The blue-and-yellows are steamrolling through the division, but ahead of them is a decisive battle with the tournament hosts
Head coach Ukrainian national hockey team Dmitry Khristich commented on the strong-willed victory over the national team Spain (6:1) in the fourth round match World Championship 2024 in Division IBand also touched on the personnel situation in the team.
“We prepared the team that it would be difficult. But we are all human – perhaps we treated our opponents with a little disrespect. This prevented us from playing from the beginning of the match. But I’m grateful to the guys that they still found strength, reorganized themselves and proved the class of our team in the third period.”
“We looked at it a little bit. [сборную Испании], they were also playing their fourth game. They demonstrated that they could play at high speeds. The Spaniards are strong. I don’t know how they were able to lose to the Chinese, but they showed their best game against us.”
“Did the first goal you missed upset you? No – that’s what we need. We are going out to win, the score here is for specialists. We just need a win and three points.”
“We have Yanishevsky, who initially played in defense, replacing [Пангелова-Юлдашева]. We can rebuild, we are able to make a team without some players when they are absent for objective reasons.”
“We have a goalkeeper coach, we have a coaching staff. We communicate with goalkeepers. Who will stand [против Литвы]for what reason – we’ll look at it on Thursday.”
Let us remind you that the match against the division outsider was unexpectedly difficult for the blue-yellows. In the first period the score was not opened, and in the second the Spaniards unexpectedly took the lead. Only in the final 20 minutes did Khristich’s team manage to put the finishing touches on the underdog, scoring five goals during this period.
The Ukrainian team won its fourth victory in four matches and is leading in Division IB. Let us remind you that in the opening match, Khristich’s team defeated Estonia (8:0), and then dealt with the Netherlands (4:0) and China (9:0).
The blue-and-yellows have one match left to play in the tournament. Ukraine will play against Lithuania on May 3. Let us note that this game will be key, since the Lithuanians are Ukraine’s closest pursuer.
The championship in division IB takes place in Lithuania. The winner of the tournament will advance to Division IA, the team that finishes last will drop to Division IIA.
Source: Sportarena
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.
