Belarus president's team wins Republican Hockey League gold  

Last Tuesday, the president’s team won 6-3 and entered today’s match aiming for a second victory to secure the gold-medal series, and succeeded. Just a minute and a half into the game, the season’s top scorer Andrei Kostitsyn opened the scoring, assisted in part by President Aleksandr Lukashenko. This goal remained the only one in the first period despite active play from both sides. The second period was equally intense, with three goals scored: Aleksandr Lukashevich and Ilya Busilko found the net for the visitors, while Pavel Volchek scored for the home side, bringing the score to 2-2. Early in the final period, Artyom Karkotsky and Andrei Mikhalyov secured the victory for the president’s team: 4-2.

In the semifinals, the president’s team defeated the Brest Oblast team 3-1, while their opponents in the final had beaten the Gomel Oblast team 5-3. The bronze medals went to the Brest Oblast team, who edged out Gomel Oblast 5-4 in the third-place match.

The scoring race of the season was won by Andrei Kostitsyn, who earned 22 points (6 goals and 16 assists). The best players by position were also named: goaltender – Stepan Goryachevskikh (the president’s team); defensemen: Aleksandr Kudryavtsev (the Minsk Oblast team) and Matvei Vinkevich (the Mogilev Oblast team)

The hockey team of the president of Belarus has won the RHL for the 17th time. The teams of Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast won the tournament once each.