Belarus men's national junior ice hockey team

Belarus
Association Belarusian Ice Hockey Association
Head coach Belarus Pavel Perepekhin
Assistants Belarus Andrei Kudin
Belarus Andrei Zalivako
Captain Artur Gavrus
Most points Andrei Kostitsyn (21)
IIHF code BLR
First international
 Kazakhstan 4 - 0 Belarus 
(Minsk, Belarus; November 10, 1992)
Biggest win
 Belarus 19 - 0 Lithuania 
(Minsk, Belarus; November 12, 1992)
Biggest defeat
 Russia 12 - 1 Belarus 
(Podolsk, Russia; December 27, 2000)
IIHF World U20 Championship
Appearances 24 (first in 1993)
Best result 9th (2001, 2002)
International record (W–L–T)
50–47–6

The Belarusian men's national under-20 ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team in Belarus. The team represents Belarus at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Junior Hockey Championship Division I.

Belarus became an independent nation in 1991, and the team made their first appearance at the top level World Junior Hockey Championships in 1998, when Belarus won Pool B (now Division I). The U20 team attracted some NHL scouts at the 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Winnipeg, but the Belarusians never won a game and tied Kazakhstan in round-robin play. Belarus finished 10th and were relegated to Pool B for 2000, which was staged in Minsk, Belarus. The team easily returned to the top level by defeating Germany in the final. Belarus had little trouble adjusting to the 2001 World Junior Championships in Moscow, Russia, since players played all over Russia and the former Soviet states Latvia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus. Vitali Aristau was 15 years old when he was part of the team in 1999, was still not good enough to be the starting goaltender for the 2001 squad. The team had two more returnees from the 1999 squad – Konstantin Koltsov and Andrei Maroz. The Belarusians avoided relegation by winning and tying a game against the Kazakhs. Belarus competed in the 2002 and 2003 World Junior Championships, until finally being relegated along with Germany under the new IIHF format. Belarus returned to the top division in 2005, where they upset the hosts USA 5–2 in round-robin play, but were relegated again with Germany. Belarus made their last World Junior Championships appearance at the top level in 2007, and have struggled since to be promoted. Belarus won the 2015 Division I A tournament, finishing with a record of 4–1, so they will play in the top division in 2016.

History

References

    External links

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