Match to adorn any tournament

Another spectacular victory for the President’s hockey team

The Republican Hockey League continues its journey and is approaching the playoff stage. Matches of this tournament are gaining an increasing popularity, and the Minsk’s Olympic Arena — which hosts home matches of the President’s team — is always filled to capacity. Another full house was on February 15th, when the ice squad of the Head of State met with the Minsk Region’s team and achieved a difficult yet very bright victory — 3:2.

BELTA

The teams approached the face-to-face confrontation with a one hundred percent result: four wins each in four meetings. The Minsk Region’s hockey players have long established themselves as a serious force. Suffice it to recall that it was they who fought with the President’s team for the title of champions in the final series last April. Then, in the opening match of the ‘golden’ series, the team of the Head of State won 5:2, and in the return match, the hockey players of Minsk Region put up a fight against the favourite but still could not turn the tide of events. The President’s team was again stronger 10:8 and became a 15-time winner of the republican amateur tournament.
The current season has not changed the position of forces, nor the keen desire of the Minsk Region’s team to take revenge. The match at the Olympic Arena was not called the ‘hidden final’ for nothing — it fully met expectations. The game turned out to be wonderful: highly attacking, exciting, uncompromising. The fans were thrilled!
Once again, there was no room to swing a cat in the stands of the Olympic Arena, with the audience supporting both teams enthusiastically and loudly. As always, there were a lot of young people, and the guys said that they came from the neighbouring regions of Minsk. The fans were not bored during the breaks either: numerous shows, entertainment, prize draws — the major tournaments might envy such an entourage and organisation. 

Young hockey fans at Minsk's Olympic Arena, during match of Republican Hockey League with participation of President's team
belta 

Prior to this match, the Minsk Region’s team had conceded the least goals in the tournament — only six times in four meetings. The most attacking team of the championship, the President’s team, had to break into the redoubts of the Minsk Region’s squad. Before this match, the team of the Head of State had hit the opponent’s goal 33 times, on average scoring more than eight times per game.
The first half of the opening period was full of mutual attacks and high speeds. The hosts, however, immediately asserted their rights and the guests’ goalkeeper, Maksim Shchepko — who was recognised as the best player of the match in the guest team — had to work hard. For 10 minutes, he and the defenders managed to cope with all the attacks of the reigning champions, yet the eleventh one turned out to be fatal — Aleksei Yefimenko opened the score after the passes of Nikolai Lukashenko and Artem Karkotsky — 1:0. The Minsk Region’s players had a lot of chances to win back before the end of the first 20 minutes, but the goalkeeper of the President’s team, Stepan Goryachevsky, acted perfectly.
“Such a match can adorn any tournament,” the audience clicked their tongues in delight. Waves of dashing attacks alternately rolled over both halves of the skating rink. Aleksandr Kudryavtsev equalised the score, but Maksim Parfeyevets — after a pass from Nikolai Lukashenko — put the hosts ahead again — 2:1. Right there, Nikita Drozdov performed such a mind-blowing solo on the ice that made the audience gasp! Pavel Datsyuk’s spirit seemed to have entered the striker of the Minsk Region’s team, as he outplayed several rivals, broke through to the goal and sent the puck behind Stepan Goryachevsky with an elusive stick movement — there was a draw again. It was only in the very last moments of the match that Aleksei Yefimenko managed to tip the scales on the side of the President’s team — 3:2. The intensity of emotions was incredible!


After the match, as is traditional, the teams stayed on the ice for a long time to take photos and communicate, and the fans received a lot of soft toys as a gift from the President. This day and this match will undoubtedly be remembered most of all by an ordinary boy from Soligorsk, Vladislav Kudryavtsev. He came to the Olympic Arena with a simple homemade poster on which he wrote down his dream: ‘I want the President’s stick!’

In one of the episodes, Aleksandr Lukashenko, when skating near the young fan, noticed the guy and fulfilled his dream: the Head of State handed his hockey stick to the young hockey fan.

After the match, Vladislav clutched it in his hands like the greatest treasure. His face was beaming with happiness.

By Sergei Kanashits