The match of lost opportunities: how the Russian national team lost to Canada in the final of the YUCHM-2021 ice hockey

The final of the 2021 World Junior Championships promised to be one of the most memorable in recent memory. At least because of its loud sign, the confrontation between the national teams of Russia and Canada is considered a classic of world hockey and regularly decorates all kinds of tournaments, both at adult and at other levels. At the same youth championships of the planet, the teams determined the winners of gold medals ten times, and the meeting of rivals in Buffalo is rightly considered one of the brightest in history.

At junior competitions, the teams crossed much less often, and not only the lot, but also the North Americans are to blame. In the period from 1999 to 2001, they did not take part in the junior tournament, and subsequently they did not always get to the decisive stages. On the eve of the final, they had seven awards of various merits at the world championships and took only the fifth place in this indicator. For comparison, domestic hockey players climbed the podium 11 times - more often only the representatives of the United States succeeded.

As a result, over the 23-year history of the championships, the national teams of Russia and Canada have met each other only 11 times. Moreover, less than half of these matches took place in the playoffs, and the last time the opponents shared the ice back in 2014. In the final, the teams played only once at all, and then there was no struggle. Maple Leaves defeated the rival with an obscenely large score 8: 0, and at that time the future New York Islanders forward Jordan Eberle became one of the main characters. The striker chalked up a double and an assist.

But if in 2008 the Russian team did not have the strongest selection of performers, as evidenced by their relatively low performance, then in 2021 everything was different. On the eve of the final, it was the domestic hockey players who topped the list of top scorers, while the Canadians were content with places from third to fifth. Matvey Michkov and Nikita Chibrikov had 13 points each in six meetings and led both the sniper and assistant race. However, the North Americans also had something to brag about. They were in the lead in the number of goals scored (46), and their goalkeeper Benjamin Gaudreau ranked first in terms of reliability (92.25%).

Meanwhile, it was Albert Leshchev's wards who opened the scoring in the final.

The Russians in a rather calm manner made the debut of the match, and in the sixth minute they took advantage of the minimal relaxation of the Canadians.

Daniil Lazutin entered the opponent's zone practically without resistance and left the puck to Michkov.

Forward "SKA-1946" "shot" the goalkeeper and scored the 12th goal in the tournament.

Finding themselves in the role of catch-up, the Canadians, as expected, took the initiative into their own hands and began to besiege the gates of their opponents.

The advantage of the “maple leaves” in the number of shots grew relentlessly, and Mason McTavish and Brennan Othman had excellent chances to restore parity, but Sergei Ivanov acted beyond praise.

The removal of the same Otman helped to level the game for Leshchev's wards, but it was not possible to confirm the status of the best team in the tournament in terms of the percentage of realization of the majority.

It cannot be said that the goal of the Canadians was brewing, but the situation in the zone of the Russians continued to heat up. This was largely due to the top scorer of the pioneers of hockey. In one of the episodes, Connor Bedard made a spectacular U-turn and went to a rendezvous with the goalkeeper, but Arseny Koromyslov stopped him at the cost of breaking the rules. Bedard got a chance to execute a bullet, but failed to outwit Ivanov. However, after a minute and a half, the 15-year-old Regina Pats striker still lit his name on the scoreboard and caught up with Chibrikov in the scorer race. He rolled into the zone at speed, removed the puck under an uncomfortable hand and sent it into the net.

The ending of the period was very similar to what was happening during the confrontation between the national teams of Russia and Finland.

Less than two minutes before the siren, Michkov, together with Alexander Figurin, helped Dmitry Buchelnikov to distinguish himself, but after 51 seconds, domestic hockey players remained in unequal compositions and conceded.

Ivan Miroshnichenko went to the penalty box for hitting with a stick, and Shane Wright scored the 13th goal of the Canadians in the majority in the world championship.

The first half of the second period was unsuccessful for the Russians.

For four minutes Leshchev's wards played in the majority, but although they knocked the gates of Gaudreau's goal, they still could not distinguish themselves.

Meanwhile, Canadians realized one of their few chances.

All the same Othman performed a solo pass from the central circle of the throw-in and from an acute angle threw irresistibly into the far nine.

In general, the Russians held the second segment at a fairly high level and acted in a more attacking manner than in the first.

They were more often in the opponent's zone, and also made two more shots on target (12:10).

It is all the more offensive that at the end of the period another counter-blow allowed the “maple leaves” to increase the difference in the score.

This time Logan Stankoven lit his name on the scoreboard.

The puck was directed to the closest corner for Ivanov, but the goalkeeper did not save again.

Leshchev's wards started the third period of the final match not in the best way.

Domestic hockey players again failed to punish the Canadians for their indiscipline, and then for a long time they could not create anything dangerous at the Gaudreau gate.

The North American team began to noticeably "dry" the game and for a long time succeeded in this.

Failed by the next removal. Maktavish went to the penalty box for delaying the opponent, and the Russian team, on the fifth attempt, managed to excel in the majority. A fierce fight on a nickle, though it did not lead to a goal, but allowed to leave out of work a couple of defenders. Michkov and Vladimir Grudinin took full advantage of this. The defender played a wall with the top scorer of the championship and reduced the handicap.

It seemed that this event should make the Canadians nervous, and, on the contrary, encourage the Russians to take the final assault. But in the last ten minutes of the meeting Leshchev's wards looked pretty toothless. Maple Leaves played very confidently in defense and did not allow Michkov and company to create serious problems for Gaudreau. In the end, the domestic team had no choice but to release the sixth field player on the ice and go all-in, but this attempt was unsuccessful. The loss of the puck caused Wright to roll into an empty net and set the final score.

The Russian national team lost to the national team of Canada in the final of the junior world championship and won silver medals for the second time in a row. This allowed her to bypass Finland and come out on the clean second place in the total number of awards in the world championships for players under 18 years old. In turn, the founders of hockey interrupted an unsuccessful streak and took gold for the first time since 2013.