Come on, young people!

In the semi-finals of the Junior World Hockey Championship, the Russian national team presented its fans with another dramatic performance. Winning 2:0, losing 2:3, ours equalized the score a minute and a half before the end of the match, and then turned out to be stronger than the Swedes in the shootout and won a ticket to the final!

On the eve of the match, Sobesednik.ru was already thinking that there was no clear answer to the question of what is better: to perform for three days in a row or to play once, rest for three days and go on the ice again. Let us remind you that 15 hours before the start of the semi-final match with the Swedes, the Russians completed a difficult match against Finland. The Swedes last played before the New Year - on December 31, they defeated the Canadians in the dispute for first place in the group and won a direct ticket to the semi-finals.

But contrary to fears, the Russian team, although not completely, leveled out the difference in physical condition. Part of the work was done by nature - as you know, in youth a tired body recovers quite quickly, part by the experienced coach Valery Bragin, who forced his players to play in short shifts.

Of course, the execution of the coach’s idea did not look flawless - sometimes our team caught the opponent, but much more often they themselves did not have time to change in time... Nevertheless, this brought local results. What can we say about the final result!

The starting twenty minutes remained with the Russians. And although there were plenty of dangerous moments at both goals, goalkeepers Shikin and Lehner saved their partners more than once. True, the Swede once made a mistake when, in the middle of the first period, team captain Tarasenko, who was behind the goal, made a tricky shot from a negative angle, and the puck rolled from the goalkeeper’s back behind the “ribbon”. But it is completely wrong to blame Lehner for the missed goal.

American cameramen showed our bench many times, and the picture clearly showed how hard the players were breathing. Therefore, after the break, the Swedes increased the pace in order to exhaust the opponent and force him to make mistakes. It was clear that trouble was just around the corner - team leaders Kuznetsov, Orlov, Kitsyn were already having difficulty moving their legs by the middle of the meeting... But first, the Russian team scored again. At one point, to the surprise of the team, the referee Tre Krunur did not record the icing; Bocharov did not switch out of the game, caught up with the puck and laid out an excellent pass from behind the goal to Golubev. It was not difficult for him to beat Lehner, 2-0!

Trying to maintain their dwindling advantage, the Russians began to actively meet and put pressure on the opponent in the middle zone, but their compatriots did not last long - soon their strength began to dry up. In the minority before the break, our hockey players miss the first puck, at the very beginning of the third period - the second, then the third... But Bragin’s players don’t give up this time and a minute and a half before the end of regular time of the match they equalize - it’s Kalinin, who is falling, pushing the puck from the “patch”!

Overtime and the subsequent shootouts became Shikin's benefit performance. He stopped all shots on his own goal and rightfully earned the title of best player of the meeting. And the winning shootout was scored by Golubev.

Sobesednik.ru's forecast came true, but regardless of who our “youth team” will get in the final – the USA or Canada (we would venture to guess that it will be the Americans) – and how they conduct it, we can already say with confidence: there is no shame in this team!

The final match will begin on Thursday, January 6 at 3:30 Moscow time.