Belarusian National Ice Hockey Team
Member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF): since 1992
Member association: Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation
Head coach: Dmitry Kvartalnov (11 April 2023-present day)
Highest IIHF ranking: 6th (2006)
Best result at the Olympics: 4th (2002)
First international apperance: Belarus 1-4 Ukraine (1993 IIHF World Championship qualifier on 7 November 1992)
Biggest win: Belarus 21-1 Lithuania (1998 Nagano Olympics qualifier on 30 August 1996)
Biggest defeats: Finland 11-2 Belarus (friendly match on 7 April 1997), Canada 11-2 Belarus (friendly match on 19 March 1998)
Milestones
World championships
Due to the break-up of the Soviet Union there was a tough competition in the lower divisions of the IIHF World Championships in early 1990s as a number of new states such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia and others, except Russia, competed for promotion.
Belarus’ maiden match was the 1993 IIHF World Championship qualifier against Ukraine, which took place in the Palace of Sports, Minsk, Belarus, in 1992 and proved to be a 1-4 defeat.
In 1995 Belarus earned a promotion from IIHF World Champions Group C1 to Group B where two years later took the first place achieving a historical promotion to the IIHF World Championship Group A. Belarus’ maiden season in the highest division at the 1998 IIHF World Championship proved to be quite a success, manager Anatoly Varivonchik’s team making it into the best eight ice hockey teams of the world.
In 1999 and 2000 Belarus took the 9th spot on both other occasions. Following the 2001 World Championship in Germany Belarus were relegated to the IIHF World Championship Division IA, which is the second most important division of the IIHF World Championship. Belarus took the 14th place in the overall standings and had to play in the Relegation Round. Japan took the last fourth place in the relegation tournament but received a 5-year relegation protection in line with a special IIHF decision, which meant that second-placed Belarus and third-placed Norway were relegated instead.
At the 2003 IIHF World Championship in Finland the history repeated itself. Belarus took the 14th place and were again relegated instead of Japan, who used their relegation protection.
At the end of the 2004 season Mikhail Zakharov’s side came back to the IIHF World Championship Top Division where they have been playing every year since 2005.
Prior to the 2005 IIHF World Championship the first foreign manager, Canada’s Glen Hanlon, was assigned to coach the Belarusian national ice hockey team. Following the 2005 World Championship Belarus remained in the Highest Division with the 10th place. Belarus’ goaltender Andrei Mezin was second only to Tomas Vokoun of the Czech Republic with the 97.14 save percentage at the tournament. Young forward Mikhail Grabovsky netted four times in what turned out to be a key 5-0 victory over Austria.
Belarus made it to the play-off stage for the first time in their history at the IIHF World Championship in 2006. The quarterfinal match against Finland ended in a 0-3 defeat for Belarus. The team got the sixth overall place, goaltender Andrei Mezin being included in the symbolic team of the World Championship.
Being 11th in 2007 and 9th in 2008 under American head coach Curt Fraser, Belarus improved their performance with Glen Hanlon’s return to the manager post. At the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals where they were outclassed by the Russian team in a 3-4 drama. Goaltender Andrei Mezin got the Best Goalkeeper award and was included in the Media All-Star Team of the tournament.
From 2010 to 2012, Belarus did not achieve such high results at IIHF World Championships as before and had to labor hard not to be relegated in 2011 and 2012. Vitaly Koval made it into the best five goaltenders at the 2012 IIHF World Championship. He boasted the save percentage of 92.02.
The Belarusian national ice hockey team lost all but one game in the Preliminary Round of the 2013 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm to place 14th. Apart from overpowering Slovenia 4-3 they lost to the Czech Republic (0-2), Sweden (1-2), Canada (1-4), Norway (1-3), Denmark (2-3) and Switzerland (1-4). However, Belarus were not knocked out of the Top Division as it was the host nation of the IIHF World Championship that took place in Minsk in May 2014.
All games were played in Minsk at two venues, the 15,000-seat Minsk Arena and the 9,600-seat Chizhovka Arena.
Team Belarus at 2014 IIHF World Championship
At the 79th IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic the Belarusian national team reached the quarterfinal for the fourth time in the history of its performance in the top division. In the preliminary round Dave Lewis’’ men scored 14 points, the team’s best achievement at this stage of the tournament. Team Belarus beat the United States (5-2), Denmark (5-1), Slovenia (4-2), Norway (3-2), lost to Slovakia in overtime (1-2) and to Finland in shootout (3-4). Belarus also lost 0-7 to Russia. In the first playoff round Belarus suffered a 0-9 defeat from Canada to finish 7th in the IIHF World Championship standings.
At the 80th IIHF World Championship in Russia (2016), Belarus’ national team held its Group B games in Saint Petersburg. In the qualifying round the Belarusian team under Dave Lewis played against Finland (2-6), the United States (3-6), Canada (0-8), Slovakia (4-2), Germany (2-5), Hungary (2-5) and France (3-0). Belarus finished 12th, failing to reach the playoff.
Belarus placed 13th at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, co-hosted by Paris, France and Cologne, Germany.
The next, 2018 IIHF World Championship in Denmark turned to be a true nightmare for Belarus. Three defeats in a row, including a 0-6 against Russia, resulted in the resignation of head coach Dave Lewis. His assistant Andrei Mezin soon left the coaching staff, too. According to experts, the Belarusian team was almost the first in the history of the World Championships, which decided on such fundamental changes during the tournament. Sergei Pushkov was named acting head coach. After 13 years played in the elite division, Belarus left the list of the world’s top national teams, placing 15th.
Belarus did not play at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia. To return to the world elite, the team led by head coach Andrey Sidorenko competed at the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The team won three out of five matches and, placing 2nd, got the right to rejoin the top 16 teams.
The 2020 IIHF World Championship, which was initially scheduled in Lausanne and Zurich, Switzerland, was canceled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Minsk and Riga were to co-host the IIHF World Championship edition in 2021. However, on 18 January 2021, the International Ice Hockey Federation took a decision to move the championship solely to Latvia. The Belarusian national team under Mikhail Zakharov opened the tournament with a loss to Slovakia in Group A. Then, Belarus edged Sweden 1-0 to record its first ever victory over Tre Kronor at the world championships. After that, Belarus suffered an overtime defeat from the Czech Republic and then consequently lost to the UK, Denmark, Switzerland and Russia. Despite finishing last in Group A and 15th overall with four points, Belarus has not been relegated as lower-division tournaments were canceled amid the pandemic.
Olympic Games
The Belarusian national ice hockey team partook in three Winter Olympic Games in 1998, 2002 and 2010.
During the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics qualification in 1996 Belarus registered their biggest ever 21-1 victory in the Lithuania encounter. At the Nagano Olympics head coach Anatoly Varivonchik led the team to the seventh place.
The Belarusian national team reached the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics semifinals under Vladimir Krikunov, which is the team’s best result ever. Back then, Belarus took the fourth place beating Sweden 4-3 in a historic match. In the semifinal Belarus were hammered by Canada 1-7, while the bronze medal match saw Belarus falling to Russia 2-7. With the fourth place at the competition the hockey players also recorded the best team sport result in the history of Belarus’ participation in the Olympic Games.
The 2006 Turin Olympic Games qualification was a sheer drama for the Belarusian team. Mikhail Zakharov’s side were playing their ultimate Olympic qualifying match against the Latvian national ice hockey team in Riga. Leading 4-2 with five minutes remaining in the game Belarus somehow conceded three goals in 2:20 to hand the tickets for the Turin Olympic Games to the Latvians.
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games Belarus led by manager Mikhail Zakharov showed the worst result ever finishing in the 9th position.
In February 2013 Belarus took part in the 2014 Sochi Olympics qualification. The first group F match in Vojens, Denmark, turned out to be a shocking 2-4 defeat at Slovenia. Belarus then whitewashed Ukraine 6-0 but the parallel match saw Slovenia outclassing Denmark 2-1 and depriving Belarus of the chance to participate in the Sochi Olympics. On matchday three Belarus snatched a 3-2 victory against Denmark. The Belarusian national ice hockey team wrapped up the second place in their Sochi Olympics qualifying section.
The 2018 Olympic ice hockey qualifier took place in Minsk on 1-4 September 2016. In Group D Belarus played against Denmark (5-2), Poland (5-3) and Slovenia (2-3SO). Belarus placed second and lost the chance to book the 2018 Olympic Winter Games berth in Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea).
Due to the pandemic, the 2022 Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Final Qualification took place on 26-29 August 2021: the tournaments with three Beijing Olympics berths up for grabs were hosted by Slovakia, Latvia and Norway. In Group D Belarus faced Slovakia, Austria and Poland. Group E featured Latvia, France, Italy and Hungary. Group F included Norway, Denmark, South Korea and Slovenia. Belarus placed second in Group D, behind Slovakia.
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