The Russian national ice hockey team won the first victory over the Swiss team in the second round of the group stage of the World Youth Championship. The meeting ended with a score of 5: 2, TASS reports.
After the not very successful first match of the tournament, the Russian national team met with the Swiss team, the site became known. The match took place in the second arena of the tournament, Vladislav Sukhachev took the place at the goal, who in the last game with the Czechs (4: 5) replaced Alexei Melnichuk during the meeting. Valery Bragin redrawn a number of links, so the second three attacks were made by German Rubtsov, Artur Kayumov and Artyom Manukyan.
At the beginning Russian hockey players held out twice in the minority, and then were able to take advantage of their chance in the majority. Vladislav Semin just threw from the blue line, scoring his second goal in the tournament. Bragin's team acted stricter in defense and did not allow many shots to be made at their goal. The second period started badly for the Russians, already at the 9th second, Marco Miranda equalized the score after a blunder in defense.
Immediately, the Russian national team had to play again in the minority, but once again the special teams played reliably. Pressure on the Swiss defense, in the 39th minute Klim Kostin was able to push the puck into the goal and bring the team forward. The third period also started unsuccessfully with the puck abandoned by the Swiss. Then Arthur Kayumov began to save the team again, who was able to deal with the opponents shortly and throw the puck into the near upper corner. A nervous ending was avoided after one of the Swiss was unable to knock the puck out of an empty net. The point was put by Vitaly Abramov with an empty net.
Hockey. World Youth Championship
Russia - Switzerland - 5: 2 (1: 0, 1: 1, 3: 1)
1: 0 - Semin (Abramov, Sokolov) - 10:21 (5 × 4)
1: 1 - Miranda (Kurashev, Mayar) - 20:09
2: 1 - Kostin (Svechnikov, Semin) - 38:16
2: 2 - Jaeger (Heim, Siegrist) - 42:10
3: 2 - Kayumov (Kostin) - 51:02
4: 2 - Ivanov (Svechnikov) - 58:18
5: 2 - Abramov - 58:31 (en)
| Commands | Victory | Defeats | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Games | FROM | B | B | FROM | Washers | Glasses | % points | ||||||
| 1 | Canada U20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10-2 | 6 | 100,0 | |||||||
| 2 | USA U20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9-0 | 3 | 100,0 | |||||||
| 3 | Finland U20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6-5 | 3 | 50,0 | |||||||
| 4 | Slovakia U20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-6 | 0 | 0,0 | |||||||
| 5 | Denmark U20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1-13 | 0 | 0,0 | |||||||
| Commands | Victory | Defeats | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Games | FROM | B | B | FROM | Washers | Glasses | % points | ||||||
| 1 | Sweden U20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9-2 | 6 | 100,0 | |||||||
| 2 | Russia U20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9-7 | 3 | 50,0 | |||||||
| 3 | Czech Republic U20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6-7 | 3 | 50,0 | |||||||
| 4 | Switzerland U20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5-7 | 3 | 50,0 | |||||||
| 5 | Belarus U20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3-9 | 0 | 0,0 | |||||||
The World Youth Championships have been held annually since 1977; only teams from Canada, Finland and Sweden took part in all 40 tournaments. Hockey players of Canada have become world champions more often than others - 16 times, 13 victories in total for the national teams of the USSR, CIS and Russia.
The 42nd World Cup will be especially noteworthy for the Russian national team and its head coach Valery Bragin, whose youth stage of his career began with the "golden" tournament in 2011.
That championship was held just in Buffalo, so Bragin was probably pleased that this city won fierce competition for the right to host the tournament in Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Chicago.
It was that MFM-2011 that changed the status of the tournament in the eyes of Russian fans. From an obscure and interesting competition to the mass spectator, the youth world championships have moved into the status of an invariable New Year's attribute of Russians who are even more or less interested in hockey.
Actually, you can even say exactly when and why this change in consciousness happened.
On January 5, 2011, Russia beat Canada in the final, revenge for the defeat in the group.
If in the first match of the tournament (3: 6) the Russians outright lost to the “maple leaves” the third period, to which the teams approached with a score of 3: 3, then in the final Bragin's wards were inferior before the final 20-minute with a score of 0: 3, but were able to incredible five goals in a row and snatched gold.
That match was officially recognized by the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) as the best in the history of the youth world championships.
Miracles on schedule
But the main reason why youth hockey received in the eyes of the fans the status that he deserved, is not even the Buffalo gold in 2011.
Ice hockey at the level of youth teams and Bragin's teams does not leave anyone indifferent. It is a celebration of play, sincerity, skill, emotion, character and patriotism in the best sense of the word.
In addition, the national team, under the leadership of Bragin, has one feature: it always plays to the end, without giving up in any situation, thanks to which it often performs miracles fantastically.
Bragin himself over the years of work with the youth team of Russia has earned the honorary nickname Valery Kambekovich.
Bragin really knows how to work with young hockey players, understands their psychology and from year to year finds the right path to their hearts.
Back in 2004, the specialist led the Russian national team at the junior world championship and there he won gold with the team where Alexander Radulov performed, and.
Even then, in the final match against the United States, the Russians were able to win (3: 2) after the first game segment lost with a minimum score.
But on the stream of comebacks, Bragin's teams were already at the youth level. In 2011 final match with Canada was the crown of miracles from the Russian team, and before him there was a quarterfinal victory over Finland in overtime (4: 3 OT), when at the beginning of the 56th minute Russia lost 1: 3, and a semi-final against Sweden, won by shootouts ( 4: 3 B).
In that match, the Russian national team was leading in two goals, but allowed the opponent not only to recoup, but also to take the lead, and in the 57th minute, and still escaped and reached the very final against Canada.
The following year, the Russians played in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic (2: 1 OT), but in the final they held on against Sweden on the shoulders of the goalkeeper, who reflected the first 57 shots on his goal, but still missed 58th in overtime from Mika Zybanejad. The Russians were able to scrape together only 17 shots at the Swedish goal.
After that, Bragin resigned, and for two years the main youth team headed the country.
Despite the fact that bronze medals were won twice under him, I don't really want to remember this period: for some reason, in both tournaments there was a very strange selection of players in the Russian team, when one or two links were clearly weaker than the others, and awards were actually won on their shoulders team leaders.
Although in both cases the Russian team lacked quite a bit in the semifinals against Sweden, and Canada was beaten twice in the bronze matches, Bragin's return to the youth team in 2015 was perceived as happiness.
Until the second coming of the specialist comes out gold. In 2015 and 2016, the team under his leadership took silver medals, and last year they were left with only bronze, but very, very offensive.
But at these tournaments Bragin confirmed his reputation. In 2015, in the final with Canada, the comeback was not quite enough - Russia was hopelessly losing 1: 5 during the third period, but scored three goals in a row and almost saved the meeting.
Well, the 40th MFM passed under the sign of "returns" Russian youth... In the group stage were won strong-willed victories over the Czech Republic (2: 1 B) and Finland (6: 4), but those were only flowers.
In the playoffs, Russia escaped three times, and twice for last minute changing the goalkeeper to the sixth fielder. So it was in the quarterfinals against Denmark (4: 3 OT), in the semifinals with the Americans (2: 1), the Russians turned the game over in the second segment, and in the final against Finland, Russia was short of the minority in the 58th minute, was able to transfer the meeting to overtime with a goal six seconds before the siren, but conceded from in the extra segment.
Anomaly-2017
The 2017 Youth World Cup came out strange for many reasons. First, for the first time in the history of this tournament reigning champion did not get into the playoffs, but in the butt round for survival in the elite.
The Finnish national team managed to lose the chances to leave the last place in the group with Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic and Switzerland even before the last round, and then, not without problems, won the streak for survival against Latvia (2: 1, 4: 1).
The innovation of the tournament played against Russia. At the MFM in Montreal and Toronto, for the first time, there was a rule under which a shootout in the playoffs initially consisted of not three, but five attempts.
For some reason, Russian hockey players did not know this, and in the rescued in the third period - but what about? - in the semi-final against the USA, after the reflected third American shootout, we went to rejoice.
It turned out that it was too early - the referees returned the teams to the ice, and the Americans made the next two attempts, the Russians scored only one, and the Stars and Stripes were lucky in the additional shootouts.
Supercomposition of Russia
Bragin's team is going to the current world forum in a very powerful and promising line-up. Forward Andrei Svechnikov claims to be selected in the NHL draft under the first number in the summer of 2018.
The Canadian player for Victorianville became the second-highest scorer in the Quebec Junior League (QMJHL) last season (after).
Now playing in the AHL for the St. Louis farm club, San Antonio, is a very promising striker, who is tipped for a great future in the NHL.
Finally, Russia has a chic three from the SKA farm club SKA-1946 Altybarmakyan - Polodyan - Maltsev. These guys should definitely declare themselves in Buffalo. In the recent Super Series with the national teams of the junior leagues of Canada, they looked great.
And, of course, there are no hockey players in Bragin's team whose call to the youth team would look strange, which the youth teams of 2013 and 2014 did not avoid ...
The composition of the Russian national team at the MFM-2017:
goalkeepers:(SKA-Neva), (Su Falls, USHL), (Chelmet);
defenders:(CSKA), (Chelmet), (Swift Current, WHL), (Dynamo Moscow), (Tolpar), (SKA-Neva), (Gelf Storm, OHL), ( "SKA-Neva");
forwards:(Sudbury, OHL), (Avangard), Vitaly Abramov (Victoriaville, QMJHL), (Lokomotiv), (SKA-Neva), Andrey Svechnikov (Barry Colts, OHL), ( SKA-Neva), (Akadi-Bathurst, QMJHL), Marsel Sholokhov (Chelmet), Klim Kostin (San Antonio, AHL), (SKA-Neva), (Lokomotiv) ...
Foreign creatures
Although this year the Russian national team will be one of the main favorites of the MFM, there are plenty of brilliant young players in other teams as well.
The traditionally powerful team was brought to America by Sweden, whose hockey system for training juniors works like a real conveyor belt.
Two hockey players should be singled out for Tre Kronur. The 18-year-old defender is already in full swing in the Swedish elite division for Frelunda, scored 11 (5 + 6) points in this championship and is the main competitor for the first draft in 2018.
But the main star of the Swedes is still 19-year-old striker Elias Petterson, who is simply blowing up the Swedish league with Vaxjo.
The striker went to the youth national team in the status top scorer leagues! In his first season, he already scored a fantastic 35 (11 goals, 24 assists) in 26 matches!
1.35 points per game in the Swedish league have never been scored by any hockey player in the country's rich hockey history.
We can say that the Vancouver Canucks, who picked him at number 5 in last year's draft, hit the jackpot. Petterson should become a worthy heir to the “killer whales” and the Sedin brothers, who in their first year in adult hockey went with a score of about one point per game and were still the best in SHL history.
Among the Finns, we will single out center-forward Rasmus Kupari, who, at 17, not only plays in the elite division of the national championship for Karpyat, but is also the youngest in Suomi, as well as the left winger of Jokerit Eli Tolvanen, who in his debut match in the KHL scored a hat-three and now has 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) in 39 regular season games.
A very experienced team this year for the Americans, which is also traditionally played, since most of its players have gone through the USNTDP team of the US junior training system.
At the same time, the leader of the "Stars and Stripes" 19-year-old Prospect of the New York Islanders Kiefer Bellows after this "forge of talent" managed to play for Boston College last season, and this year he plays in Western hockey league(WHL) in Canada for Portland and has 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists) in 31 games.
Bellows' Canadian challenger on WHL quarterback Kyle Klag being prospect Los angeles kings", A fan of the game and, apparently, the heir - the leader of the maple leaves team.
The 19-year-old Clag has an incredible 47 points (10 goals, 37 assists) in 28 Western Hockey League games this season!
Also worth a look is team captain Dylan Dube, who was drafted by the Calgary Flames and has 39 points (18 goals, 21 assists) in 27 games for Kelowna this season, as well as two other strikers.
Alex Forementon and Robert Thomas are the only 18-year-olds to make their way to Canada at this MFM.
They are teammates with London in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), with Formenton being early in the season before returning to junior hockey, play their NHL debut for the Ottawa Senators. The St. Louis Blues forward Thomas has 46 points (20 goals, 26 assists) in 27 OHL games in the current regular season.
Convenient schedule
Despite the fact that this year's tournament is being held overseas, the schedule of matches for Russian fans is quite convenient.
This is due to the fact that our team fell into group B, where there is neither Canada nor the United States, which will get the local prime time, which means a deep night for residents of the central part of Russia.
Bragin's national team will start the tournament on December 26 with a match with the Czech Republic at 20.00 Moscow time, with Switzerland it will play on the 28th at 22.00 Moscow time, the game with Belarus will begin exactly one day later, and only the final group stage match against Sweden will take place on January 1 at 4.00 Moscow time because of his status.
However, for Russians who will celebrate before New Year this is perhaps even better.
In Group A, which includes Canada, the USA, Finland, Denmark and Switzerland, the North American derby will be held for the first time in the history of the MFM in the open air at an American football stadium " New Era Field", Which can accommodate almost 72 thousand spectators.
As for the playoffs, the elimination games will take place in 2018, and almost all of them will take place at the home stadium of the NHL Buffalo Sabers, the Kickbank Arena, with a capacity of almost 20,000 fans.
You can get acquainted with other news, materials and statistics on the Russian national hockey team, as well as in the groups of the sports department on social networks
Ice Hockey World Youth Championship 2017, which will take place in the homeland of hockey, in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Montreal, starts on December 26, 2016. The final match of the 2017 World Youth Championship, where hockey players no older than 20 years old participate, will take place on the final day of the tournament - January 5, 2017. Let's hope the Russian youth ice hockey team, coached by Valery Bragin, will be able to make it to the final.
World Youth Hockey Championship: Schedule
We have already answered the questions - when will the youth World Ice Hockey Championship start and where will it take place. Now let's talk about the participants and the structure of the tournament. The 2017 Youth World Ice Hockey Championship will be attended by 10 teams, divided into two subgroups. The Russian youth team will play in Group B, where, in addition to it, are the national teams of Canada, USA, Slovakia and Latvia. In turn, the five teams of Group A will be composed of the national teams of Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark and Switzerland. Four teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals, and then the playoffs will fight.
Now, in more detail about the schedule of the 2017 World Youth Hockey Championship, compiled according to Moscow time. On the first day of the tournament, December 26, two matches will take place: Sweden and Denmark will play at 21:00 Moscow time, and at 23:30 - the USA and Latvia.
On December 27, the Czechs and Finns will converge at one in the morning, and then, at four in the morning Moscow time, the Russian national team in the opening match of the MFM-2017 will play with the hosts of the championship, the Canadians. During the same day, on December 27, the Czechs will again go out on the ice: their meeting with the Swiss is scheduled for 21:00.
On the night of December 27-28, exactly at midnight, the Russian national team will start their second match - against the Latvians. At 01:30 on December 28, the Finns will play with the Danes, and at 04:00, the Canadians will test the Slovaks.
Four fights are scheduled for Thursday, December 29. At 01:00 the meeting between the Swedes and the Swiss will begin, at 03:30 - the Slovaks will play with the Americans, at 21:00 the Danes will cross clubs with the Czechs, and at 23:30 the Russian national team will meet the US national team. The Stars and Stripes, as you can easily see, will have to hold two meetings within 20 hours.
On Friday, December 30, there will be two matches: Finland - Sweden (01:30) and Latvia - Canada (04.00).
The last day of the outgoing year at the MFM will be eventful. On December 31, the following will enter the ice: Switzerland - Denmark (01:00), Slovakia - Latvia (03.30), Sweden - Czech Republic (21:00) and the USA - Canada (23:30).
On New Year's Eve, January 1, the group stage will end with two games: Finland - Switzerland (01:30) and Russia - Slovakia (04:00). Note that the Russian national team will play all the group stage matches in Toronto, at the Air Canada Center arena.
The quarterfinals will be held on January 2-3. On January 2, two matches will take place: at 21:00 the winner of group A will play with the team that took 4th place in group B, and at 23:30 the winner of group A will meet with the fourth team of group A. Earlier, at 19:00, there will be a consolation match for 9th place between outsiders.
On Tuesday, January 3, two more quarter-finals will take place. At 01:30 the second team of group A will play with the third team of group B, and at 04:00 - the second team of group B will converge with the third team of group A.
The semifinals of the MFM-2017 are scheduled for January 4-5. On January 4 at 23:00, the winner of the quarterfinals A1-B4 will play with the winner of the B2-A3 pair, and on January 5, at 03:30, teams from quarterfinal pairs B1-A4 and A2-B3.
On the evening of January 5, at 23:30, the match for 3rd place will take place, and on the night of January 5-6, at 04:00, the final match will begin in Montreal.
World Youth Hockey Championship 2017: where to watch
All matches of the Russian youth ice hockey team from the MFM-2017 in live will be shown by the Match TV channel. The start of live broadcasts coincides with the above meeting start. Taking into account the fact that the games are held at not the most convenient time for viewing in Russia (at night), in the morning of the next day, Match TV will re-show the matches of the Russian national team in the recording.
The composition of the Russian national team for the World Youth Championship 2017
In conclusion - about as part of the youth national team of Russia for the youth ice hockey world championship 2017. Main coach Russian youth team Valery Bragin summoned 23 hockey players to a tournament in Canada.
Goalkeepers: Anton Krasotkin (Loko), Vladislav Sukhachev (Chelmet), Ilya Samsonov (Metallurg Mg).
Defenders: Vadim Kudako (Severstal), Mikhail Sidorov (Ak Bars), Sergei Zborovsky (Regina), Yegor Voronkov (Vityaz), Grigory Dronov (Metallurg Mg), Mikhail Sergachev (Windsor ), Egor Rykov (SKA), Artem Volkov (Dynamo Bshkh).
Forwards: Kirill Kaprizov (Salavat Yulaev), Kirill Urakov (Torpedo NN), Danila Kvartalnov (CSKA), Alexander Polunin (Lokomotiv), Kirill Belyaev (Ugra), German Rubtsov (Vityaz), Pavel Karnaukhov (CSKA), Denis Alekseev (Admiral), Danil Yurtaykin (Ryazan), Mikhail Vorobiev (Salavat Yulaev), Yakov Trenin (Gatino), Denis Guryanov (Texas).
On December 26, 2017, the 2017-2018 World Youth Hockey Championship (MHM) started in Buffalo. The first matches have already been able to show whether the Russian youth team has any chances for champion status. The results were quite contradictory: one loss and one victory.
On group stage all teams were divided into two groups, A and B. Group A included the following countries: Canada (U - 20), USA (U - 20), Finland (U - 20), Slovakia (U - 20), Denmark (U - twenty). Group B included teams from the following countries: Sweden (U - 20), Russia (U - 20), Czech Republic (U - 20), Switzerland (U - 20), Belarus (U - 20). All matches will be played at the stadium New Era New Era Field and KeyBank Center and Harbor Center arenas.
World Youth Hockey Championship 2017 results: start matches
On December 26 and 27 the following matches were held: Belarus - Sweden - 1: 6; Canada - Finland - 6: 2, Switzerland - Belarus 3: 2, and Czech Republic - Russia - 5: 4. The first match of the Russian youth team went smoothly enough. At first the game was sluggish, but in the second period from 2: 2 the score changed to 4: 2, and then to 5: 2. But then the Russians had a "second wind" and they were able to change the score to 5: 4. Although our youth team did not succeed in winning this game, the fans still think that this is a pretty good result for the Russian U-20 team, but they are worried about their next matches.
Ice hockey world youth championship 2017 results: last matches
On December 28, there were the following matches: Slovakia - Canada - 0: 6, Finland - Denmark - 4: 1, Russia - Switzerland - 5: 2 - the first victory of the Russian youth team in the MFM. A very difficult win, but extremely pleasant for all fans. In this match Vladislav Semin opened the scoring in the 11th minute of the game. More for Russian team goals were scored by Klim Kostin (39), Artur Kayumov (52), Georgy Ivanov (59) and Vitaly Abramov (59). Marco Miranda (21) and Ken Jaeger (43) scored for the Swiss youth team.
Today, December 29, Friday, two matches ended: Sweden - Czech Republic - 3: 1 and USA - Slovakia - 2: 3.
World Youth Hockey Championship 2017 results: schedule of upcoming matches
Already today, December 29, at 20:00 the game will pass Belarus - Russia, and at 23:00 there will be a match Canada - USA. December 30: 20:00 Czech Republic - Belarus, 22:00 Sweden - Switzerland. And 2017 will end with the following matches: 00:00 Finland - Slovakia, 04:00 Denmark - Canada, 20:00 Switzerland - Czech Republic. Already on the first day of the coming year - January 1, that is, Monday: 00:00 USA - Finland, 02:00 Slovakia - Denmark, 04:00 Russia - Sweden.
The 2018 Youth Ice Hockey World Championship starts on December 26, 2017 and ends on January 5, 2018. The next draw of the tournament, like last time, will take place on the territory North America- in the American city of Buffalo. The presenters will come to the championship hockey teams... Viewers will see the teams of Canada, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, USA - only 10 national teams. But only one of them will win the trophy of the 42nd edition of the championship.
Where and when the World Youth Hockey Championship 2018 will take place
Spectators will see the sports action from December 26, 2017 to January 5 next year... Hockey players will gather in the American city of Buffalo. They will have three modern sports complexes at their service: New Era Field, Kibank Center and Harbor Center.
Harbor Center
A multi-purpose complex that is widely used for exhibitions and concerts. The seating capacity is very low - 1,800. It seems that the organizers will seriously think about how to increase the number of seats.
"Cybank Center"
The home arena of the Buffalo Sabers, a local hockey team, with a capacity of 19,000 spectators. Both semifinal matches and the World Cup final will take place within the walls of the SC.
"New Era Field"
Huge football stadium in the open air, in the stands of which more than 71,000 fans can fit. But viewers shouldn't worry. The organizers are not going to freeze them the whole tournament at all. There will be only one match on the New Era Field ice. But what - the USA vs Canada! The game will take place within the group stage.
Schedule of the hockey World Cup 2018 among youth teams
This is how the calendar of matches for the upcoming tournament looks like:
- 26 - 31 December 2017: group round;
- 2 january 2018: quarterfinals;
- The 25th of January: consolation round;
- 4 January: semi-final;
- 5 January: final and bronze medal match.
The consolation round should be mentioned separately. This is a three-match series of games, which is held up to 2 wins. It is where the two worst band members meet. The winner of the confrontation gets the opportunity to stay in the top division, and the loser is relegated to the league one level below.
Ice Hockey U20 World Championship 2018 Teams
The “hockey world championship” will be attended by 10 ice teams, staffed by players not older than 20 years. The organizers of the tournament have already divided them into two quintets.
Group A:
- Canada;
- Denmark;
- Slovakia;
- Finland.
One match each will take place at New Era Field and Harbor Center, and all the rest at Kibank Center.
Group B:
- Russia;
- Sweden;
- Czech;
- Switzerland;
- Belarus.
Hockey matches will be held on the ice of the Kibank Center and Harbor Center.
Russian national team at the World Youth Hockey Championship 2018
Our “young growth” will again try to win the gold medals of the competition. The schedule of games of the Russian national team in the group round of the World Cup is as follows:
- 26 december 2017: Russia - Czech Republic;
- December 28th: Russia - Switzerland;
- December 29th: Russia - Belarus;
- 31th of December: Russia - Sweden.
The group is even. It is hard to imagine that the domestic squad will not be able to make it to the playoffs. The main opponents for the first place in the quintet are likely to be the Swedes and the Czechs.
Final of the World Cup 2018 in ice hockey among youth teams
It is difficult to predict who will qualify for the final. But if we turn to statistics recent years, then the list of potential participants looks like this: Russia, Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden.
Canada
16-time winners of the competition. Especially a lot of gold was stamped by Maple Leaves in the mid-90s and 2000s. There is no doubt that the Canadians will try to bring the number of their victories to 17!
Russia
The patriotic squad can boast of 13 awards of the highest standard, 4 of which it won in the modern period. Last time our guys won gold in 2011. Since then, Valery Bragin's charges have been very close to success. But so far they manage to take only silver and bronze.
Finland
The Suomi national team was the best 4 times. The last gold went to them in 2016. It is noteworthy that already in the next edition, the Finns almost flew out of the elite division. In general, you don't know what to expect from these strange Finnish guys ...
Sweden
The Scandinavians took the World Cup trophy only 2 times. Not too much for such a serious hockey country. But Tre Krunur has a chance to improve!
The tournament will take place in an American city. Therefore, there is no doubt that the US team - the winner of the 2017 World Cup - will tear and throw, supported by their native stands!