Watch the Youth Hockey World Cup. The Russian national team beat the Swiss team in the Youth World Hockey Championship match
On December 26, 2017, the 2017-2018 World Youth Hockey Championship (IHF) started in Buffalo. The first matches have already been able to show whether the Russian youth team has a chance of achieving champion status. The results turned out to be quite contradictory: one loss and one victory.
At the 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–20). And 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 take place at the stadium New Era Field (New Era Field) and arenas KeyBank Center (KeyBank Center) and Harbor Center (HarborCenter).
Youth World Hockey Championship 2017 results: starting matches
The following matches took place on December 26 and 27: 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 quite smoothly. At first the game was sluggish, but in the second period the score changed from 2:2 to 4:2, and then to 5:2. But then the Russians got their “second wind” and were able to change the score to 5:4. Although our youth team did not manage to win 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.
Youth World Hockey Championship 2017 results: latest 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. Also scoring for the Russian team were Klim Kostin (39), Artur Kayumov (52), Georgy Ivanov (59) and Vitaly Abramov (59). And Marco Miranda (21) and Ken Jaeger (43) scored goals for the Swiss youth team.
Today, December 29, Friday, two matches ended: Sweden - Czech Republic - 3:1 and USA - Slovakia - 2:3.
Youth World Hockey Championship 2017 results: schedule of upcoming matches
Today, December 29, at 20:00 the Belarus - Russia game will take place, and at 23:00 there will be a Canada - USA match. 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 Russian national hockey team won its first victory over the Swiss team in the second round group stage youth world championship. The meeting ended with a score of 5:2, TASS reports.
After a not very successful first match of the tournament, the Russian team met with the Swiss team, the site learned. The match took place in the second arena of the tournament. Vladislav Sukhachev, who replaced Alexey Melnichuk during the meeting in the last game with the Czechs (4:5), took his place in the goal. Valery Bragin redrew a number of lines, so the second three of the attack consisted of German Rubtsov, Artur Kayumov and Artyom Manukyan.
At the beginning Russian hockey players twice survived when playing in the minority, and then were able to take advantage of their chance in the majority. Vladislav Semin shot accurately from the blue line, scoring his second goal of the tournament. Bragin's team acted more strictly in defense and did not allow many shots on their own goal. The second period started badly for the Russians; already in the 9th second, Marco Miranda equalized the score after a blunder in defense.
Immediately, the Russian team had to play in the minority again, but once again the special teams played reliably. The pressure was on the Swiss defense, in the 39th minute Klim Kostin was able to push the puck into the goal and put the team ahead. The third period also started poorly with the Swiss scoring a goal. Then Artur Kayumov again began to save the team, who was able to deal with the opponents briefly and throw the puck into the near upper corner. A nervous ending was avoided after one of the Swiss players failed to clear the puck from the empty net. Vitaly Abramovski put the point into an empty goal.
Hockey. Youth World Championship
Russia - Switzerland - 5:2 (1:0, 1:1, 3:1)
1:0 – Semin (Abramov, Sokolov) – 10:21 (5×4)
1:1 – Miranda (Kurashev, Maillard) – 20:09
2:1 – Kostin (Svechnikov, Semin) – 38:16
2:2 – Jäger (Haim, Siegrist) – 42:10
3:2 – Kayumov (Kostin) – 51:02
4:2 – Ivanov (Svechnikov) – 58:18
5:2 – Abramov – 58:31 (en)
| Teams | 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 | |||||||
| Teams | 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 | |||||||
Youth World Championships have been held annually since 1977; only teams from Canada, Finland and Sweden took part in all 40 tournaments. Canadian hockey players became world champions more often than others - 16 times, 13 victories in total for the national teams of the USSR, CIS and Russia.
The 2018 IIHF World Youth Championship starts on December 26, 2017 and ends on January 5, 2018. The next tournament, like the last time, will take place in North America - in the American city of Buffalo. Presenters will come to the championship hockey teams. Spectators will see the teams of Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, the USA - a total of 10 national teams. But only one of them will win the trophy of the 42nd edition of the championship.
Where and when will the 2018 World Youth Hockey Championship 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. Three modern sports complexes will be at their service: New Era Field", "Cybank Center" and "Harbor Centre".
Harbor Center
A multidisciplinary complex that is widely used for exhibitions and concerts. The 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 local hockey team, the Buffalo Sabers, designed for 19,000 spectators. Both semi-final matches and the World Cup final will take place within the walls of the Sports Complex.
New Era Field
Huge football stadium open-air, the stands of which can accommodate more than 71,000 fans. But viewers shouldn't worry. The organizers are not at all going to freeze them for the entire tournament. Only one match will take place on the ice at New Era Field. But what - USA vs Canada! The game will take place in the group stage.
Schedule of games for the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship
This is what the match calendar for the upcoming tournament looks like:
- December 26 – 31, 2017: group round;
- January 2, 2018: quarterfinals;
- The 25th of January: consolation round;
- 4 January: semi-final;
- 5 January: final and bronze medal match.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the consolation round. This is a three-match series of games, which is played until 2 wins. It's where the two worst members of the bands meet. The winner of the confrontation gets the opportunity to stay in the top division, and the loser is relegated to a lower league level.
Teams Ice Hockey U20 World Championship 2018
10 will come to the Hockey World Cup ice squads staffed by players no older than 20 years of age. The tournament organizers 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, while all others will take place at the Keybank Center.
Group B:
- Russia;
- Sweden;
- Czech Republic;
- Switzerland;
- Belarus.
Hockey matches will take place on the ice of the Keybank Center and Harbor Center.
Russian national team at the 2018 World Youth Hockey Championship
Our “young shoots” will again try to win gold medals in the competition. The schedule of games for the Russian national team in the group round of the World Cup is as follows:
- December 26, 2017: Russia – Czech Republic;
- December 28th: Russia – Switzerland;
- December 29th: Russia – Belarus;
- 31th of December: Russia – Sweden.
The group is even. It's hard to imagine that the domestic team won't be able to make it to the playoffs. The main opponents for first place in the quintet will most likely be the Swedes and the Czechs.
Final of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship
It is difficult to predict who will qualify for the finals. But if you look at the 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. The Maple Leaves stamped especially a lot of gold in the mid-90s and 2000s. There is no doubt that the Canadians will try to increase their number of victories to 17!
Russia
The domestic squad can boast of 13 awards of the highest standard, 4 of which it has won in the modern period. The last time our guys won gold was in 2011. Since then, Valery Bragin's team has been very close to success. But so far they only manage to take silver and bronze.
Finland
The Suomi team was the best 4 times. The Last Gold they got it 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 have only won the World Cup trophy twice. 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 be tearing and throwing, supported by their native stands!
The 42nd World Championship will be especially noteworthy for the Russian national team and its head coach Valery Bragin, whose youth career began with the “golden” tournament in 2011.
That championship was held in Buffalo, so Bragin was probably pleased that this city won the fiercest competition for the right to host the tournament from Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Chicago.
It was the 2011 MFM that changed the status of the tournament in the eyes of Russian fans. From a competition that is obscure and interesting to the mass audience, the youth world championships have become an invariable New Year's attribute for Russians who are at least somewhat interested in hockey.
In fact, one can even say exactly when and why this change in consciousness happened.
On January 5, 2011, Russia beat Canada in the final, avenging their defeat in the group.
If in the first match of the tournament (3:6) the Russians outright lost the third period to the “maple leaves”, which the teams approached with a score of 3:3, then in the final Bragin’s team lost before the final 20 minutes with a score of 0:3, but were able to hold an 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 world youth championships.
Miracles on schedule
But the main reason why youth hockey received in the eyes of the fans the status it deserved, it’s not even the Buffalo 2011 gold.
Hockey at the level of youth teams and Bragin's teams do not leave anyone indifferent. This 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 peculiarity: it always plays to the end, without giving up in any situation, thanks to which it fantastically often performs miracles.
Bragin himself, over the years of working with the Russian youth team, earned the honorary nickname Valery Kambekovich.
Bragin really knows how to work with young hockey players, understands their psychology and year after year finds the right path to their hearts.
Back in 2004, the specialist led the Russian team at the Junior World Championships and won gold there with the team where Alexander Radulov and.
Even then, in the final match against the USA, the Russians were able to win (3:2) after losing the first game segment with a minimal score.
But Bragin’s team has already put the comebacks on stream youth level. In 2011, the final match with Canada was a crown of miracles for the Russian team, and before it there was a quarterfinal victory over Finland in overtime (4:3 OT), when at the beginning of the 56th minute Russia was losing with a score of 1:3, and a semifinal against Sweden , won in shootouts (4:3 B).
In that match, the Russian national team led by two goals, but allowed the opponent not only to win back, but also to take the lead, and in the 57th minute, and still saved themselves and reached that same final against Canada.
The following year, the Russians bounced back in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic (2:1 OT), but in the final they held on against Sweden on the shoulders of a goalkeeper who stopped the first 57 shots on his own goal, but still missed the 58th in overtime from Mika Zibanejad. The Russians were able to scrape together only 17 shots at the Swedish goal.
After this, Bragin resigned and took charge of the country’s main youth team for two years.
Despite the fact that bronze medals were won twice under him, I don’t really want to remember this period: in Russian team for some reason, at both tournaments there was a very strange selection of players, when one or two links were clearly weaker than others, and awards were actually won on the shoulders of the team leaders.
Although in both cases the Russian team lacked just a little in the semi-finals against Sweden, and in the “bronze” matches Canada was beaten twice, Bragin’s return to the youth team in 2015 was perceived as happiness.
Until the second coming of the specialist turns out golden. In 2015 and 2016, the team under his leadership took silver awards, but last year they were left with only bronze, but it was very, very disappointing.
But at these tournaments, Bragin confirmed his reputation. In the 2015 final with Canada, it was just a little bit short of a comeback - Russia was hopelessly losing with a score of 1:5 during the third period, but scored three goals in a row and almost saved the match.
Well, the 40th MFM was marked by the “comeback” of the Russian youth team. At the group stage, strong victories were won over the Czech Republic (2:1 B) and Finland (6:4), but those were just flowers.
In the playoffs, Russia saved itself three times, twice in the last minute, by changing the goalkeeper to a sixth field player. This happened in the quarterfinals against Denmark (4:3 OT), in the semifinals with the Americans (2:1) the Russians turned the game around in the second period, and in the final against Finland, Russia missed a second in the minority in the 58th minute and was able to turn the match into overtime with a goal six seconds before the siren, but missed in the extra period.
Anomaly-2017
The 2017 World Youth Championship was strange for many reasons. Firstly, for the first time in the history of this tournament current champion ended up not in the playoffs, but in the play-off round for survival in the elite.
The Finnish team managed to lose its chances of leaving last place in the group with Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Switzerland even before last round, and then, not without problems, won the survival series against Latvia (2:1, 4:1).
The innovation of the tournament played against Russia. At the MFMs in Montreal and Toronto, for the first time, a rule was in force under which in the playoffs the shootout series initially consists of not three, but five attempts.
For some reason, the Russian hockey players didn’t know this, and in the third period they saved - well, what about? - semi-final against the USA, after the third American shootout was saved, we went to rejoice.
It turned out that it was too early - the referees returned the teams to the ice, and the Americans scored the next two attempts, the Russians scored only one, and in the extra shootout, luck favored the Stars and Stripes.
Russia's super squad
Bragin’s team is heading to the current world forum with a very powerful and promising lineup. Forward Andrei Svechnikov is aiming to be selected first overall in the 2018 NHL draft.
Playing in Canada for Victoriaville, he became the second all-time leading scorer in the Quebec Junior League (QMJHL) last season.
Already playing in the AHL for the St. Louis farm club San Antonio, he is a very promising forward who is predicted to have an excellent future in the NHL.
Finally, Russia has a great trio from the SKA farm club “SKA-1946” Altybarmakyan - Polodyan - Maltsev. These guys should definitely make a statement in Buffalo. In the recent Super Series with Canadian junior league teams, they looked great.
And, of course, there are no hockey players in Bragin’s team whose call-up 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 2017 World Cup:
goalkeepers:(“SKA-Neva”), (“Sioux Falls”, USHL), (“Chelmet”);
defenders:(CSKA), (Chelmet), (Swift Current, WHL), (Dynamo Moscow), (Tolpar), (SKA-Neva), (Gelph Storm, OHL), ( "SKA-Neva");
forwards:(“Sudbury”, OHL), (“Avangard”), Vitaly Abramov (“Victoriaville”, QMJHL), (“Lokomotiv”), (“SKA-Neva”), Andrey Svechnikov (“Barry Colts”, OHL), ( “SKA-Neva”), (“Acadie-Bathurst”, QMJHL), Marcel Sholokhov (“Chelmet”), Klim Kostin (“San Antonio”, AHL), (“SKA-Neva”), (“Lokomotiv”) .
Foreign constellations
Although this year the Russian national team will be one of the main favorites of the World Cup, there are plenty of brilliant young players on the rosters of other teams.
Traditionally, a powerful team was brought to America by Sweden, whose hockey system junior training works like a real conveyor belt.
It is perhaps worth highlighting two hockey players from Tre Kronur. The 18-year-old defender is already playing hard in the elite division of Sweden for Frölunda, scored 11 points (5+6) in this championship and is the main competitor for the first number of the 2018 draft.
But the main star of the Swedes is still 19-year-old forward Elias Petterson, who is simply blowing up the Swedish league as part of Växjö.
The striker went to the youth team as top scorer leagues! In his first season, he already scored a fantastic 35 (11+24) points in 26 matches!
No hockey player in the country's rich hockey history has ever scored 1.35 points per game in the Swedish league.
We can say that the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him fifth overall in last year's draft, hit a real jackpot. Petterson should become a worthy heir for the Orcas and the Sedin brothers, who in their first year in adult hockey scored about one point per game and were still the best in SHL history.
Among the Finns, we highlight center forward Rasmus Kupari, who at the age of 17 not only plays in the elite division of the national championship for Kärpät, but is also the youngest in Suomi, as well as Jokerit left winger Eli Tolvanen, who is making his debut match in the KHL scored a hat-three, and now has 32 (17+15) points in 39 regular season matches.
The Americans have a very experienced team this year, which is also traditionally played, since most of its players passed through the USNTDP team of the US junior training system.
At the same time, the leader of the Stars and Stripes, 19-year-old New York Islanders prospect Kiefer Bellows, after this “talent forge” managed to play last season for Boston College, and this year he is playing in the Western hockey league(WHL) in Canada for Portland and scored 40 (19+21) points in 31 matches there.
Bellows' Canadian rival in the WHL, defenseman Kyle Clague, who is a Los Angeles Kings prospect, a fan of the game and, apparently, an heir, is the leader of the Maple Leafs team.
This season, 19-year-old Clague has scored an incredible 47 points (10+37) for a defenseman in 28 Western Hockey League games!
Also worth a look are team captain Dylan Dube, who was drafted by the Calgary Flames and has 39 points (18 goals, 21 assists) in 27 games for Kelowna in the WHL this season, as well as two other forwards.
Alex Formenton and Robert Thomas are the only 18-year-old players who managed to make it to the Canadian national team for this World Cup.
They are teammates with London in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), while Formenton made his NHL debut for the Ottawa Senators at the start of the season before returning to junior hockey. Thomas, a forward for the St. Louis Blues, has 46 points (20 goals, 26 assists) in 27 OHL games this regular season.
Convenient schedule
Despite the fact that this year the tournament is taking place overseas, the match schedule is quite convenient for Russian fans.
This is due to the fact that our team ended up in Group B, where there is neither Canada nor the USA, which will get local prime time, which for residents of the central part of Russia means late at night.
Bragin's team will begin 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 match of the group stage against Sweden will take place on January 1 at 4.00 Moscow time because of his status.
However, for the Russians, who will celebrate before then New Year, this might be 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 World Cup outdoors at an American football stadium. New Era Field", accommodating almost 72 thousand spectators.
As for the playoffs, the knockout games will take place in 2018 and almost all of them will take place at home stadium NHL club Buffalo Sabers Kickbank Arena, which seats almost 20 thousand 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
