Contents: Stuck by importance of the game, both teams have not taken any particular risk in the first period. Koltsov opened the score in the second period, which started liberating the rival Red Team who equalized thanks to Proshkin, 3 minutes later. Then Belarus took a new advantage at the 34th minute with Antonenko’s goal, which again was catched up by Atjushov’ equalization. Just a few seconds later, Frolov gave a leading shot. At this point, The Russian Fans standing around the arena in superiority began to breathe. Before the bell rang, Salei from Belarus canceled this short advance and set back the counters at zero. Anguish could not be hidden on Coach Slava Bykov’s face, usually showing no emotion. For the break, he even decided to replace Goalie Bryzgalov by Eremenko. During ultimate period, 2008 Champion Kovalchuk gave the crucial goal just like last year against Canada. Conclusion is that even if it was no more piece of cake for Russia to dominate their adversary, they still manage keeping control on game and moreover, keeping their confidence.
Contents: No mistake was made by the powerful Czech squad this time. Defeat against Canada (score: 1-5) is almost already forgotten. Cajanek scored 2 goals, one in the second period, the other 4 minutes before gameover, driven by Hemsky and Jagr. Elias had his goal too, assisted by Hemsky at the 40th minute. Team Belarus opposed a very fresh Stepanek in the cage, who numbered no less than 18 stops ! Qualifying round being finished for both teams, Belarusians know they will face Russia in Quarter Finals, a quite hardy task, whereas Czechs are still waiting to discover their opponent, who might either be Sweden, either U.S.A.
Contents: This unexpected Victory eliminated Team Slovakia and gave better chance for Belarus to qualify. The controls and tactics of both opponents remained a bit messy all game long. A very early goal (at the 5h second) shot by Demagin gave instant advantage to Former Soviet Union Republic. Niskala equalized at the second period, and no more goal was scored until the shootout session. We can only ask for the Finnish to recover from their exhausting two straight games. They will badly need it next Monday against Amazing Canadians, although they are already qualified for Quarter Finals.
Contents: Qualified on the line yesterday against Team of Denmark, the Norwegians found a nice inspiration in this game against Belarus. Thoresen assisted by Vikingstad first scored in the first period. Trygg added an extra goal for the Polar Bears in the second. It seems that Belarusians woke up a bit later, eager to prove they have not stolen their Rank in group A just behind Canada. Ugarov and Grabovsky both scored in powerplay, which lead to a draw game at the end of third period. During overtime, misfortuned goalie Lysenstoen left the puck slide off and thus offered an easy chance for Salei to kill all the efforts of his team.
Contents: This game remained very tight until the last minutes of the third period. Belarus opened the score at the 4th minute thanks to Kaljuzhnj assisted by Antonenko and Salei. On the other side, Peterdi assisted by Ladanyi and Vas equalized for Hungary at the 26th minute. One had to wait until the 55th and 60th minutes to watch Belarus triumph with two new goals entered by Ugarov and Grabovsky. Thus, the logic of Current World ranking has been respected.
Contents: The two Eastern-Europe opponents seemed to wear a bulky equipment today as they mainly remained rooted in their back positions. Many offensive attempts consisted in a one-man run-through towards the opposite cage followed by an approximate shot. A goal in the first period would have liberated both teams and generated more intensity in the play. Fortunately, each country goal (1 by Stas, 1 by Hossa) led to the incredible overtime period. At that moment, the hysterical atmosphere around the arena reached one level higher, which turned the game much more attractive. Belarus finally won the penalties round, making Scorer Antonenko and Goalie Mezin Heroes for one day.
Canada setting up Confidence Belarus has breathed deeply and rapidly this afternoon in Bern, Switzerland, facing over-determined Canadians, involved in every piece of action, as if they were playing a final round game. Two goals have been scored in the first period by Steven Stamkos (assist: St.Louis then Doughty) whereas one Belarusian goal has been rejected for maple leaf country goalie Dwayne Roloson has moved his cage.
During the second period, the game got tougher, and the number of penalties increased. Despite of powerplays, and even one double powerplay against Canada, no goal has been scored.
Third period has proved much more intense from both teams, but especially from Canada, which game turned quite pushy and fast. This strategy resulted into 3 more goals scored by Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher and Dany Heatley. Fortunately for poor Team Belarus, Grabovski achieved to save the honour, just before Heatley scored a 6th goal, making it real hard for its opponent to come back, 6 minutes before the end of the game. Hockey Nation has showed its power. Future Opponents Slovakia and Hungary are warned.
Team PLAYERS Composition
Play Belarusian National Anthem
Forwards : Oleg Antonenko, Aleksandr Borovkov, Yaroslav Chupris, Sergei Demagin, Dmitry Dudik, Mikhail Grabovsky, Alesksei Kalyuzhny, Konstantin Koltsov, Evegny Kovyrshin, Aleksandr Kulakov, Dmitri Meleshko, Andrei Mikhalev, Andrei Stas, Aleksei Ugarov
Defensemen : Andrei Antonov, Andrei Bashko, Dmitri Korobov, Viktor Kostyuchenok, Aleksandr Makritsky, Aleksandr Ryadinsky, Ruslan Salei, Ivan Usenko
Goaltenders : Igor Brikun, Vitaly Koval, Andrei Mezin
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