The final republican ice hockey competitions for children and teenagers "Zolotaya Shayba" (Golden Puck) in Division A for the prizes of the President of Belarus (younger age group 2005-2007) will be held from March 18 to 21 at the Ice Arena in Orsha, the Orsha District Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent.
8 teams will take part in the competitions, having become the best at the regional stage: "Vympel" (Ivatsevichy District, Brest Region), "Severnaya Stolitsa" (Vitebsk), "Gomel" (Central District), "Prine-manskiye Yastreby" (Oktyabrsky District, Grodno), "Shakhter" (Soligorsk District, Minsk Region), "Mirazh" (Gorki, Mogilev Region), "Grifony" (Central District, Minsk) and "Medved" (Moskovsky District, the capital). The teams will be divided into two groups. The teams that take first place in their groups will determine the tournament winner.
In recent years, Minsk teams have more often won in the younger age group. In 2014, "Partizan" (Partizansky District, Minsk) achieved success, a year later - "Berkut" from Frunzensky District, and in 2016 and 2017 "Grifony" from the Central District won. A year ago, the best was the Minsk team "Partizan".
The organizers of the competition are the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Presidential Sports Club, the Ice Hockey Federation of Belarus, the Ministry of Education, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union and the Orsha District Executive Committee.
The "Zolotaya Shayba" tournament in Belarus was revived on the initiative of the head of state Alexander Lukashenko in 1997. The competitions for young hockey players have gained widespread development in all regions of the country.