One step to the elite: Ukrainian national hockey team wins the World Cup 2024 and moves up in class. Video

The Ukrainian national ice hockey team won the World Championship in Division IB, which ended in Lithuania. Dmytro Khrystych's team won the match against the tournament hosts with the score of 4-1, winning the gold medal and a ticket to Division IA, where they last played in 2017. Now, next year, the blue and yellows will compete for a place in the elite.

The game started with the initiative of our hockey players. In the first 10 minutes, the Ukrainians got the right to play on the power play twice. It was the second such opportunity that allowed Khrystych's men to open the scoring when Danylo Trakht, after a pass from Ihor Merezhko, fired a powerful shot into the near corner of the competitors' goal.

In the second period, the teams played on opposing courses. The hosts often played hard. The Ukrainians again earned penalties for their opponents but failed to realize most of them. In the 31st minute, our team unexpectedly doubled the advantage. After winning the throw-in, the same Trakht scored with the help of Ivan Sysak.

The decisive 20-minute period of the game turned into the hosts' attempts to make a comeback and the Ukrainians' attempts to escape on the counterattack. From the middle, Lithuania staged a real assault on Bohdan Diachenko's goal, but six minutes before the final blow, they conceded in the minority again. Andrii Denyskin made a great shot from mid-range.

Three minutes before the end, the hosts earned a power play and removed the goaltender. In a six-on-four game, the Lithuanians quickly scored one goal. However, 30 seconds later, Ukraine ran into a counterattack on the opponent's empty net and Oleksandr Peresunko scored the fourth goal.

Thus, the Blue and Yellows won all five matches of the championship with a total score of 31:2. Next year, Khrystych's team will play in the second strongest division in world hockey.

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