At the same time, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov became famous not only at the club level, but also made a serious contribution to the development of the Russian national team. Under his leadership, the team won the 2012 World Championship, which took place in Helsinki and Stockholm. We invite you to immerse yourself in the events of those years.
Appointment to the Russian national team
Vyacheslav Bykov became one of the most successful coaches of the Russian national team. Under his leadership, the Russian team won gold at the 2008 and 2009 World Championships (in both cases the Canadian team was defeated in the final) and silver at the 2010 Championship. However, the Cup World Cup 2011 was not a success for the Russians. After that, Vyacheslav Bykov was fired. On June 27, the Russian team was led by Zinetula Bilyaletdinov.
Squad for the 2012 World Cup
The 2012 World Championships were held in Helsinki and Stockholm. The last part took place only in the Finnish capital. The Russian team found itself in the Swedish group. So if we reach the semi-finals, we will have to move.
The Russian national team included a number of NHL players. The main attacking force was Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeniy Malkin. During the championship, after the Washington Capitals were eliminated from the KHL playoffs, Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin joined the Russian national team. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who played for the Colorado Avalanche, has attracted a lot of attention. Also from the NHL, Nikita Nikitin, Nikolai Kulemin and Alexey Emelin joined the team.
The remaining players were recalled from KHL clubs. A serious bet was made on Alexander Perezhogin and Alexander Popov, who played for Avangard, which reached the final of the Gagarin Cup. Moreover, Evgeny Kuznetsov had not yet gone abroad. He played for Traktor. Ak Bars defender Ilya Nikulin was named team captain. Konstantin Barulin and Mikhail Biryukov joined the team as goalkeepers.
Group stage begins
In the first match, the Russian team met the Latvian team. At the beginning, the match was not easy. Midway through the first period, the Latvians took the lead thanks to a puck from Miks Indrasis. For a long time it was not possible to score. However, in the second half of the second period, the Russians took the lead thanks to goals from Ilya Nikulin and Evgeni Malkin. At the start of the third period of play, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Perehogin scored. Then Kaspars Daugavins pulled back a goal, but after that Evgeniy Kuznetsov ended the match.
In the second match, the Russians confidently defeated the Norwegian team. Zinetul Bilyaletdinov’s team won with a score of 4:2. Among the winners were Pavel Datsyuk, Denis Denisov, Nikolai Kulemin and Alexander Perezhogin. The Scandinavian team’s goals were scored by Morten Ask and Marius Holtet.
The third match took place on May 8. The Russian team met the German team. The match was not as productive as the previous ones. However, the Russian team won – 2:0. Nikolay Zherdev and Alexey Tereshchenko scored one goal each.
In the fourth match, the Russian team faced the Danish team. Here we also managed to achieve a routine victory with a score of 3:1. Among the winners, Evgeny Medvedev, Evgeny Malkin and Dmitry Kalinin stood out. The Danish goal was scored by Lars Eller.
Key group stage matches
The most difficult match awaited our team on May 11. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team met with the Swedish national team, host of the match. The match was not easy for our team. Quite quickly, Erik Karlsson gives Tre Kronur the advantage. In the middle of the period, Alexander Popov equalized the score. However, shortly before the break, Henrik Zetterberg gave the Swedes the lead again.
Midway through the second half, the Scandinavians doubled their advantage. Johan Franzen scored. However, before the break they managed to equalize the score. First Evgeniy Malkin scored, then Evgeniy Kuznetsov scored. In the third period, the Russian team turned the tide of the match. Evgeniy Malkin scored two more goals, and Alexander Perezhogin and Denis Denisov also scored.
Thus, the Russian team beat the Swedish team with a score of 7:3. In addition to Evgeni Malkin, who scored a hat-trick and gave two assists, goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov played heroically. He stopped 43 shots on goal. Faced with such attacks from the Swedish national team, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov had to take a break to catch her breath.
The next match against the Czech Republic was not very productive. However, the Russian team also won – 2:0. Among the winners, Alexander Perehogin and Evgeniy Malkin stood out.
The final meeting was no longer so important. However, the Russian team beat the Italian team – 4:0. Among the winners were Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Evgeny Biryukov and Alexander Popov. Thus, the Russian team scored a maximum of 21 points and qualified for the playoffs from first place in the group.
Playoffs
At the time, crossover pairs were not introduced in the quarter-finals. So the Russian team met the Norwegian team, which took fourth place in the Stockholm group. The victory was even more confident – 5:2. Newcomers Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Popov, Alexey Emelin, Nikolay Zherdev and Ilya Nikulin stood out for the Russians. Per-Aage Skrøder and Patrick Thoresen scored for the Norwegians.
After that, the Russian team moved to Helsinki, where the last four matches of the championship were held. In the semifinals, the opponent was the Finnish national team, another host of the World Cup.
The Finns took the lead thanks to Janne Niskala’s puck. However, even before the break, Evgeni Malkin scored a brace and gave the Russian team the lead. In the second period, Alexander Ovechkin scored, then Evgeni Malkin scored a hat-trick. At the start of the third period, Denis Kokarev and Sergei Shirokov scored goals. Near the end of the match, Mikael Granlund scored, but that didn’t help the Finns. Thus, the Russian team won with a score of 6:2 and reached the final.
In the last match we faced the Slovak team. Even though the Russians seemed clear favorites, they could not relax. The fact is that Vladimir Vuytek’s team eliminated the Canadian team from the tournament and faced the Czech team in the semifinals.
Quite quickly, Zdeno Chara gives the Slovaks the advantage. However, midway through the first period, Alexander Semin equalized the score. The Russians scored three more goals in the second period. Their authors were Alexander Perehogin, Alexey Tereshchenko, Alexander Semin and Pavel Datsyuk. In the third period, Pavel Datsyuk brought the score to an important score, but immediately Zdeno Chara scored a double and replayed a goal. At the end of the match, Evgeni Malkin put an end to it.
So, the Russian team beat Slovakia with a score of 6:2 and won gold at the World Hockey Championship. Our country’s national team successfully held the World Cup and won ten matches out of ten. Evgeni Malkin became the top scorer in the goal+pass system.
For Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, her subsequent career in the Russian national team was not very successful. First, the Russian team failed in Helsinki at the 2013 World Cup, losing to France (1:2) in the group stage, then losing devastatingly to the United States (3: 8) in the quarter-finals. Then the Russian team failed to achieve success at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, being eliminated by Finland (1:3) in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, Bilyaletdinov remains a legend and one of the main figures of Russian hockey, and the victory at the 2012 World Cup is one of the golden pages of his coaching career.
Yaroslav Piatykh, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
