Belarusian president’s ice hockey team secures sixth victory in RHL
15:44, 11 March
The Belarusian president’s team has won its sixth victory in the Republican Hockey League, BelTA has learned.
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On 9 March the head of state’s ice hockey team beat the Vitebsk Oblast team 13:3 (4:0, 3:0, 6:3) in Minsk-based Olympic Arena.
The presidential team eased their way through the final match of the first stage. They were off to a good start and scored four goals in the first period. The captain of the presidential team Oleg Antonenko scored a brace, Nikolai Lukashenko and the tournament’s top scorer Andrei Kostitsyn scored one goal each. For the latter it was the tenth goal this season. After the break, Oleg Antonenko scored for the third time. In addition to him, Artyom Karkotsky and Dmitry Yudin hit the other team’s goals. In the third period, Nikolai Lukashenko took things up a notch scoring two more goals. In addition, Artyom Karkotsky scored twice and Andrei Bashko scored one goal. Aleksandr Lukashenko twice assisted his teammates in scoring goals. The other team responded with accurate shots by Igor Kovalenya, Aleksei Korostik and Yevgeny Avdosev.
Nikolai Lukashenko and Ruslan Solodkin were recognized the best players of today’s match. They received prizes from the hands of Sports and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk.
During breaks spectators watched performances by Belarusian pop singers just like during all the other matches of this tournament. The most active fans took part in exciting contests right on the ice, the winners of which received prizes from the Presidential Sports Club. According to the established tradition, right after the game the fans received dozens of toys from players of the Belarus president team.
At the start of the tournament the president’s team defeated the Brest Oblast team (7:2), then beat ice hockey players from Minsk Oblast (9:4), and crushed the teams of Gomel Oblast (12:6), Mogilev Oblast (8:4) and Grodno Oblast (10:4).
In the semi-finals, the team of the head of state will take up the Grodno Oblast team that finished fourth. The second semi-final will see the teams of Minsk Oblast and Brest Oblast.
The scoreboard is now topped by Andrei Kostitsyn, who has 19 points (10 pucks and 9 assists).
The president team is a 14-time winner of the national amateur tournament, while ice hockey players of Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast have won the championship once each. In the final series of last season, the president’s ice hockey team twice defeated the Minsk Oblast team 6:1 and 6:4. Bronze went to Brest Oblast players, who defeated the Gomel Oblast team in the match for the third place with a score of 5:3.
The organizers of the amateur hockey tournament are the Presidential Sports Club, the Sports and Tourism Ministry, and the Minsk City Executive Committee.
