Brief guide before the restart of the tournament
Today starts the second half of the regular season of the championship of Ukraine on hockey. Before the playoffs, the teams have 12 matches left to play, the participants of the next stage are already known. The main intrigue of the remaining matches is who will advance to the playoffs from the first place. And before the restart of the tournament, we recall how the first part of the military championship of Ukraine went.
Leaders
Falcon – single-handedly leads the standings. Although the season started with losses for the Kyivans (Dmytro Nimenko, Dmitry Kubrytsky and the Simchuk brothers left the club, having moved abroad), they managed to find their game and gain a foothold in the first place expected by most fans.
We were also pleased with personnel decisions. The legendary pair of Babinets-Blagoy returned to the ice, which, as they say, feel each other at a neural level. Actually Serhiy Babinets, who after an injury last season became the manager of the youth and youth teams, returned to the ice with a specific goal – to break the record of the top scorer of the Ukrainian championship. He succeeded on November 19 in the match against the Legion, where he was able to earn 469 points in the “goal + pass” system and get ahead of ex-record holder Nikita Butsenko by 3 points. Another pleasant surprise was the return to the ice in the status of the player of the assistant coach of Sokol Artem Bondarev.
As for the game indicators, they are stable for the people of Kiev. In 18 games, they lost only 4 times: three times to Kremenchuk and once to the Dnieper. Meanwhile, the head coach of the Legion calls the Falcon the main contender for victory.
Kremenchuk was considered the main favorite of the championship even before the start of the season. The only representative of Ukraine at international club competitions (Continental Cup) started the season with confident victories. Moreover, in the opening match of the season, they scored a “dry” victory over the current champion of Ukraine and for a long time led the standings. Among the players, it is worth highlighting the captain – Vitaliy Lyalka returned from Slovakia to help Ukrainian hockey. In addition, striker Artem Gnidenko and defender Denis Isaenko returned to the ice under the leadership of Alexander Savitsky.
The townspeople had 18 meetings and suffered only 5 defeats: three times to the Dnieper and twice to the Legion.
Dnipro (Kherson) – the opening of the season. Previously, most hockey fans had the impression that Dnipro is a third-place team due to the number of bronze medals, but this season the club is one of the contenders for gold. Even the temporary relocation of the “pikes” from their native Kherson to Kalush did not affect the quality of the team. Under the leadership of Alexander Bobkin, they assembled a young and talented team with well-known names from the UHL and KhSU. Separately, it is worth mentioning the main goalkeeper of Kherson – Eduard Zakharchenko, who, even with the current third place of the team, can be called the best goalkeeper of the championship. “I believe that Zakharchenko still has time to reach the peak of form by spring in order to bring the national team of Ukraine to division 1A,” Bobkin gave this description to his subordinate.
If other teams have already played 18 matches, then Dnipro has two more in reserve and every chance to reach the playoffs from the first place. To date, they have only 3 defeats: twice to Sokol and once to Kremenchug.
Surprise
Legion (Kalush) performs at the adult level for the first time. Among the features of the club, one can name the composition, since in the leading links we see very famous names in Ukrainian hockey, such as Viktor Zakharov (the long-term captain of Donbass) and Ruslan Romashchenko, who announced his retirement a few years ago. I was surprised by the Kalush club and the coaching staff, where Sergey Viter (former coach of the Ukrainian national team, Donbass and Mariupol) is an assistant.
The tandem Shafikov-Veter surprises: the Legion beat Kremenchug twice and gives battle to other leading teams. The club from Kalush has firmly established itself in the fourth position and has already guaranteed itself access to the playoffs. The team has 10 wins and 10 losses. In an interview with the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine, the head coach predicted the current playoffs: “It seems to me that the main contender for the championship gold in the spring will not be Kremenchuk, but Sokol and our Legion! ..”. So we are following the ambitious Kalush club, perhaps in the first professional season they will be able to take medals.
Outsiders
During the last season, Berserkers (Kharkiv) were the team with the largest number of legionnaires, today they are a young team that has bet on local performers. Since the hometown is still under threat as a result of the terrorist actions of the Russians, the Berserkers play home games in Kremenchug, however, from an interview with acting. head coach Pavel Legachev learned that the team was based in Vinnitsa, so even home games had to be reached.
Due to all factors, the results of the Kharkiv team are practically the same as those of the closest pursuers – Kyiv. For 18 matches, only 2 wins over the Legion and the already mentioned Kyiv (OT).
Kyiv is the main surprise of the season. Previously, they played among amateurs, but this year, led by an experienced coach Dmitry Pidgrusskiy, they started as a pro. The team brought together super-experienced performers (Sergey Popovich, Pavel Dvoretsky, Igor Lyuluk, Andrey Beskhlebny) and young people who, by the year of birth, could still play youth hockey. Kyrylo Bondarenko became the favorite of Kyiv fans and one of the leaders on the ice. The players themselves often admitted that the team is still looking for a common language and their game, but they already manage to impose a fight on the leaders.
As for the results, Kyiv is also out of the playoffs. They have only two victories (over the Legion and Berserkers (OT)) out of 18 meetings. It will be interesting to watch the team further: will they fight for points until the last one or the absence of the playoffs will affect the motivation.
Goal periods
In total, Sokol scored 82 goals, 19 of them in the first period, 32 in the second and 31 in the third period of the game.
The record holder for the number of goals Kremenchuk (87) is the most active in the third period – 31 goals. In the first and second segments, the team has 28 goals each.
Dnipro has a total of 64 goals, 22 of which occur at the beginning of the match, 21 in the second and third twenty minutes. A similar situation with the Citizens, they also do not have a less dangerous period.
As for the Legion, they overtook the “pike” by 9 goals, the Kherson team had 4 games less. And yet, these two teams give out a similar combination in terms of the number of goals per period: 22 realized attacks in the first period, 26 in the second, 24 in the third and one winning shootout.
Berserkers have 33 goals in their account according to the “6-14-12” scheme and one goal in overtime, just like Sokol, the first period becomes difficult for rivals, but Kyiv has only 29 goals: 8 in the first period, 10 – in the second, 10 in the third and also one victory in overtime.
Overtime
In 58 meetings, only three times both teams received points. Among them is one match, the fate of which was decided in a shootout: Kyiv – Berserkers (1:2 OT), Legion – Kremenchug (4:3 B), Kyiv – Berserkers (5:4 OT).
Shutouts
If the start of the season was stingy for overtime, then the teams left the gates quite often dry. The first shutout in the championship belongs to the goalkeeper of Kremenchuk Kirill Kucher. In the opening match of the season, Sokol failed to break through the opponent (0:3). However, the record for the longest clean sheet belongs to another goalkeeper: Eduard Zakharenko (Dnepr) didn’t concede goals for exactly 218 minutes.
22.4% of matches (13/58) ended with one clean sheet. The statistics turned out to be interesting: 4 times the opponents could not flash the goalkeepers of Kremenchug, Dnipro and Sokol, and once the Legion. Moreover, in the matches between themselves, the leaders also had dry meetings: Sokol – Kremenchuk (0:3) and Dnipro – Kremenchuk (1:0). Berserkers and Kyiv failed to open accounts 5 times in matches.
Accounts
- the biggest difference in the score was in the match Kremenchuk – Berserki (13:4) and Dnipro – Berserki (9:0);
- with the smallest difference, that is, in one puck, 11 meetings ended (19%);
- The fans saw the largest number of goals scored in the match Kremenchuk – Berserki (13:4), hockey players scored 17 goals in total, but none of the hockey players scored more than two goals;
- most often the score was 2:1 (and 1:2), so four fights ended;
- a total of 33% of the meetings (19/58) ended with one goal of one of the teams against the opponent, but only once this score became victorious (Dnipro – Kremenchuk 1:0).
Top scorers
- Ruslan Romashchenko Legion – 33 (15+18)
- Vladislav Lugovoi Legion – 31 (8+23)
- Vitaly Lyalka Kremenchuk – 30 (16+14)
- Viktor Zakharov Legion – 27 (14+13)
- Roman Blagoy Sokol – 27 (9+18)
Lilia Brezgunova
Source: Sportarena
I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.
