President’s ice hockey team won amateur tournament for 14th time
The hockey team of the President of Belarus has become the winner of the National Amateur Ice Hockey Tournament for the Prizes of the President’s Sports Club for the 14th time, BelTA reports
On April 8th, on the ice of Minsk’s Olympic Arena, the Head of State’s team defeated the Minsk Region squad in the second match of the decisive series of the 16th National Amateur Ice Hockey Tournament – 6:4 (2:0, 1:1, 3:3). A week ago, the President’s team was also stronger – 6:1.
After confident victories in the first meeting, the President’s team also controlled the match, and in the 5th minute one of its leaders – Andrei Kostitsyn – opened the score. In less than 10 minutes the result was doubled by Aleksei Baranov, who was assisted by Aleksandr Lukashenko and Mikhail Grabovsky. The guests had a lot of attacks, but before the break they failed to break through Stepan Goryachevsky. At the beginning of the second period, Artem Antonenko scored the third goal, and a minute before the second break, Artem Puchkovsky won back one goal. In the middle of the final third of the match, Yaroslav Chupris scored after Aleksandr Lukashenko’s exact pass, and the guests responded with a goal from Aleksandr Burmistronk. In the rest of the playing time, Nikolai Lukashenko scored a double goal, hitting the net with long-range shots. At the end of the game, Ilya Busilko and Sergei Zadelenov scored for the Minsk Region squad.
Andrei Kostitsyn and Aleksandr Kruchinin were recognised as the best players of the match.
According to a long-established tradition, during the breaks of the hockey match, the audience saw performances by Belarusian pop singers. Moreover, the most active fans took part in competitions right on the ice, with winners being presented with prizes from the President’s Sports Club. Other fans were not left without gifts either; immediately after the end of the meeting they were given dozens of soft toys from the players of the President’s team.
The bronze medals were claimed by ice hockey players from the Brest Region, who beat the national team of the Gomel Region – 5:3.
According to the results of the tournament, the best in terms of playing roles were determined as follows: goalkeeper – Maksim Shchepko (Minsk Region), defender – Andrei Bashko (team of the President of Belarus), forward – Andrei Kostitsyn (team of the President of Belarus). The best scorer was the Brest Region squad’s forward Aleksandr Korotkevich, who earned 28 points: 16 goals and 12 assists. Prizes were awarded to the winners of the competitions by Sports and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk, Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev and Chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Alexander Bogdanovich.
The ice hockey team of the President is a 14-time winner of these competitions, with hockey players from the Gomel and Minsk regions also claiming one title each.
The organisers of the forum are the President’s Sports Club, the Sports and Tourism Ministry and the Minsk City Executive Committee.
