The National Championship of Ukraine resumes its competitive program after a winter break caused by the participation of the student team of Ukraine in a tour of Canada and at the World Winter Universiade. On January 27-28, four teams will cross clubs at the main indoor arena of the country – at the Sports Palace, and another match will take place in Kremenchug at the Iceberg.
January 27, Friday
“Falcon” – “Legion”. Kyiv. 14.00
“Kyiv” – “Dnepr”. Kyiv. 18.00
On paper, Sokol and Dnepr are the favorites of their pairs on Friday night, but at the end of the game day, the so-called underdogs are able to resist and bring surprises.
Kalush “Legion” lost to “Falcon” all four face-to-face matches in the season, passing at least five goals by default in each of them! What is the intrigue to look for here? However, hockey players from Ivano-Frankivsk region approach the new duel with a record streak of six victories in a row and a frantic desire to rebuff the championship leader, who trained in Kyiv with an incomplete team under the guidance of playing coach Artem Bondarev. Recall that four “falcons”, together with coach Konstantin Simchuk, went on a tour of North America with the student team of Ukraine, so it’s a rhetorical question to imagine in what condition the collections returned from overseas and how they will look on the third day of acclimatization. This is precisely the chance of the Legion, which is able to catch the unbalanced hosts with their enchanting and productive first three of the attack: Romashchenko – Zakharov – Lugovoi.
A similar pre-match balance of power can be seen in the evening fight of the outsider “Kyiv” against the “shadow” leader of the championship – “Dnipro”. The hosts scored all their six points this season at home and are threatening to leave the last place just in the next meetings in January. Kherson residents are contenders for the championship and have the best percentage of points scored in the season. Who in this pair will play from a position of strength is a mystery for a first-grader. But it is more difficult to guess whether the four leading pike hockey players will have time to “come to their senses” after a super-saturated and emotional return from North America as part of the Ukrainian national team. Perhaps this is the same match when, from the first games, the newcomers of Dnipro – young and prolific forwards Nikita Sidorenko and Serhiy Stetsyura – will be able to declare themselves and show off their effectiveness?
January 28, Saturday
“Kyiv” – “Legion”. Kyiv. 11.00
Sokol – Dnipro. Kyiv. 15.00
“Kremenchuk” – “Berserkers”. Kremenchug. 18.00
