Kazakhstan did not leave the elite of the Hockey World Cup! Metallurg champions’ goals helped
Rodion Vlasov May 21, 2024, 00:20 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Poles even scored first, but the KHL’s class of more experienced hockey players played a role.
The current scheme of the World Cup group stage was criticized immediately after its introduction in 2012: due to its duration, the best teams do not need to put in any effort: they will qualify anyway. The problem is that those teams that are only fighting to survive don’t have to put in the effort. If, according to the formula that was in force for most of the 2000s, in the final bullet to survive it was necessary to win two games to survive, now one is usually enough. Because of this, outsiders often lose matches against the best teams, saving their strength for a key one.
A year ago, Kazakhstan went to the World Cup with low expectations, but after three victories they raised them. However, after the initial victory over the French, Galym Mambetaliev’s team had nothing more to be proud of: five defeats culminated in a score of 1:10 from the United States. The Poles lost six games, but showed their teeth and played well against both the Swedes and the Americans. This merit only helped them gain one point, and to retain their place on the record they had to beat Kazakhstan in regulation time, but Mambetaliev’s team was content to simply abandon the match in extra time.
The first half of the first period was completely lackluster: the teams had a shot at each other, the passes were inaccurate and the puck dropped more than once. It seemed that the Poles were a little more active, but for a long time this did not help them. It seemed that most would not help either: the Polish team was the only one that had not scored before on the power play. However, the special team shot at the key moment: the Kazakh defenders put Kamil Valenga to sleep on the spot, and the forward of the Czech Třinec in the fight pushed the puck into the goal.
The Kazakh team was confused for a while after the goal, but they also had a sleeping weapon: Nikita Mikhailis. One of Metallurg’s most expensive forwards performed poorly in the championship playoffs and, after changing jerseys, he scored only one point for one assist in the World Cup. At the critical moment, Nikita took everything into his own hands, after a throw-in at center ice, he made a pass down the empty flank, dribbled past a couple of opponents and shot through the goal of naturalized John Murray . . After this, the Poles were more active at the end of the period, but could not convert their territorial advantage into goals.
The second half was just as stupid for a long time. Although the Kazakh team at the beginning of the twenty minutes showed itself better in positional attacks, the movement of the puck did not lead to shots on goal, the Poles defended firmly in their zone. The quality of the game did not improve, the teams (especially the Polish ones) often lost ground. Kazakhstan caught a couple of stupid penalties, Arkady Shestakov especially distinguished himself by hitting goalkeeper Murray behind the goal, but the Reds and Reds, after success in the first half, could not convert more. The game began to look like an elite match minutes after the 30th minute, when both teams began to create good opportunities, but the goalkeepers played better than the defenders.
Kazakhstan entered the third period in a situation that completely suited the team, there was no need to run anywhere. But the Poles had to escape, but for a long time this was not very successful: to hack the opponent’s schemes, they simply did not have enough class. Kazakhstan did not give any chance for a counterattack, but soon scored: Valery Orekhov did a great job of joining the positional attack. This was already the metallurgist’s second goal in the match and, in the case of Mikhailis, it became the first for the newly crowned World Cup champion.
And now the Poles had to score two goals to survive, and there was very little time for this. At certain moments, Kazakhstan opted for 1-4 and knew how to catch the opponent on counterattacks. After this the third goal happened: 38-year-old Roman Starchenko ambushed a bad decision by 39-year-old Marcin Kolusz, and the main veteran of the Kazakhstan national team scored the third goal after reaching the break-even point. After that, the Poles managed to play “6 against 4”, but the game was over.
The rights to the video belong to the International Ice Hockey Federation. You can watch the video on the official IIHF YouTube channel.
Kazakhstan remained in the elite, but the team’s performance left no one happy. It is sad to imagine what will happen when Starchenko himself retires, and the quality of the new local generation raises doubts: either in the Youth World Cup this team beats the Czechs or, without any chance, our team flies to the World Cup. Future. The Poles left a very pleasant impression compared to other relegated teams in recent years, but it is clear that this team had very little ability to maintain their record.
