The next hockey world championship is history. It had a number of features and I wouldn’t say it sums up any trend in hockey development (that would be a very high statement), but it still made me pay attention to certain points in the evolution of the fastest game. in the world.

“The puck is pressed to the board” – until recently, this phrase of hockey commentators looked like a kind of greeting from a soft childhood. But in this championship, the judges repeatedly stopped the game for this reason (in particular, in the group stage matches Austria – Finland, USA – Sweden). Another sign of today is the skillful play of some hockey masters with their feet. In this regard, we immediately recall the leg pass of Czech Jakub Vrana, who, in one of the group stage matches, almost scored, but at least allowed Vrana’s teammate to go one-on-one with the opposing team’s goalkeeper.

The teams did not underestimate the early replacement of the goalkeeper for the sixth fielder (5 or more minutes before the end of the 3rd period) and provided two or even three goals on the score. And often such determination was justified and rewarded. The Canadians, in particular, have twice reclaimed the two-goal deficit in the playoff phase thanks to the skillful, tactically proficient actions of the six players. A distinctive feature of the current tournament was that there were quite a few comebacks in the playoff stage. Canada is the most striking example against Sweden (three accumulated goals). In this regard, the victories of the Finns over the Slovaks (two deficits) and the Czechs over the Americans (two two-deck deficits) can still be remembered.

The national teams of the offensive countries were deprived of the right to participate in the World Cup. Has the show suffered from this? As for me, no, I really enjoyed a significant number of matches, but arrogance, support for criminal regimes (which makes millionaires who play away from their own birches and are financially independent of the decisions of the party and government. Putin team) is a philosophical and very simple question not) should be evaluated accordingly. Supporters of the bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages have no place in the world hockey community!

The presence of a close bench was a major aid to offensive actions (the ability to substitute one or two forwards during a positional attack often became a major issue for defensive teams). A high standard of defensive action has been demonstrated by individual teams, especially when we are talking about the maximum saturation of the neutral zone and their skillful actions in forward defense.

I will note the ingenious game of veterans in this championship. And Czech Roman Cervenka (top scorer of the tournament in the goal + pass system) and Slovak Tomas Tatar and numerous Finnish veterans not only spoiled the porridge, but also accused their young teammates with enthusiasm, thirst for the fight.

The 3rd place match (Czech Republic v USA) was traditionally spectacular, characterized by the exchange of goals scored in the minority.

This year, the trend of Canadian-Finnish dominance in world hockey forums continued. The national teams of these countries played “gold” in the final for the third time in a row. And the finale was great! The intrigue is crazy, critics of the Canadian TV channel TSN called the game “crazy”, and on the German sports channel the finale was called “epic” And you can not argue here!

Latvia took the 2nd place in terms of average attendance to the match. Fans of this country love hockey and are ready to travel anywhere for their favorites.

Champions

Finland had a victorious hockey season. To the Olympic “gold” he added the “gold” of the World Championships. Jukka Jalonen led the Suomi team to the world title for the third time (and all of Finland is now world champion 4 times). The team is distinguished by an even selection of players on all lines (this is a trademark of the Jalonen teams, by the way, he realized that paradoxically among the top scorers there are no Finns), the important role of veterans such as Marco Anttila , Valteri Filppula or Mikael Granlund, the game in defense extraordinary attention and extraordinary skill of goalkeeper Jussi Olkinuora during (by the way, the Russian Federation after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war). By the way, it was Jussi who was the MVP of the championship and played four matches zero to the tournament! On average, he missed 1.11 goals per game – a grandmaster figure! And Finland’s new hero saved 94.83% of his own shots! Well, in the world hockey rankings, Suomi is still first (in Ukraine, by the way, 27th)!

The frenzied support of the domestic audience was another factor in the victory of the Finns (11,477 spectators – the average attendance of Suomi matches). A loud “Su-o-mi!” during the toughest moments of playoff games. inspired the team for real sporting achievements, and the famous song translated into Finnish by Toto Cutugno (instead of “I’m Italian” – “I’m Finnish”) became a kind of anthem for the Finnish team. In all the playoff games, the Finns lost on the score every time they found the strength to make a comeback during the games. I will add that the Finnish national team has never been among the winners of any home world championships so far.

And an outstanding event of this championship – replenishment in the triple gold club. After winning the Stanley Cup (as part of the Detroit Red Wings in 2008) and the Olympics (this year), Filppula has added a world champion gold medal to her premium collection. After that, the 38-year-old striker, nicknamed Flip, became the 30th player overall and the first Finn in this prestigious assembly.

The pedestal and its surroundings

I will note the actual transformation of the North American teams in the playoff phase. Some composure regarding group stage games (especially the Canadians lost to both Switzerland and the Germans) and insistence on decisive matches. It seems that different teams from North America played at different stages of the competition. By the way, this is a typical picture for Canadians. In the previous championship, they took the 4th place in the group, miraculously entered the playoffs, and then victoriously became the champion.

Probably, in the current championship, the Americans could count on more, but at the end of the tournament, due to injuries, only four defenders remained, which did not allow them to play better against the Finns and Czechs. The Czechs, on the other hand, interrupted the 10-year medal-free period and reached the 3rd step of the world podium. I’m not ready to say whether this will be the key to Czech hockey’s renaissance, but it could be a particular impetus for improvement.

away from medals

Of course, the Swiss team cannot be ignored among the hockey colors of the 2022 World Championship. However, he suffers from a characteristic disease of non-favourite teams: he puts out a lot of energy in the preliminary stage (he scored more points than any other team in the tournament this year!) and was blown up in the playoff stage. . Once, the neutrals have reached the World Cup finals twice. Now, the general opinion is that they have the strongest team in those second championships, but the white-reds’ winning mentality is definitely not enough.

As for me, a good future looks for the Slovakia team. Talented young people have already shown their strength in Helsinki and Tampere. I will especially mention 18-year-old Juraj Shlafovsky and his team, according to the goal + pass system, who brought his team up to 9 points in the championship! I see no obstacles to the further advancement of Slovak hockey youth.

He never hid his sympathy for the Latvian national team. This time the Baltics gave interesting hockey with masterfully distorted intrigues in many matches, but they did not reach the quarterfinals. I will note exactly the team play of the Latvians. But the Austrians remembered only individuality. In particular, high-scoring forward Peter Schneider and defender Dominik Heinrich have short but agile and powerful shots. Both, by the way, play at club level in their homeland. Maybe they should move to stronger leagues compared to Austria in order to progress.

Of course, it is impossible not to lose your mind while watching the world hockey festival: is it possible for our team not to get lost among the powerful representatives of the best hockey division? The trend to strengthen the domestic championship that emerged at the beginning of the 2021/22 season was unfortunately destroyed by internal strife and wars. But in my opinion, talented hockey youth is now growing in Ukraine. Of course, for further progress there is a need for peace in Ukraine and the opportunity to improve their skills in competitive competitions. I wholeheartedly believe that these two conditions will be fulfilled, and I believe that in a few years we will see our team in an elite club, even if at first they were far from leading roles.

Alexey RYZHKOV