Russia (bbabo.net), - On Sunday in Canada, the traditional New Year's show of hockey talents starts - the World Youth Championship. Players up to 20 years old can participate in it. The Russian national team will play their first match on Monday night against the Swedish team.
Initially, the MFM-2022 was supposed to host the Swedish Gothenburg, but due to the pandemic, the tournament was moved to Edmonton, where it was held last year. Organizationally, the key difference between the current World Cup and the previous one is that it will be held with spectators. For a youth competition, where emotions sometimes boil, this is very important.
The ten participating teams are divided into two groups. Four of the best teams will advance to the playoffs. Our team got into group "B" and will play all their matches at this stage in the town of Red Deer near Edmonton. In addition to the Swedes, we are in the group with the reigning world champions - Americans, Switzerland and Slovakia. Group "A" will include Canada, Finland, Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. The Russian national team came to Canada to improve for a mediocre performance last year. Let us remind you that ours then became only the fourth. The maximum goal is "gold", which our "youth team" has not seen since 2011. True, the national team will achieve their goals with a different coach. Igor Larionov was replaced by Sergey Zubov, and between them Oleg Bratash managed to be the mentor of the youth team for a bit.
Zubov, formerly one of the best Russian defenders to play in the National Hockey League (NHL), immediately began working with conflicting decisions. In the final line-up at MFM-2021, not a single player from the North American leagues was included (for the first time in 15 years), and Zubov also did not call the super-talented Ivan Miroshnichenko, citing the latter's unsatisfactory physical condition.
However, there is no shortage of talent in our team. First of all, it is, of course, Matvey Michkov, who at the age of 17 will become the youngest player of our team in the tournament. The junior of the St. Petersburg SKA rewrote all sorts of records of the national Youth Hockey League, became the main star of the youth world championship-2021 and has already managed to light up in the main team.
In addition to Michkov, many deserve attention. This is Fedor Svechkov, selected in the NHL-2021 draft under the highest number among Russians, team captain Marat Khusnutdinov, who manifests himself at the heart of SKA. Michkov's junior team partners Nikita Chibrikov and Danila Yurov have also been summoned, it is worth keeping an eye on Nikita Guslistov, who at the age of 18 became the youngest captain in the history of the Continental Hockey League.
Much will depend on the goalkeeper Yaroslav Askarov, who has been given huge advances for several years now: the next World Cup will definitely become a moment of truth for him.
To put it bluntly, Zubov had few opportunities to test the team in action. Last night, the national team played the only test match before the MFM-2022 against the Canadians.
By the way, it is the "maple leaves" that experts unanimously put in first place among the favorites of the tournament. Canadians and last year were the main contenders for “gold”, but received a slap in the face in the final from the US team. So, for obvious reasons, the motivation of Canadians will be prohibitive.
The Russian national team arrived in Canada to improve for a mediocre performance last year
Traditionally, the owners of ice have a scattering of talents. Among them are guys like Cole Perfetti and Owen Power, who, as part of the Canadian national team, knocked out the Russians at the adult World Cup 2021 and won gold. But the most curious character among the Canadians is, perhaps, 16-year-old Connor Bedard, who will become the youngest player in the upcoming tournament. He is considered the favorite in the 2023 NHL draft, but he earned his place in the squad by playing in the North American junior leagues.
The fight for the “gold” is also predicted by the US national team, although over the past nine years in youth hockey, no one has yet been able to defend the championship title. The list of favorites, of course, also includes the Finns and the Swedes.
Calendar
Russian national team schedule for MFM-2022
On the night of December 26-2700.30. Russia - Sweden
On the night of December 27-28
00.30. Russia - Switzerland
On the night of December 29-30
00.30 Russia - Slovakia
January 1st
05.30. Russia - USA
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