The coaching staff of the Russian Youth Team has decided on the roster for the 2022 World Championship (U20), which will be held from December 26 to January 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Canada. This is reported by the official website of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.
The roster consisted of 25 players.
Goalkeepers: Yaroslav Askarov (SKA), Yegor Guskov (Lokomotiv), Maxim Motorygin (CSK VVS).
Defenders: Vladimir Grudinin (CSKA), Kirill Kirsanov, Arseny Koromyslov, Nikita Smirnov (all – SKA), Shakir Mukhamadullin (Salavat Yulaev), Nikita Novikov (Dynamo M), Yegor Savikov (Spartak), Kirill Steklov (“Knight”).
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Forwards: Ivan Didkovsky (Dynamo M), Nikita Guslistov (Severstal), Ivan Zinchenko (Vityaz), Dmitry Zlodeev, Vasily Ponomarev (both from Spartak), Semyon Demidov, Matvey Michkov, Fedor Svechkov, Kirill Tankov, Marat Khusnutrikdinov, Nikita Chibov, Marat Khusnutrikdinov (all – SKA), Alexander Pashin (Salavat Yulaev), Pavel Tyutnev (Lokomotiv), Danila Yurov (Metallurg Mg).
On December 15, the Russian team will depart for Edmonton via Helsinki. After passing the quarantine measures, the team will continue to prepare for the tournament and will play two friendlies: on December 19 against the German national team and on December 22 – against the Canadian national team. The national team will then move to Red Deer, where they will play in the group stage matches.
Russian hockey players will debut at MFM-2022 with a game against the Swedish national team on December 27 at 12:30 a.m. Moscow time. Also in the group stage, Sergey Zubov’s team will meet the national teams of Switzerland (December 28, 12:30 a.m. Moscow time), Slovakia (December 30, 12:30 a.m. Moscow time) and the United States (January 1, 5:30 a.m. Moscow time).
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“It was not easy to make a choice, until the last moment we had serious discussions on several points. We spoke individually with all the guys coming out of the camp,” Zubov told the FHR press service. .
The final team was missing Ivan Miroshnichenko, one of the favorites in the 2022 NHL Draft.
“He is currently not in optimal physical condition,” Zubov said. “And that is perhaps his greatest asset.”
For the first time in a long time, the Russian national team did not include players from North America.
“We followed the performances of Yan Kuznetsov and Daniil Chaika, hoping that they would strengthen our defensive line. But in the end, we came to the conclusion that the players who were training with us are stronger in defensive actions,” Zubov said.
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