acted as an assistant, seriously aiming at the title of the best player of the match.
The third period was no exception and was again marked by a flurry of attacks by the Russian team. Marchenko was again in the spotlight for the third time with an assist. This time, the role of a sniper was made by Voronkov, for whom this goal was the first in the championship of the planet. Wards Bragin were close to repeating the defeat of the Canadians, but in the end they allowed themselves to relax. Nino Kinder took advantage of the gross error of the defenders and outplayed Askarov, who was spread on ice.
The Russian team won a second victory in the group stage of the youth world championship and guaranteed a ticket to the quarterfinals. At the moment, Bragin's wards are in second place in Quintet B, but Canada and the Czech Republic have a match in reserve.