For the Russian national team, the confrontation with the Finnish team in the semifinals of the junior world championship was extremely principled. Albert Leshchev's wards hardly managed to forget the offensive defeat in the group stage, which prevented them from confidently taking first place in the group and getting a less strong opponent in the first round of the playoffs. Not to say that this seriously interfered with the domestic hockey players, but the sediment, undoubtedly, remained. Especially considering that during the meeting they were leading with a difference of two goals, but conceded twice in 69 seconds, and then lost in a shootout.
The victory in the upcoming match not only guaranteed the Russians to win the 12th medal and a chance to come out on the clean second place in the number of awards at the world championships. She also allowed them to break a bad streak against the Finns. Taking into account the current tournament, it has already made up five meetings, three of which took place in the playoffs. At the same time, the Russian national team beat Finland for the last time back in 2013.
On the eve of the match, two-time Gagarin Cup winner Alexei Badyukov advised Russian juniors to stay focused at all costs, not to flirt, and also try to be the first to distinguish themselves. And Leshchev's wards partially succeeded. Already in the fourth minute, Daniil Lazutin burst into the enemy's zone at speed and left Aku Koskenvuo out of business in close combat. True, domestic hockey players were only 56 seconds long. Soon they earned a removal, and the best sniper of the rivals Samu Salminen caught Sergei Ivanov by surprise.
However, the "shootout" did not end there. Although the teams began to make longer pauses between scoring, they were not going to slow down. By the beginning of the tenth minute, the teams had two goals each. First, Matvey Michkov distinguished himself in the majority and scored the 11th goal in the tournament, which helped him strengthen his position in the sniper race and once again become the sole leader in the scorers' dispute. And then Werner Miettinen took advantage of the sluggishness of the Russians on the nickel. Finn reacted to the rebound and performed a spectacular air throw. At first, the referees doubted that he had distinguished himself without breaking the rules, but the video replay changed their opinion. At the same time, Petri Karjalainen's wards also received the right to perform a bullet, but Sami Päivärinta lost to Ivanov in a full-time duel.
By its nature, the semifinal match was strikingly different from the opposition of the teams at the group stage.
Then Leshchev's wards were not able to properly recover after a meeting with the Americans and were not in the best condition, in connection with which they were forced to defend themselves most of the time.
As a result, in each of the periods the Finns had a solid advantage in the number of shots, and according to the results of all three, it turned out to be almost two times (28:55).
This time it was different.
In the first period, the Russians were much more active, as a result of which Koskenvuo had to enter the game twice as often as Ivanov (14: 7), and in the second they performed even more convincingly (18: 5).
And this taking into account the fact that the beginning of the 20-minute turned out to be quite calm.
In the first half, the teams chalked up three shots on target and generally acted rather cautiously, but in the second everything changed. The Russians significantly increased their movement, increased the pressure on the opponents' goal, and Chibrikov took over the role of the leader. Until the end of the period, the captain twice lit his name on the scoreboard. At first, he distinguished himself in the majority, punishing the Finns for indiscipline, and then in equal compositions. Dmitry Buchelnikov brought Nikita to the shock position, and he “shot” Koskenvuo with his brushes. This allowed him to score 13 (9 + 4) points and catch up with Michkov (11 + 2) in the scorers' race.
It would seem that, having a comfortable advantage, the Russian national team should have a little "dry" the game and try to calmly bring the match to victory. But instead, the teams staged another session of reckless hockey. During the third period Leshchev's wards doubled the difference in the score, but the Finns reduced the handicap. As part of the national team, Ivan Miroshnichenko scored a brace, while Joakim Kemell and the same Salminen scored for the Finns. Moreover, the second goal of the Omsk Yastreb striker turned out to be a feast for the eyes. He played great on the interception, with a series of feints put Koskenvuo on the ice, and the puck - exactly in the net.
Thus, nine minutes before the final siren, the Finns were in the same position as in the group stage match.
And this time they also did not get confused, and less than three minutes before the end of regular time, they even reduced the gap to a minimum.
Karjalainen released the sixth fielder onto the ice, and Kemell followed Salminen's example and scored a double.
But they failed to repeat the success in the second meeting in a row in the end of the third period.
The Russian national team held out and not only defeated the Finnish team for the first time in ten years, but also reached the final of the junior ice hockey world championship for the second year in a row.
In the match for gold, she will play with Canada and will try to take revenge for the crushing defeat in 2008.
Then the “maple leaves” did not leave the opponents a chance and sent eight unanswered goals to their goal.