Belarus name squad for Olympic ice hockey qualifiers

MINSK, 17 August (BelTA) - The Belarusian national ice hockey team has kicked off its preparations for the 2022 Olympic ice hockey qualifiers, BelTA has learned.

Head coach of the Belarusian national ice hockey team Craig Woodcroft named 28 players for the forthcoming training camp:

goaltenders: Aleksei Kolosov, Ivan Kulbakov (both – HC Dinamo Minsk), Danny Taylor (no club);

defensemen: Nick Bailen (HC Traktor Chelyabinsk, Russia), Kirill Gotovets (HC Avangard Omsk, Russia), Dmitry Znakharenko (HC Amur Khabarovsk, Russia), Dmitry Korobov (HC Spartak, Moscow, Russia), Vladislav Kolyachonok (Arizona Coyotes, USA, NHL), Ilya Solovyov (Calgary Flames, Canada), Pavel Denisov, Vladislav Yeremenko, Sergei Sapego, Ilya Shinkevich (all - HC Dinamo Minsk).

forwards: Andrei Belevich (HC Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), Vladislav Kodola (HC Severstal Cherepovets, Russia), Nikita Komarov, Francis Pare, (both – HC Avangard Omsk, Russia), Andrei Stas (HC Tractor Chelyabinsk, Russia), Danila Klimovich (Vancouver Canucks, Canada), Evgeny Oksentyuk (Dallas Stars, USA), Egor Sharangovich (New Jersey Devils, USA), Aleksei Protas (Hershey Bears, USA), Vladimir Alistratov, Dmitry Buinitsky, Artem Demkov, Aleksandr Pavlovich, Ilya Usov, Aleksandr Suvorov (all - HC Dinamo Minsk).

During the training camp in Minsk the Belarusian team will play two matches against Kazakhstan’s Barys on 19 and 21 August. At the start of the next week the Belarusian team will travel to Bratislava which is to host the ice hockey qualification torunament for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. In Group D Belarus will face Poland (on 26 August), Austria (27 August) and Slovakia (29 August).

Group E will feature Latvia, France, Hungary, Italy; Group F – Norway, Denmark, Slovenia, South Korea. The winners of the groups will qualify for the Olympics.