MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – The hockey team of the president of Belarus has won the Republican Hockey League (RHL) for the 16th time, BelTA has learned.
After the defeat in the first match of the finals (1-5), the hockey players from Minsk Oblast were determined to take revenge and immediately went on the attack. The other team obviously did not expect such an onslaught - in the middle of the first period the president's team was losing 1-4. Artyom Kotkovets scored twice, Ilya Busilko and Pavel Pechur also scored a goal each, and Aleksei Yefimenko scored for the hosts.
After the break, the president's team played much more powerfully, and two minutes into the second period Aleksei Shantyka reduced the gap to two goals. Yet, the hosting team was unable to catch up with their rivals in the second period - Maksim Shchepko was at the top of his game at the last line of defense. But at the very beginning of the third period, he was outperformed by the other team's Yaroslav Chupris, Oleg Antonenko and Maksim Parfeyevets who scored three goals with their accurate shots. Put on the backfoot, the nominal guests took a time-out, after which Artyom Kotkovets scored a hat-trick and tied the score 5-5. In overtime, the spectators did not see any goals, and in the shootout, the decisive goal was scored by Andrei Kostitsyn 6-5 for the head of state's team.
Andrei Kostitsyn and Artyom Kotkovets were named the best players of today's match. They were awarded prizes by Chairman of the Presidential Sports Club Dmitry Lukashenko.
The team’s top scorer was Andrei Kostitsyn, with 22 points (10 goals and 12 assists). The best goaltender of the 18th season of the RHL was Maksim Shchepko; his teammate Aleksandr Kudryavtsev was recognized as the best defenseman; and Maksim Parfeyevets was named the best forward. The awards were presented by Sports and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk, Minsk Mayor Vladimir Kukharev and Chairman of the Belarusian Hockey Federation Aleksandr Bogdanovich.
In the third place match, the Grodno Oblast team trounced the Mogilev Oblast team in Grodno 5-1.
In the first round, the Belarus president’s team defeated the team of Grodno Oblast in Minsk (10-3), the team of Gomel Oblast in Zhlobin (5-2), the team of Brest Oblast in Minsk (8-2), the team of Vitebsk Oblast in Minsk (10-4), the team of Minsk Oblast in Minsk (3-2) and the team of Mogilev Oblast in Minsk (8-7). The Belarus president’s team secured a 9-3 win over the team of Mogilev Oblast in the semifinal.
The presidential team became the winner of the tournament for the 16th time. The teams of Gomel Oblast and Minsk Oblast won the tournament once each.
The amateur ice hockey tournament is organized by the Presidential Sports Club, the Sport and Tourism Ministry and the Minsk City Hall.
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