IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2020 participants: Team Belarus

We continue our spotlight for the Ice Hockey World Championship 2020, and this time we will be dropping a spotlight on team Belarus.

Key Achievements

World Championships

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent countries quickly formed their national hockey teams. However, all of them – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia and others – except for Russia, received the right to start speaking at world championships only from the lower division.

The first match in the history of the national hockey team in the qualifying tournament of the World Championship was held in Minsk Sports Palace on November 7, 1992. The national team of Belarus lost to the national team of Ukraine with a score of 1: 4.

In 1995, Belarusians made their way from Division C1 to Group B, the barrier of which they overcame after two years, having won a ticket to the elite division. And in the first year among the strongest, at the 1998 World Championship in Switzerland, a team led by Anatoly Varivonchik got into the eight of the best teams in the world.

In 1999 and 2000, the Belarusian squad finished 9th, and in 2001, in Germany, taking 14th place, left the top division. By a special IIHF decision, the Japanese national team received a 5-year reservation from relegation from the elite division, so Belarusians and Norwegians sank lower.

At the 2003 World Championship in Finland, Belarusians again took 14th place and did not gain a foothold in the elite because of the privilege of Japan.

In 2004, in Norway national team of Belarus, led by Mikhail Zakharov, confidently returned to the top division.

In 2005 World Championship in Austria, the Belarusian national team was headed for the first time by a foreign specialist – Canadian Glen Hanlon. Under his leadership, the team retained a residence permit in the elite (10th place). Belarus goalkeeper Andrei Mezin was named the second-best goalkeeper of the tournament after Czech Tomas Vokoun (percentage of reflected shots 97.24%). Young forward Mikhail Grabovsky scored four goals in a key match with the Austrian national team (5-0).

In 2006, in Riga, the Belarus national team entered the playoffs of the World Championship for the first time in history, where they lost in the quarterfinal to the Finnish team (0: 3). Having taken the final 6th place, the Belarusians have shown the best result in their history at the world championships, and goalkeeper Andrei Mezin entered the symbolic national championship team.

At the world championships in 2007 and 2008, the national team of Belarus was led by American specialist Kurt Fraser, under whose leadership the team took 11th and 9th places. Then the national team was again headed by Glen Hanlon, and at the 2009 World Championship in Switzerland, the Belarusians reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to Russia in a tight contest (3: 4). Belarusian goalkeeper Andrei Mezin became the best goalkeeper of the championship and entered the symbolic team according to journalists.

At the 2010 World Championship, the Belarusian team led by Eduard Zankovets took 10th place, and at the next championships of the planet (2011, 2012) Belarusians, taking 14th place, hardly kept their residence in the elite division. At the 2012 World Cup, the goalkeeper of the national team of Belarus Vitaly Koval entered the top five goalkeepers of the tournament (92.02% of the reflected shots).

At the 2013 World Championship in the capital of Sweden, the Belarusian team won only one victory in seven matches – over Slovenia (4: 3), and for the third year in a row took 14th place in the world championship. In the remaining matches, Belarusians lost to the national teams of the Czech Republic (0: 2), Sweden (1: 2), Canada (1: 4), Norway (1: 3), Denmark (2: 3) and Switzerland (1: 4). At the 2013 World Championship, Belarus had a reservation from relegation to the lower division, as the country hosted the next world hockey championship, which was held in Minsk in May 2014.

The 2014 World Championship matches were held at two hockey venues: Minsk Arena (capacity of 15,000 spectators) and Chizhovka Arena (capacity of 9,600 spectators). The team got 12 points and, taking 3rd place in their group, reached the playoffs. The rival of the national team in the quarterfinal was the team of Sweden, but in this tense and responsible match, the Belarusians were defeated – 2: 3.

At the 79th world hockey championship in the Czech Republic, the Belarusian national team made it to the quarter-finals – the fourth time in the history of the performance in the strongest division of the planet. In the preliminary round, the team led by Dave Lewis secured 14 points, which was the best result of the team at this stage of the tournament. The Belarusians beat the teams of the USA (5: 2), Denmark (5: 1), Slovenia (4: 2), Norway (3: 2), lost in overtime to the Slovaks (1: 2) and the Finns in shootouts (3: 4), and also suffered a defeat in the regulation from Russia (7: 0). In the playoff round, the Belarusian team lost to Canada (0: 9), taking 7th place in the final ranking of the World Championship.

At the 80th World Hockey Championship in Russia (2016), Belarusian hockey players led by Dave Lewis in the preliminary round played with teams from Finland (2: 6), USA (3: 6), Canada (0: 8), Slovakia (4: 2), Germany (2: 5), Hungary (2: 5) and France (3: 0). As a result, the Belarusian team took 12th place and did not reach the playoffs.

At the 2017 World Cup, which was hosted by France (Paris) and Germany (Cologne), the Belarusian team took 13th place.

The next world championship – 2018 in Denmark – was deplorable for the team of Belarus. Three consecutive defeats, including a devastating match with the Russians (0: 6), caused the resignation of head coach Dave Lewis, and soon his assistant Andrei Mezin left the coaching staff as well. As experts noted, the Belarusian team was the first during the World Championships, which decided on such a radical change during the tournament. The acting head coach was Sergey Pushkov. Nevertheless, after 13 years of the contest in the elite division, the Belarusians left the top best teams of the planet, taking 15th place.

As a result, there was no Belarus national team at the 2019 World Championship in Slovakia. To return to the world elite, a team led by head coach Andrei Sidorenko fought in group A of the first division at the World Championship in Kazakhstan’s Nur-Sultan. The national team won three out of five matches and, taking 2nd place, received the right to re-enter the top 16 strongest.

At the 2020 World Championship, the team will play in Group A in Switzerland, Lausanne, where hockey players from Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Denmark and the United Kingdom will compete along with Belarus.

Because Belarus and Latvia jointly received the right to host the 2021 World Championship, these two teams have already guaranteed themselves a place in the elite division, regardless of the outcome of the games in Switzerland. Matches of the main tournament of the year will be held in Minsk and Riga. And it is the Belarusian capital that will host the playoff decisive: semi-finals, a match for 3rd place and the final will take place on the ice of Minsk Arena.

Belarus national hockey team at the Olympic Games

The Belarus hockey team three times participated in the Winter Olympic Games – in 1998, 2002 and 2010.

During the qualification for the Games in Nagano in 1996, Belarus won the largest victory in its history – over the Lithuanian national team (21: 1). And at the 1998 debut Olympics, Belarusians under the leadership of Anatoly Varivonchik took 7th place.

The 2002 Olympics brought Belarus unprecedented success. In Salt Lake City, the wards of Vladimir Krikunov made a splash, defeating Sweden in the quarter-finals of the tournament’s favourite – 4: 3. In the semifinals, Belarusians lost to Canada (1: 7) and then lost in the duel for bronze to Russia (2: 7). Having taken the final 4th place, hockey players showed the best result for the Belarusian team game sports at the Olympics.

Belarusians failed to get to the Olympic Games in Turin-2006. In the decisive qualifying match in February 2005 in Riga, the Belarusian team dramatically lost the Latvian squad (4: 5). Men of Mikhail Zakharov were 4-2 in the score, but at the end of the meeting, having conceded three goals within 2 minutes 20 seconds, they lost the ticket to Turin to hockey players of Latvia.

At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the team led by Mikhail Zakharov took 9th place, which was the worst result in the history of the Belarusian hockey team at the Olympic Games.

The national team of Belarus fought for a ticket to the Sochi 2014 Olympics in February 2013 in Danish Vojens. Having lost the Slovenian national team (2: 4) in the opening match, the team of Andriy Skabelka then defeated the Ukrainian national team (6: 0). However, that same evening, the Slovenes defeated the Danes (2: 1) and secured ahead of schedule a pass to the Olympic Games. Belarus for the tour to the finish of the qualifying competition lost the chance to travel to Sochi. In the final match, which had no tournament significance, the Belarusians defeated the Danes with a score of 3: 2.

The Olympic qualification hockey tournament was held in Minsk on September 1-4, 2016. In group D, the Belarusian team played with the team of Denmark (5: 2), Poland (5: 3) and Slovenia (2: 3; in shootings). As a result, the Belarusian team took second place and could not get a ticket to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea).

The final stage of the Olympic qualification for the 2022 Games will be held on August 27-30, 2020: tournaments, where they will play three tickets to Beijing, will be hosted by Slovakia, Latvia and Norway. The opponents of the Belarus national group D group will be teams from Slovakia, Austria and Poland. In group E – Latvia, France, Italy and Hungary, in group F – Norway, Denmark, South Korea, Slovenia.

Let’s keep an eye on the team Belarus and wish them the best luck in the IIHF Worlds 2020.