Head of State Alexander Lukashenko took part in the award ceremony for the winners of the 30th Belarusian Open Ice Hockey Championship in the Extraleague for the 2021-2022 season, a BELTA correspondent reports.
Head of State Alexander Lukashenko took part in the award ceremony for the winners of the 30th Belarusian Open Ice Hockey Championship in the Extraleague for the 2021-2022 season, a BELTA correspondent reports.
The decisive playoff game of the Belarusian Extraleague took place at the Minsk Arena. Hockey players from the capital's Yunost and Zhlobin's Metallurg competed for the main prize. The match ended with a victory for the guests of the capital with a score of 0:3. Thus, the "steel wolves", having defeated their opponent for the fourth time, became the winners of the final series and, consequently, the champions of the Extraleague.
The main prize – the President's Cup – was presented to the Zhlobin hockey players by Alexander Lukashenko, who watched the game from the stands of the Minsk Arena. The captain of Yunost received a commemorative prize for second place from the Head of State.
"Dear friends! I think I will express the opinion of all our guys standing on this ice and our coaches if I thank the organizers of today's match and our spectators: more than 15,000 people came to this stadium. They always talk about the results. From my point of view, the result of today's match is precisely that there are winners, but there are no defeated, no losers," emphasized Alexander Lukashenko.
The President noted that he had closely followed the championship final series. "You are great. You gave yourselves completely to this game," the Head of State supported the hockey players. "You gave the Belarusian people and the people who came to this hall, including myself, a wonderful game. A man's game. Real hockey."
"Metallurg" reached the Extraleague final for the second time in its history, and the championship title became the second in its collection. The Zhlobin team won their first victory exactly 10 years ago.
It is noteworthy that the fate of the Extraleague championship was decided in the seventh game. The final series had not been this long for 12 years. Previously, this had happened only twice, and both times with the participation of Yunost: in 2009, the Minsk hockey players defeated Gomel in the decisive match, and in 2010, they defeated Shakhter.