Griefs and promises of Lithuanians on the ice of Vilnius: “Next year we will fight for the first place again” | Sports

Silver medals in the IB division is the second Lithuanian result in the history of the country’s ice hockey at this level, but late on Friday night, the second place and the harmoniously sounding “Thank you, thank you” from the stands did little to please the hosts.

“Silver is not very pleasing. We wanted gold, but it is the way it is – Ukraine is a strong team, they fought well, said Paulius Gintautas, recognized as the best player of the tournament in the Lithuanian team, who scored 3 goals and made 3 assists in the tournament. “Of course, it’s very sad to lose the final, but a couple of days will pass and we will be able to look at it differently – we did a good job and played well in this championship.”

Nerijas Ališauskas, the captain of the Lithuanian national team, had mixed feelings about the place and the game shown right after the match worthy of the final.

“It’s never fun to lose the last game of the season. It would be different emotions if we won the gold, but unfortunately we lost and remain in this division, said N.Ališauskas. – It’s not fun, but minus this game, the result is good. Somehow he would be satisfied, although now it is difficult to accept.”

Coach Ron Pasco tried to keep the players’ heads up.

“Thankful to them for the five weeks in the national team – a big credit to the players for swapping families and vacations to prepare and play in this tournament.” I think we can be proud of our work,” said the 52-year-old Canadian.

The Lithuanian national team coached by R. Pasco failed to repeat the success of 2018 in Kaunas, when in the “Žalgiris” arena with Dainius Zubrum and Darius Kasparaičius on the field, they won both gold and the first ticket in history to the second largest division in the world.

Since then, the Lithuanians, who have played in the IA championships for three seasons and were relegated from the second level last year, started this year in Vilnius with four victories against Spain, Estonia, the Netherlands and China, but on Friday they needed a victory against the Ukrainian ice hockey players with the same statistics, only with an even better goal ratio.

Despite the ongoing war with the occupiers, they have assembled a fighting team that will return to the IA division for the first time since 2017 and next year will have the opportunity to fight for a place in the elite world championship, where they played in the best times of Ukrainian ice hockey in 1999-2006.

In the decisive match of the tournament, the Lithuanian ice hockey players finally received more support from the fans.

During the first four matches of the championship in Vilnius, the “Twinsbet” arena was visited by a similar number of loyal fans – 2.5 thousand each. during the match.

On Friday evening, a long line of people stretched around the arena, and in the end, about 6,000 people were caught in the stands. hockey fans, among them a noticeable group of Ukrainian fans with children.

The Ukrainians, coached by the legend of Ukrainian hockey, the all-time leading scorer of this country’s NHL hockey player, Dmytro Hrystich, immediately began to show why they are considered the favorites of the tournament and the last match.

Lithuanians were in the minority three times during the half due to violations of the rules. Although at first Mantas Armalis, recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament after the match, absorbed the opponent’s blows, the minutes came again when the hosts had one player less, and Daniilas Trachtas, who took advantage of his teammate’s barrier, disarmed our team’s goalkeeper with a treacherous shot.

“The start was difficult, we got 3 fouls, it made our game difficult. Maybe if we had created more chances at the beginning of the match, the match would have turned in a different direction”, noted R. Pasco.

The coach was angry with the referees, but after the match he did not condemn their decisions, unlike P. Gintautas, who spoke more heatedly.

“Maybe for the first 10 minutes, it wasn’t that we were shaking, but we could feel the excitement. We were thrown off course when we got penalty minutes in the first half. When playing against such a strong team, you can’t make any fouls at all, because they take advantage quickly, P. Gintautas said. – I can’t say why we fouled more often than usual. Maybe because of fatigue, or maybe the fouls were 50/50, and to whistle like that in the final is like disrespecting us.”

Captain N.Ališauskas tried to assess the judging more calmly. “A stick raised high or a stick between the legs means that we ourselves played carelessly. There are emotions and dissatisfaction, but these are only emotions,” said the defender, who rushed directly to the national team from the Slovak championship on the eve of the tournament.

The missed goal seemed to wake up the Lithuanian national team. P. Gintautas powerfully stunned his opponents twice in a few seconds, raising the stands.

To the chants of “Liethuva, Lithuania” and “Goal, goal”, the Lithuanians stormed the goal of the Ukrainian team at the end of the first half.

Martynas Grinius organized a dangerous attack and pushed the Ukrainians to the goal at the beginning of the second half, but as if out of nowhere, the Ukrainians, having launched a quick attack, found D.Trachtas at the goal and he scored his second goal, making the result 2:0.

Two serious scuffles occurred at the goal of the Lithuanian team, when our players stood up with their hands to defend M. Armalis, who was being attacked, but the hosts were not successful in breaking through the opponents’ defense even when they played in the majority – the Ukrainian was expelled for two minutes for a blow to the face of Tadus Kumeliauskas, who announced during the championship , that after this tournament he will end his career in the Lithuanian national team at the age of 33.

Although in the third quarter the Lithuanians, pressing the last remnants of their energy, organized dangerous attacks, the third goal of the Ukrainian national team cooled the hosts’ hopes.

However, Lithuania fought until the end and with two and a half minutes left to play, the puck went to Eimantas Noreikas, who scored the only Lithuanian goal in the final game from close range.

“We probably looked for our goal too long in the attack – sighed N.Ališauskas. – The Ukrainians defended well, it was difficult to break through their defense. We scored too late.”

Having missed the fourth goal in the penultimate minute, the Lithuanians finished second in the tournament and in 24th place in the general ice hockey world system.

Throwing off their gloves and helmets for joy, the Ukrainians rushed to the circle to dance a dance of joy on the ice.

During the awards, the Lithuanians remained tight-lipped with their thoughts about the match and the future.

“I think that next year we will cling to the first place again and try to win it, regardless of where the tournament will be and which team will come from a higher group,” said team captain N.Ališauskas. – We have already seen that we can play in a higher division, and there is no shame in the performance today.

It’s sad, but tomorrow the emotions will subside and we will be satisfied, if not with the result, then with the game.”

History of the Lithuanian national ice hockey team

Year	Level of competition	Place	Place in the world
2012	IB	5	27
2013	IB	5	27
2014	IB	3	25
2015	IB	3	25
2016	IB	3	25
2017	IB	3	25
2018	IB	1	23
2019	IA	6	22
2022	IA	3	19
2023	IA	6	22
2024	IB	2	24