There is the loudest sensation of the group stage of the Ice Hockey World Championship! The Austrians not only did not lose to the Czechs in regular time, but also won the shootout. The result, which Austria was just a little short of in the battle with the Americans, came to life in a match with the no less formidable Czech Republic.

One can only sympathize with the Czechs, because they will definitely have to read a lot of unflattering things about themselves in the local press. However, there are such black days in the history of every top team.

So, Russia 20 years ago could not beat the Ukrainian team in three periods.

Strong Ukrainians and “incomprehensible” Russians

Until 2002, the Ukrainian national hockey team never took points from the Russian team. Although it was impossible to call our neighbors absolutely whipping boys. Just in time for the World Championship in Sweden in 2002, the Ukrainians brought a very decent squad. Take the same Dmitry Khristich, who spent the lion’s share of his career in the NHL and even became a member of the All-Star Game twice.

Dmitry Khristich / Photo: © Clive Mason / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In 1990, Khristich won the World Championship with the USSR national team. By the way, like Sergei Shiryaev a year earlier, we will still remember him in relation to that historical match for Ukraine. In addition to them, among the Ukrainians, Vadim Shakhraychuk, who was in the first roles in the Russian Super League, can be noted. And in general, it was a strong team led by the famous coach Anatoly Bogdanov.

Russia, on the contrary, had huge problems with the composition. Only Roman Lyashenko, Dmitry Kalinin and Maxim Afinogenov came from the NHL to the World Championship. The rest had to be recruited from the local Superleague. The head coach of the Russians, Boris Mikhailov, at first desperately believed in the golden boy of the Yaroslavl hockey goalkeeper Yegor Podomatsky, who eventually failed at that tournament.

Then there were two group rounds at the world championships. In the first, Russia took second place, leaving the Swedes ahead. The Ukrainians also became the third, having won one victory in three meetings. With such indicators, the rivals approached the face-to-face meeting in the second group stage. It is clear that even despite all the problems with the composition and the almost complete absence of NHL players, only victory was expected from Russia in the confrontation with Ukraine.

The national team of Ukraine “carried” Russia and dominated

However, everything went wrong already in the first period. The Ukrainians appeared to be a much more organized team, moved the puck well and looked simply better than Russia in the first 20 minutes of the meeting. The result of this was two chic pucks, which were thrown by the hockey players of the Ukrainian national team. First, Protsenko flew along the edge of the court and gave it to Ostroushko, who instantly redirected the puck to Tsyrul, who outplayed Podomatsky. The combination was excellent, but at the same time, there were also complaints about our goalkeeper. Painfully early, he fell to his knees, missing into the top corner.

Egor Podomatsky / Photo: © KHL

Soon the same Protsenko repeated his trick, breaking through the flank and giving a very subtle pass to the world champion in the USSR Shiryaev. He clearly and confidently put the stick and made the score 2:0 in favor of the Ukrainian team. Russia still had time to recoup, but it was necessary to radically change something in the game. In the second period, our team scored two goals thanks to the efforts of Tkachenko and Prokopiev, but Shakhraichuk managed to upset Podomatsky again between these events.

Rescue and advance to the final

As a result, before the third period, the Russian hockey players “burned” with a score of 2:3. And only Zhukov’s puck saved Mikhailov’s team from failure and disgrace. Although the word “shame”, perhaps, will be a manifestation of disrespect for the Ukrainian team, which absolutely achieved a draw in the confrontation with one of the best teams in the world. Moreover, if the Ukrainians won, this would also be fair.

— I am very pleased with this game. The guys played disciplined, which ensured the result. We had a meeting just at the highest level and for the first time in the history of Ukrainian hockey we managed to take a point from the Russians, with whom we crossed sticks for the first time in 1999 in Norway. I think today will become truly historic for the entire Ukrainian hockey, – said the head coach of the Ukrainians Anatoly Bogdanov.

Photo: © Brian Bahr / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Russia and Ukraine will then have an equal number of points at the end of the group stage, and our guys will go to the playoffs according to the best difference between goals scored and goals conceded. And in the relegation matches, Mikhailov’s wards will beat the Czech Republic and Finland and reach the final of the World Cup, where they will still lose to Slovakia with a score of 3:4 in the hardest fight. For Ukraine, that match will remain the only one where they were able to oppose the Russian team on equal terms.