MINSK, 25 November (BelTA) – The Belarus President’s team have secured their second victory at the start of the new ice hockey season, BelTA has learned.
The President’s team defeated the Minsk Oblast team 9-4 (1-2, 5-1, 3-1) in the second round of the National Ice Hockey League. The match took place at the Olympic Arena on 25 November.
Prior to the meeting of the two best teams of the previous season, the Belarus President’s team, the reigning champion, beat the team of Brest Oblast (7-2), while the silver medalist Minsk Oblast solved the team of Grodno Oblast (8-3) and the team of Vitebsk Oblast (13-2).
Today’s match started quite unexpectedly, with Kirill Markevich and Ivan Usenko both scoring against the President’s team seven minutes into the game. Falling behind 0-2, the hosts rallied back with a goal from captain Oleg Antonenko who reduced the deficit to a minimum. He scored his second midway through the second stanza to level off, and Artyom Karkotsky gave the President’s team a 3-2 lead a little later.
The visitors pushed back and Nikita Drozdov tied it up, but right after that the President’s team scored three straight goals through Maksim Perfeyevets, Andrei Kostitsyn and Aleksandr Lukashenko to make it 6-3.
In the final period, Artyom Karkotsky, Artyom Antonenko and Andrei Kostitsyn scored three more on the winning side, and Vyacheslav Fadeyev added one more for the losing team.
Oleg Antonenko and Konstantin Durnov on the President’s team, and Vyacheslav Fadeyev and Aleksandr Patsenkin on the Minsk Oblast team were named players of the match. They got presents from Minsk Oblast Governor Aleksandr Turchin.
By tradition, the fans were treated to a great in-arena entertainment that featured spectacular performances from Belarusian pop singers between the whistles and a number of contests for the prizes of the Presidential Sports Club. Right after the final hooter the players of the President’s team threw dozens of stuffed toys for fans to the stands. HC Dynamo Moscow players, who are taking part in the international junior ice hockey tournament in Minsk, presented Aleksandr Lukashenko with their club jersey.
The President’s team is a 14-time winner of the national amateur ice hockey tournament, with the teams of Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast holding one title each. In the final of the last season the Belarus President’s team defeated the Minsk Oblast team twice (6-1 and 6-4). Bronze went to the Brest Oblast team that saw off the Gomel Oblast team 5-3.
The amateur ice hockey tournament is organized by the Presidential Sports Club, the Sports and Tourism Ministry and the Minsk City Hall.
By tradition, the fans were treated to a great in-arena entertainment that featured spectacular performances from Belarusian pop singers between the whistles and a number of contests for the prizes of the Presidential Sports Club. Right after the final hooter the players of the President’s team threw dozens of stuffed toys for fans to the stands. HC Dynamo Moscow players, who are taking part in the international junior ice hockey tournament in Minsk, presented Aleksandr Lukashenko with their club jersey.
The President’s team is a 14-time winner of the national amateur ice hockey tournament, with the teams of Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast holding one title each. In the final of the last season the Belarus President’s team defeated the Minsk Oblast team twice (6-1 and 6-4). Bronze went to the Brest Oblast team that saw off the Gomel Oblast team 5-3.
The amateur ice hockey tournament is organized by the Presidential Sports Club, the Sports and Tourism Ministry and the Minsk City Hall.
Photos by Sergei Sheleg
