The defeat of the Russian national team from the Czech Republic team at the World Youth Hockey Championship became extremely unpleasant for several reasons.
Firstly, Igor Larionov's charges lost the most important points and made it difficult for themselves to fight for the first place in the group, and also with a high degree of probability missed the opportunity to get the highest seeding in the playoffs, and secondly, they exposed the existing problems in confronting rivals who profess defensive play style.
The Russians were unable to hack the enemy's defenses and for the first time in almost nine years left the ice without abandoned washers in the MFM match.
The last time this happened was in a meeting with the Swedes in the final of the 2012 tournament, when everything was decided by Mika Zibanejad's goal.
Commenting on the failure in the confrontation with the Czechs, the mentor of the Russian squad named the reasons for the defeat and assured that the coaching staff, together with the hockey players, would work on the mistakes.
"Something went wrong?
We hit the first hurdle.
The Czechs showed excellent defensive and organized hockey.
We talked with the guys after the match.
We will have time to analyze the game tomorrow.
We're not worried about attack or dedication, but we need to be more goal-oriented.
It is necessary to bring the puck to them, to be the first on the rebounds, to throw the “dirty” washers ", - quotes Larionov" Championship ".
On the eve of the match with the Czech Republic, the head coach made a number of permutations in the links, leaving only the fourth combination unchanged.
However, such transformations did not allow achieving a result, which is why, already during the meeting, Larionov had to again resort to experiments.
“We made small changes, tried different combinations.
Unfortunately, a lot of shots were blocked - 25 or 26, ”the specialist stated.
During the entire meeting, the Russians had to overcome the massive defense of the Czechs, and in the last minutes of the game, Karel Mleinek's wards completely locked themselves in their third of the site.
This gave Larionov a reason to compare this match with one of the fights of the last World Cup.
“One can draw an analogy with the Russian national football team in the match with Spain at the 2018 World Cup.
Such a plan was the Czech Republic today, which built a very dense defense in its own and middle zone, gave up the perimeter.
We tried to put the defenders on the shot, because it is very difficult to break through five players.
Today the goals had to come from a long distance, so that there was an obstacle to the goalkeeper, so that we could get bounces, ”Larionov said.
Separately, the mentor was asked to evaluate the performance of the nominal leaders of the Russian national team.
In the first two meetings, Vasily Podkolzin, Radion Amirov and Yegor Chinakhov scored only two points for performance for three.
“There are 60 matches in the KHL to punish a player.
There is no time here to jail or punish anyone.
The question is how to find an approach to these players.
I have no complaints about the return.
Everything goes through the game, maybe the match with Austria will allow them to gain confidence, score goals, ”Larionov answered.
“As for the fact that they need to bump into someone, they play with the body.
It's unusual for our team when the opponent gives up the perimeter and plays tightly in defense.
We controlled the puck in the attacking zone, created chances for the shot, but there were no episodes when we could finish off the puck or put the stick under the shot, ”added the specialist.
In addition, he did not blame defenders Shakir Mukhamadullin and Daniil Chaika for the defeat, whose mistakes led to conceded goals.
In both cases, the hockey players' negligence was followed by lightning-fast counterattacks, which the Czechs managed to implement.
“The first goal - a minute was the siege of the Czech team's goal, the throw hit the attacker's shields, a counterattack took place.
Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens.
Perhaps, fortunately, this did not happen in the final of the tournament.
Everyone is wrong, even the great defenders.
The guys know that they have not completed some things.
We will not sharply assess the game of those who made a mistake today, we are losing together and winning together.
We believe in every player, this is a good lesson to move on and go to the next matches with a positive attitude, ”said Larionov.
The mentor also assured that the coaching staff will continue to work on the team's power play, and also appreciated the performance of the goalkeeper Yaroslav Askarov, who conceded five goals in the first two meetings.
“He plays great, we don’t worry about him.
Today the opponent created some good chances, scored two good goals.
Apart from that, he acted reliably.
We have no questions about his game, ”concluded Larionov.
According to defender Yan Kuznetsov, Russian hockey players had serious problems with creativity.
He was dissatisfied with the quality of the created chances and expressed the opinion that sometimes the national team should act a little more straightforward.
“Yes, they owned the puck ... But the Czechs created the best chances, passed better and blocked a lot.
We must pay tribute.
This is a good lesson for us.
I don’t think that we had really dangerous moments, the opponent had more of them ... We had to load more on the goal and score, no matter how, but score ... Lower the puck lower, and not just throw from above, ”leads the words of Kuznetsov RIA Novosti.
Yegor Spiridonov agreed with him.
The SKA striker expressed the opinion that the Russian hockey players should have acted a little more aggressively in attack.
“There was not enough sharpness, we need to bring the puck to the net more, to close the goalkeeper.
In the majority there were moments, the Czechs defended well.
I had one chance at the very beginning of the game, but did not realize it, ”the press service of the Continental Hockey League quotes Spiridonov.
The mood of the Czech hockey players is most vividly characterized by the words of the author of the second puck Martin Lang.
The Plzen striker admitted that he values his goal much less than blocked shots and assistance to the team.
“Of course, it was not easy, and my whole body aches, but this is a feeling of victory.
In the next match, we are ready to do it again.
Will it add confidence?
Yes of course.
You need to play the same way, everyone should know their position and play according to the system, ”Lang said.
The best player of the meeting according to the version of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Lukasz Parzyk also shared his emotions.
The goalkeeper admitted that the “dry” victory over Russia in the debut match at the youth championship gave him great feelings.
“We played great as a team, the guys helped me well.
We need to keep this focus, this concentration for the next matches.
What did they say in the locker room before the meeting?
They pointed out that it is important to play according to the system.
We succeeded, ”the goalkeeper said.
In Russia, the unsuccessful performance of the team in the second match of the group stage was perceived differently.
The President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) Vladislav Tretyak called the defeat unexpected and rebuked the athletes for not being motivated to win.
“Everyone thought that now we will win, and there was no 100% return, the game looked academic from our side.
Something was missing in the final phase: a lot of mistakes, it was necessary to get everything out of oneself from the inside, and all the games in this championship once again show that each match is a final ... everyone thought that we would win anyway, that we have all well-coordinated links and a good goalkeeper.
We slightly underestimated the opponent, and this affected the game, "- quotes Tretyak TASS.
Also, the three-time Olympic champion drew attention to the problems with the implementation of the numerical advantage.
In this tournament, the Russians have already found themselves in the majority five times, but they have never been able to hit the opponent's goal.
According to this indicator, they share the last place with the Austrians among all the MFM participants.
“Even Larionov himself answered that it (the majority. -
RT
) is weak in our country.
And playing in unequal compositions decides everything, and if there are no simulated schemes, then it is very difficult, ”concluded Tretyak.
Vice-President of the FHR Roman Rotenberg was rather restrained in his assessments and recalled that Czechs are traditionally considered inconvenient rivals for domestic hockey players.
“It seems to me that this game was very similar to last year's World Cup match, when the Czechs beat our national team with a score of 4: 3.
They acted competently tactically, created the most difficult conditions for the Russian national team, they failed to find the key to the opponent's defense, to these traps, barbed wires that they set up.
The further work of the coaching staff is important here, there are many points that can be improved now in order to win the next matches, taking into account the playoffs.
We must go forward as it was at the last World Championship, ”Rotenberg told RIA Novosti.
Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov was much tougher in his assessments.
According to him, Larionov's charges lacked determination and aggression, which ultimately led to a lack of goals.
“As I said, if they approach the game responsibly, they will be able to win, but the whole match was engaged in academicism.
This is the first time I've seen so many mistakes in passes and shots.
I was surprised that no one took on the leadership role.
For three periods, the Czechs did not change their tactics, they stood by the fence, but we did not offer them anything.
Passes were always close, inaccurate, even on empty ice they were wrong.
It was a nightmare day in broadcasts.
The defenders stood outside the goal, the pass was slow, it was possible to start an attack, but no.
Maybe they had such a task, I don't know, "Sport-Express quotes Kozhevnikov.
However, he disagreed that the reason for the failure was the relaxation after beating the US team.
“They didn't seem to relax, they fought, but there was a lot of academicism.
Eyes just did not burn, sat sad even before the score was 0: 2.
As if we had already played eight matches, mentally tired.
Maybe that's the problem ... It's good that it happened in the beginning.
Somehow now we need to tune in to the Swedes.
We will still get to the quarterfinals.
Only the Canadians would not be able to get out, their group is not as strong as ours, ”Kozhevnikov expressed hope.