Silver Lithuanians will have to fight – Ukraine shined with gold in Vilnius | Sports

At the end of Group B in Vilnius, at Twinsbet Arena, the hosts coached by Canadian Ron Pasco had to concede 1:4 (0:1, 0:1, 1:2) to the superiority of Ukrainian ice hockey players, who received the only ticket to Group A.

Silver medals went to the Lithuanians, who won four victories out of four before, and the bronze went to the Estonians.

Coached by the legendary Dmytros Hrystich, Ukraine won all 5 in Vilnius, scored 31 goals and conceded just 2.

In the most important match on Friday evening, Danilas Trachts scored two goals for the Ukrainians (10 and 31 minutes), Andri Denyskinas (54 minutes) and Olekandra Peresunko (58 minutes) added one each.

Eimantas Noreika was the only one who stood out for the Lithuanians (58 min.).

Ugnius Čižas was recognized as the best player in the home team, D. Trachtas of Ukraine.

Paulius Gintautas, who scored 3 goals and made 3 assists, was declared the best player of the entire championship in the Lithuanian national team.

The course of the match

60 minutes Ukrainians no longer shoot the puck into an empty goal. The match ends.

58 min. The Lithuanians lose the puck and O. Peresunko puts a point into the home team’s empty goal (1:4).

58 min. And a goal! N.Ališauskas hits from a distance, the stick breaks, but E.Noreika is the first to rush to the puck and soften the score (1:3).

57 min. At the end of the match – and the second elimination of the Ukrainians. Lithuanians will try to save themselves – goalkeeper M. Armalis is replaced by the sixth player.

55 minutes 4260 fans watch the match.

54 min. The Ukrainians once again use what has distinguished them in this championship – the game with the player advantage. A. Denyskinas stands out (0:3).

53 min. E. Protchenko is sent off for 2 minutes for a last-ditch foul. The fifth penalty for the hosts Lithuanians.

46 min. Lithuanians try to play more actively. Unfortunately, the result does not change.

The second half

40 minutes The hosts fail to take advantage. There is still a half left to try to at least equalize the score and win extra time.

36 min. The first elimination in the ranks of the Ukrainians. Vitaly Andreikivs plays dangerously with his elbow. Lithuanians will play for two minutes with one hockey player more.

33 minutes The puck ends up in our goal for the third time, but this time it is saved by the referee, who records a violation of the rules.

31 minutes A goal. The same D. Tracht expertly sticks his stick and moves the puck over M. Armali (0:2).

26 min. The fourth expulsion in the Lithuanian national team… This time K. Gusevas is punished.

22 min. The second half starts the same way as the first – the Ukrainians establish themselves in our zone, and the hosts are forced to defend for the time being.

First half

20 minutes At the end of the half, there is more and more confusion in front of the Ukrainian goal. Our leader P. Gintautas, who stands out for his powerful actions of strength, competes very brightly. We lost 10:22 in shots on goal in the first half (6:12 in the goal square).

16 minutes The Lithuanians, who started playing much more aggressively, are raising more and more questions on the Ukrainian side.

11 minutes And the third expulsion… This time, A. Bendžius is punished for knocking down an opponent with a stick.

10 minutes A goal. Ukrainians do not miss the second chance of advantage. D.Trachtas takes advantage of his teammate’s barrier and disarms the Lithuanian goalkeeper M.Armalis with a hidden shot (0:1).

9 minutes Another elimination in the ranks of Lithuanians. This time striker L. Kudrevičius is punished.

5 minutes The Ukrainians are pressuring the Lithuanians at our gate, but M. Armalii manages to keep a clean sheet for now.

2 minutes Lithuanians bravely take the match and the war to establish themselves on the side of the opponents. The shot is blocked and the game moves to our side, where P.Rumševičius blocks the opponent’s head with his stick and is penalized with a 2-minute penalty. A challenge awaits the Lithuanian defense, as the Ukrainians make the best use of advantage situations in this championship (even 43%).

Both the hosts Lithuanians and Ukrainians have so far beaten all their rivals in Vilnius.

Coached by the legendary Dmytro Hrystich, Ukraine did it with ease, scoring 27 goals and conceding just 1.

Listening to Canadian Ron Pasco’s instructions, the Lithuanians scored 15 goals against their opponents and conceded 3 goals.

Estonians won the bronze medals in Vilnius, beating the Chinese ice hockey players 3:1 in the last game and overtaking them in the standings.

Tournament table

It is worth remembering that Lithuanians and Ukrainians already played friendly matches this year – they rehearsed while preparing for the championships in Vilnius.

Then both national teams played not the strongest lineups, and ours lost 2:5. True, the final result is somewhat deceptive, because our team missed two goals at the very end, when they took a risk trying to equalize and played without a goalkeeper.

The winning team on Friday night will advance to Group A of Division I. The Lithuanians were eliminated from it last year, and Ukraine, which has been heroically defending itself against Russia’s military aggression for the third year, played in Group A for the last time in 2017.