At the World Youth Championship (MWC) in Edmonton, the group stage is coming to an end. On New Year’s Eve Moscow time, all quarterfinal pairs will be determined, but the Russian national team at that moment will already be able to celebrate the offensive of 2021 off the ice, since it will not have to play.
She will play her last match in the group on the morning of December 31 against Sweden. The tournament path of Igor Larionov’s charges to the playoffs depends on its outcome. Now the alignment is such that the “Red Machine” can become both the first and the fourth in the group. Only the option of fifth place and early departure from the tournament is completely excluded.
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Intermediate successes
Last morning, Russia defeated Group B outsider Austria 7-1. This result did not come as a surprise, because the Austrians lost with large scores and other meetings – the USA (0:11) and Sweden (0: 4). They only have to play with our offender Czech Republic, which demonstrates paradoxical results, beating Russia (2: 0), but suffering severe defeats from the Americans (1: 7) and Swedes (0: 7).
For Russia, losing to the Czechs is the only failure in the tournament so far. At the start, Larionov’s team prevailed over the United States (5: 3).
“So far, our team is performing unevenly, but in principle it is not easy to go through the entire tournament on one positive wave,” Rafail Ishmatov, ex-head coach of the Russian youth national team, told Izvestia. – There was a good victory over the Americans, although there was also a segment when we sank – turning the 4: 1 advantage into 4: 3. The match with the Czech Republic was frankly unsuccessful, and in Austria it’s not worth evaluating at all, given the level of the opponent – there you just had to achieve a comfortable score and work out some new connections and combinations, starting from the negative aspects of the first games. The match with Sweden will determine a lot – it is very important both in terms of the final place in the group and from the point of view of the final understanding of what today’s Russia is capable of in the playoffs.
According to the specialist who led Russia to victory at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Halifax, the team has changed a lot stylistically over the past year.
– Larionov last year brought to Bragin’s headquarters a lot of ideas that were seen at the MFM in Ostrava, – Ishmatov added. – Now our team has moved even more from the pragmatic style towards the offensive. It can be seen that the guys are allowed to show their individual qualities, they are forced not to be afraid to make mistakes. And this manifested itself even at the adult stage of the Eurotour in Finland in November. But now the game of the majority has not been fully debugged and the first links have not been formed. But the goalkeeper Yaroslav Askarov acts confidently. However, there is still time, I hope the team will approach the decisive matches in their best shape. In any case, the failure with the Czechs may even be useful, having identified in advance our shortcomings, which still have time to eliminate.
Immediate target
For the first place in the group of Russia, it is enough to defeat Sweden in regulation time. If ours win in overtime or in shootouts, then everything depends on the final game of the Scandinavians against the USA. If the Americans win outside regular time, Larionov’s team will also remain the first. And he will meet with the fourth place in Group A. It is not yet clear which team will take this line. Most likely, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland will compete for it and the third place.
In case of defeat from Sweden, Russia runs the risk of falling to third or fourth place. Then in the quarterfinals she will have to play with Canada or Finland – one of the favorites of the tournament.
Russia has traditionally played successfully with Sweden at the world championships of different ages. Tre Krunur are trying to play combination hockey, and fans like it. It also helps many talented stars to show individual skill, of whom a lot grows every year in the country.
But at the same time, in the case of tough resistance, power techniques, the Scandinavians show weakness, unusual, for example, for Canadians. The Swedes prefer not to play defensively, as the Czechs and Finns do, on which Russia often stumbled, even the name of the strongest team. One of these misfires has already happened at the current MFM.
The leaders of the current Russian youth team have a mixed experience of playing with the Swedes. In the spring of 2019, our team lost to them in the final of the junior world championship. In that lineup there were about a dozen players of the current youth team. At the same time, at last year’s MFM, the Russians won a strong-willed victory over the Swedes in the semifinals in overtime (5: 4).
The current captain of the team Vasily Podkolzin and the main goalkeeper Yaroslav Askarov took part in that meeting. True, if the first match was a success – two assists – then the tournament ended for the goalkeeper at that game. He conceded four goals, and when at the beginning of the third period the Swedes took the lead 4: 3, Askarov was replaced by Amir Miftakhov, with whom they managed to save the meeting, and in the final the Russians almost defeated Canada (3: 4).
“The match with Sweden will already be akin to the playoffs,” Honored Coach of Russia Fyodor Kanareikin told Izvestia. – We all understand that it is better not to hit top rivals in the quarterfinals. Of course, they can also be passed, but it is preferable to meet with them already in the semifinals or finals. It is clear that Germany, Slovakia or Switzerland are also not a gift. But this is precisely why one should not choose opponents, but play to win every match. Including the closest one with the Swedes.
The meeting against Sweden will begin on Thursday at 05:30 Moscow time. And on January 1 at the same time, the Scandinavians will play against the United States, which will end the group stage. The first quarter-final starts on January 2 at 20:00, and the last one on January 3 at 05:30.
