The Russian national youth hockey team lost in the World Championship final to the team of Sweden with a final score of 1:0. The Russian team managed to gain the upper hand over its main rivals – the Canadian team – in the semi-final with a score of 6:5, and was considered as the favourite in the World Cup final. However, most attentive experts warned that the Russian team had already lost to Sweden during this Championship, and that the young Russian sportsmen have demonstrated serious problems with their defense strategy.
It is hard to tell if it was the latter problem that affected the final game, but it is obvious the Russian team could have done better.The only goal of the game was scored during extra time, but during the regular time of the game the Russian goalkeeper had to repel 50 attacks on his net (another 8 attacks were made during extra time), while the Russian team attacked the opponents net only 16 times (and one time during extra time). All in all, the Swedish team showed a more energetic and interesting game style.
Sweden won the World Ice Hockey Championship for the first time since 1981. The bronze of the Championship was taken by the Canadian team that secured a victory over Finland.
By Gia Saralidze, exclusively to VK
