MINSK, 15 April (BelTA) – On 15 April, the Belarusian national ice hockey team held a training session and left for Hungary where the team is expected to play two matches as part of the preparations for the 2021 IIHF World Championship, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation.
The coaching staff named two goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards as Belarus' lineup for the upcoming fixtures. The Belarusian roster in Budapest will include:
goalies: Aleksei Kolosov (HC Dinamo Minsk), Konstantin Shostak (HC Severstal, KHL);
defensemen: Andrei Antonov (HC Yunost), Oleg Yevenko (HC Traktor, KHL), Dmitry Znakharenko. Ilya Solovyov, Stepan Falkovsky (all – HC Dinamo Minsk), Dmitry Korobov (HC Salavat Yulayev, KHL);
forwards: Andrei Belevich (HC Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, KHL), Artem Demkov, Igor Martynov, Francis Pare, Ilya Usov (all – HC Dinamo Minsk), Sergei Drodz, Stanislav Lopachuk, Evgeny Oksentyuk, Mikhail Stefanovich (all – HC Yunost), Artem Zhuk (SKA 1946, MHL), Sergei Kostitsyn (Bratislava Capitals, Slovakia, ICEHL), Danila Karaban (HC Shakhtyor).
A group of nine hockey players will stay in Minsk under the supervision of fitness specialist Aleksei Seliverstov and goalkeepers coach Dmitry Karpikov to continue training on an individual program. They are goalkeepers Ivan Kulbakov and Danny Taylor, defensemen Vladislav Yeremenko, Vadim Shchechin, Yevgeny Lisovets, Ilya Shynkevich, as well as forwards Vitaly Pinchuk, Aleksandr Kogalev and Andrei Kostitsyn.
Belarus is set to face Austria on 16 April 16 (face-off at 18:00 Belarusian time) and Hungary on 17 April (face-off at 17:00 Belarusian time).
