| Bad ice did not prevent Russia from reaching the second stage of the World Cup At the World Ice Hockey Championship in Austria, the Russian team will today play the final match of the first group stage against the Belarus team. The result of this meeting will be included in the standings of Group “E” of the second stage, where head coach Vladimir Krikunov’s team secured their place after two rounds, defeating the hosts of the tournament - 4:2 and drawing with the Slovaks - 3:3.
Austria, which also lost to the Belarusians - 0:5, has lost all chances to continue the fight for awards and will take part in a one-round tournament of outsiders of four groups for the right to remain in the top division of the World Cup. At the second stage, Russia will meet with Sweden, Finland, as well as Ukraine or Denmark, which will definitely become clear after today’s match between these rivals. Moreover, in this game our closest geographical neighbors will be satisfied with a draw result.
The first matches of the Russian national team at the championship did not leave a particularly vivid impression, but it is felt that the team can improve as the tournament progresses. In the match with Austria, Dynamo's Alexander Ovechkin opened the scoring, his teammate Alexander Kharitonov was the next to score against the Russians, but the clearly inferior opponents managed to equalize the score twice. Oddly enough, in the second period our opponents made twice as many shots on target against goalkeeper Maxim Sokolov as Krikunov’s team harassed Bruckler. The intrigue in the fight lasted almost until the final siren. In the 57th minute, Alexey Kovalev put Russia ahead for the third time, and when Brückler was replaced as a sixth field player at the end, Kovalchuk hit the empty net.
Of course, the quality of the teams was offset by the disgusting quality of the ice. Let us remind you that a few days before the start of the tournament in Vienna's Stadthalle, the Austria-Switzerland control match was not completed due to a crack on the court. The organizers were unable to quickly resolve all the problems with ice filling and temperature conditions. Already in the first period of the opening match, puddles began to appear on the court - not snow dust and ice chips, but splashes of water flew from under the skates of the hockey players.
Before the game with Slovakia, Krikunov made several changes in the lines. Kovalchuk was transferred from Antipov and Nepryaev to the top three with Yashin and Kozlov, and Ilya’s place in the third top five was taken by Fedorov Jr. There were other changes as the match progressed. The reason for the first two goals against the Russians was the removal of defensive players. In the middle of the match, the Slovaks were leading 2:0, having realized their numerical advantage after two-minute penalties from Vyshedkevich and Markov. True, our team was a little lucky - 20 seconds after Hossa’s goal, the puck, ricocheting off Nepryaev, slipped into the Lashak goal. And soon Markov made the score 2:2 with his strongest throw in a five-on-three game.
In the opening of the third period, the Russians found themselves in the role of catching up due to a childish mistake by Kovalchuk. During the next shift, due to inattention, he jumped onto the ice ahead of time, and the referee recorded a violation of the numerical strength of our team. Retribution for the offensive sending off followed immediately: Wisnovski converted the advantage 20 seconds after the throw-in. The savior of our team was the experienced Viktor Kozlov: with a pass from the rehabilitated Kovalchuk, he set the final score - 3:3. “We made unforgivable mistakes, and therefore, with so many defects, I am pleased with the final result,” said Krikunov. - Twice we were given shots from under Proshkin, Karpovtsev incorrectly threw the puck out of his zone in the third period. I would call Kozlov the best player on my team, who allowed us to escape defeat.”
World Hockey Championship. Match results. Group "A". Russia - Austria - 4:2, Slovakia - Belarus - 2:1, Russia - Slovakia - 3:3, Belarus - Austria - 2:1. Team position: Russia, Slovakia - 3 points each, Belarus - 2, Austria - 0. Group “B”. Canada - Latvia - 6:4, USA - Slovenia - 6:0. Group "C". Finland - Denmark - 2:1, Sweden - Ukraine - 3:2, Finland - Ukraine - 4:1, Sweden - Denmark - 7:0. Team position : Sweden, Finland - 4 points each, Denmark, Ukraine - 0. Group “D”. Czech Republic - Switzerland - 3:1, Kazakhstan - Germany - 2:1. Late last night we played: Kazakhstan - Switzerland, Canada - Slovenia, Czech Republic - Germany, USA - Latvia. Vladimir ILYIN |
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