Belarus: Dissapointing U-18's

[malkinfan]

Belarus loses to Slovenia then France, and Denmark in the Finals.. Quite a disappointing tournament for them. I thought hockey was on the rise in Belarus, when will we see the next generation of young stars from Belarus (maybe from a spin-off effect of the KHL, increasing popularity of hockey)... Or when can we see them return to the top division in U20 and U18?

[Grabovski]

Its a shame really. I thought they iced a good team but I guess I was wrong. Hockey is on the rise in Belarus but I think this year was just not there year. I suspect them to make an impact in a couple of years on the junior level.

[Garl]

Originally Posted by Grabovski

Its a shame really. I thought they iced a good team but I guess I was wrong. Hockey is on the rise in Belarus but I think this year was just not there year. I suspect them to make an impact in a couple of years on the junior level.

What makes you think so? Yes they have state help but where are the results? Last decent player they produced is Sergey Kostytsyn who is 24 now.

[Grabovski]

Originally Posted by Garl

What makes you think so? Yes they have state help but where are the results? Last decent player they produced is Sergey Kostytsyn who is 24 now.

Well considering the President is a huge hockey fan, the government is building more than 30 arenas around the country with a brand new Minsk-Arena that recently opened that fits 15,000+ people to prepare for the 2014 WHC held in Belarus. Plus the president, Alexander Lukashenko has said he wants to make junior hockey more popular ect. And plus hockey has grown to be most popular sport in Belarus, and Dinamo Minsk being one of the most money making teams in the KHL.

[Latgale_fan]

Originally Posted by Grabovski

Well considering the President is a huge hockey fan, the government is building more than 30 arenas around the country with a brand new Minsk-Arena that recently opened that fits 15,000+ people to prepare for the 2014 WHC held in Belarus. Plus the president, Alexander Lukashenko has said he wants to make junior hockey more popular ect. And plus hockey has grown to be most popular sport in Belarus, and Dinamo Minsk being one of the most money making teams in the KHL.

And yet... Latvia has better quality 1994, 1995 and 1996 born players, I don't know how it looks further, with 1997 borns etc.
The probem in Belarus is that they haven't good good coaching... you can build as many arenas as you want but if there are no quality coaches.....