Metallurg defeated Neman in final match to become Belarus’ hockey champion
The seventh match of the final of the playoffs of Belarus Hockey Championship has ended in Grodno, and Metallurg captured victory – 1:0. As a result, the overall score in the series became 4:3. The Zhlobin players won the President's Cup for the second time in a row, and ‘the Wolves’ now have three champion titles in their history.
Earlier in this final, the teams won strictly in turn (and the results were 2:0, 1:2, 5:0, 0:3, 6:1, and 1:7). Neman has made every effort today as well to prolong this trend, but the victory went to Metallurg, which made fewer shots on goal and, in general, played mostly in a shadow. At the same time, unlike Neman, the final winners realised one of the opportunities by their competitors’ goal. In turn, Neman has failed to upset the perfectly playing goalkeeper of the guest team, Aleksandr Samoilov.
Following the results of the regular season, Metallurg was the fifth, Neman – the second. In the playoffs, the squad from Zhlobin consistently knocked Gomel (the total score in the series was 4:2) and Shakhtyor Soligorsk (4:1) out of the list of applicants for the trophy. In turn, on its way to the final, the Grodno team defeated Novopolotsk Khimik (4:0) and Minsk Yunost (4:3).
The Zhlobin squad has become the first team in the Belarus Championship history that managed to win the President's Cup after finishing outside the top four in the regular season.
