Vitebsk team "Edinstvo" won the final tournament "Zolotaya Shapka" in the younger age group

March 19, Minsk /BelTA/. The "Edinstvo" team from the Zheleznodorozhny district of Vitebsk won the republican "Zolotaya Shaiyba" (Golden Puck) ice hockey competitions for children and teenagers for the prizes of the President of the Republic of Belarus in the junior age group, BelTA learned from the press service of the Presidential Sports Club. The final tournament of "Zolotaya Shaiyba" in the junior age group (11-13 years old) concluded today in Soligorsk. In the gold medal match, the Vitebsk team "Edinstvo" defeated "Partizan" from the eponymous district of Minsk with a score of 13:4. In the bronze medal match, the "Vympel" team from the Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel beat "Parus" from the Soligorsk district with a score of 4:1. A total of eight teams participated in the final tournament, which took place over five days on the ice of the Soligorsk Sports and Entertainment Complex. Seven of them (one from each region and the capital) earned the right to participate through qualifying competitions held across the country from December to March. The eighth participant, by tradition, was a team from Russia. In the preliminary stage of the final round, the participants were divided into two groups. Following the round-robin tournaments within the quartets, playoff matches were held, which determined the winner and prize-winners on the final day. The final standings in the "Zolotaya Shaiyba" junior age group tournament are as follows: 1. "Edinstvo" (Zheleznodorozhny district of Vitebsk). 2. "Partizan" (Partizansky district of Minsk). 3. "Vympel" (Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel). 4. "Parus" (Soligorsk district of Minsk region). 5. "Mukhovets" (Pruzhany district of Brest region). 6. "Yunost" (Ostrovets district of Grodno region). 7. "Sudogodets" (Vladimir region, Russia). 8. "Torpedo" (Oktyabrsky district of Mogilev). By tradition, all tournament participants received memorable gifts and souvenirs from the Presidential Sports Club, while the winners and prize-winners received cups from the Head of State, as well as medals, diplomas, and valuable prizes from the tournament organizers and hockey players of the Extraleague team "Shakhter" of Soligorsk, who will compete with Minsk "Yunost" for the gold of the open championship of Belarus in the final playoff series. Young hockey players were congratulated by forwards of "Shakhter" Maxim Balmochnykh and Alexey Efimenko. Ilya Krylov ("Sudogodets") was named the best goaltender of the tournament, Ilya Korenko ("Parus") - the best defenseman, Alexey Solovyev ("Edinstvo") - the best forward, and Alexander Moroz ("Edinstvo") - the best scorer. A special prize was awarded to the only girl among the tournament participants, Karina Shiptitskaya, captain of the "Partizan" team. Vladislav Mironov ("Edinstvo") received the "youngest participant" award. Next week, Bobruisk will take over from Soligorsk, hosting the final tournament of "Zolotaya Shaiyba" for the senior age group (14-15 years old) from March 22 to 26. Matches will be held on the ice of the 7,000-seat "Bobruisk-Arena," and the opening ceremony of the final competitions is scheduled for March 23 (at 12:00). The motto of the competition is: "Today - a yard championship, tomorrow - a world championship!". The main condition and distinctive feature of the competition is the participation of exclusively yard teams. Teams and students of special ice hockey classes, youth sports schools, Olympic reserve youth sports schools, sports reserve schools, and training groups attached to master teams are not allowed to participate in the tournament. However, a path from "Zolotaya Shaiyba" to professional hockey is quite possible. Hockey specialists will observe the matches, and the most talented players will be offered opportunities to improve their skills in specialized educational and sports institutions. The organizers of the competition are: the republican state-public association "Presidential Sports Club"; the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus; the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus; the public association "Belarusian Republican Youth Union"; the association "Belarus Ice Hockey Federation"; the public association "Belarusian Children and Youth Social Support Fund 'We are for Children'"; the public association "Children and Youth Hockey Club 'Zolotaya Shaiyba'". The general sponsor of the competition is the company "BT Telecommunications" of the closed joint-stock company "Beltechexport". Tournament partners include BelAZ Trading House, Belarusian Potash Company, and Sport-pari company. The general information partner is the National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus. -0-