On Thursday, the Russian Hockey Federation (RFH) made a decision about the disqualification of three hockey players of the national team under 18 years of age and their head coach Alexander Titov for a scandal at the Future Cup in Belarus. About the resonant story and its denouement — in our material.
The Future Cup took place in early February in Minsk. Four teams took part in it — the youth teams of Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as the Russian national teams under 17 and under 18. The tournament was held in a round-robin system — everyone played with everyone, and the winner of the trophy was determined by the number of points scored. The Belarusian national team and the Russian U18 team closed the competition, and since both approached the match with a 100% result, it was essentially a final. Whoever wins will take the title.
The plot of the match corresponded to his status. Already by the middle of the first period, the hosts of the tournament scored three unanswered goals, in the second the Russians bounced back and even took the lead. The guests increased their lead to two goals in the final 20 minutes, but in the very end they allowed the Belarusians to send the match into overtime.
It was in the extra period that a controversial episode occurred, which led to a scandal after the match. The Russians missed the puck, which, in their opinion, was preceded by two violations at once. First, the hosts allegedly prevented Yegor Surin from scoring, and at the moment with their attack they did not allow goalkeeper Pyotr Andreyanov to reflect the decisive shot. At the same time, the players of the Russian team tried to convince the referee to reconsider the moment, but their appeals remained unanswered.
As a result, emotions came to the fore. It is obvious that the Russians were already offended to lose in such a spectacular match and miss out on the trophy, but this also added a sense of injustice. During the award ceremony, team captain Surin left the prize for second place on the ice, and after him, the best goalkeeper of the tournament, Andreyanov, and the best forward, Vadim Dudorov, did the same with their awards.
The picture turned out, frankly, ugly. Not to mention the fact that in the episodes that so outraged Russian hockey players, the referees did the right thing. By the way, the team coach Alexander Titov spoke about this after the match, who also noted that the initiative belonged to the hockey players.
““There was no intention on our part to refuse awards, we don’t have a kindergarten. We need to ask the kids a question. It was the usual refereeing, nothing new for a home tournament,” the coach was quoted by Match TV.
But even if the referees really treated the Russian team unfairly, such behavior is unacceptable. The video from the award ceremony instantly spread across the media and demanded a reaction from the FHR, which stated that it does not welcome such antics and promised to look into the situation. And Belarusian Senator Dmitry Baskov gave the story a political twist, saying in an interview with “Championship” that “such an attitude towards our hockey players and fans from boys just starting their path to big sports is simply unacceptable and contradicts the friendship and support that has always existed between our countries and peoples.» Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin also had to comment on the scandal.
«»In conditions when the national teams of Russia and Belarus are suspended from participation in international competitions under the auspices of the IIHF, the organization of joint tournaments in an open format is especially relevant. Such incidents should not take place, because being a professional athlete means not only winning, but also be able to lose with dignity, treat opponents, organizers, and the judiciary with respect and leave your negative emotions outside the sports field. This situation should become a lesson for both young athletes and the coaching staff, for mentors who must not only train, instill technique , but also to educate worthy citizens of their country,” said Matytsin.
The guilty hockey players later apologized, explaining the act by “the emotional state after the match, which was influenced by a number of refereeing decisions.” But the “understand and forgive” scheme did not work in this situation.
On February 29, the FHR Disciplinary Committee examined the scandalous episode and imposed a fairly severe punishment. Surin, Andreyanov and Dudorov were disqualified for three matches of the national team. In addition, all three were given a probationary period of six months, and in case of repeated violation during this period, the sanctions would be tightened.
Alexander Titov, who could not influence the emotions of his charges at the moment, was not left without punishment. but did not prevent them either. In fact, Oleg Matytsin also pointed out the responsibility of the mentor in his statement. As a result, Titov was banned from coaching in Russian national teams for six months. At the same time, he can continue to work in parallel on Dmitry Kokorev’s headquarters at the KHL club Sochi.