Hockey qualification – Olympic Games Beijing 2022: Slovakia defeated Belarus and advanced – ŠPORT.sk

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The Slovaks also had a draw to advance, in the 5th minute they sent them to Petr Cehlárik’s power play goal. The Belarusians leveled two minutes after the first break thanks to Yegor Sharangovic. At the end of the match, the Slovak promotion was sealed with a goal into an empty goal by Libor Hudáček.

In addition to Slovak players, the Danes and Latvians, who succeeded in their qualifying groups, also qualified for Beijing. The Olympics will take place in the Chinese capital from February 4 to February 20, 2022, the final twelve participants are, in addition to three successful qualifiers, Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland and domestic China.

For Slovak hockey players, this will be the sixth participation in the Olympic Games, before that they started at the Games in 1994 in Lillehammer, in Turin 2006, in Vancouver 2010, in 2014 in Sochi and three years ago in Pyongyang.

The activity of the Slovaks from the beginning of the match employed the opponent’s defense, and an early power play helped. Hudáček had a great chance in it, and after him Jaroš and Pospíšil, Taylor scored the first important interventions. After the return of the expelled Belarus to the ice, Slafkovsky’s defender Sapego fouled and received a five-minute penalty until the end of the match. The Slovaks took advantage of the weakening of the opponent after only 33 seconds, Cehlárik aimed exactly – 1: 0. Nervousness then increased on the ice, which led to exclusions, and Ramsay’s charges acted in weakness. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 15 minutes into the match, and Ďaloga wasn’t about to let it go by. Pospíšil also ended up a minute later, Taylor replaced his attempt with a rash.

The Belarusians settled in the beginning of the second act. Šarangovič got well in the scrum in front of the goal and sent the puck into the net under Konrád’s body. Then it was excreted again, Konrad sweated in Platt’s attempt. The hockey players of Belarus were a bit more active from the middle of the match, but the Slovaks had a great chance, specifically Pospíšil. He skated alone at the goalkeeper, ended up hard with a shot, but Taylor covered it. Lantoši had another chance, but he got the puck right in front of the goalkeeper and didn’t have time for a better finish. The goalkeeper was not overtaken by Hudáček either, who got the puck to the top of the rings. Korobov also had a chance on the other hand, the Slovak defense averted the puck at the last moment.

In the third period, the Belarusians first played a power play after the exclusion of Studenič, the most difficult intervention was taken by Konrád after a shot by Šarangovič. The Slovaks got a more serious chance in the 49th minute, after a break in the attacking zone, Lantoši finished next to it. With the increasing minutes, more offensive efforts were expected from the Belarusians, after Lantos’ mistake Platt did not take the chance. The guests had to win the promotion and at the end of the match they bet everything on one card. The goalkeeper was called off two and a half minutes before the end and Hudáček had no problem hitting. His goal sent the Slovaks definitely to the Olympic Games.

Final table of the qualification D-group:

1. SLOVAKIA 3 3 0 0 0 9: 3 9 *

2. Belarus 3 1 0 0 2 6: 5 3

3. Austria 3 1 0 0 2 7: 8 3

4. Poland 3 1 0 0 2 3: 9 3

* procedure for ZOH