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| Home | News | Photo | Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for prize of President of Belarus

Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for prize of President of Belarus

Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for prize of President of Belarus
4 Jan 2018

Minsk hosted the 14th Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for the prize of the President of Belarus. By tradition, the event, held ahead of one of the major Orthodox holidays, dubbed as the "unofficial amateur ice hockey world championship", gathered the strongest teams from Belarus, Russia, Balkans (the united national team), Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the UAE and, the debutant China. By the way, this year Minsk welcomed the athletes in the new capacity, namely the co-host of the 2021 IIHF World Championship. In May 2017 Belarus and Latvia won the right to co-host the world’s sport forum. The president said at the opening ceremony that “it would have been impossible without those guys and without the sport functionaries, who have come to Minsk for the Christmas tournament.”

Another symbolic novelty of the ice hockey tournament in Minsk was the U15 Golden Puck ice hockey competition, also held at Chizhovka Arena. The tournament was resumed in 1997 following the initiative of Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko.

Eight teams from different countries, spectacular ice hockey at fan-packed Chizhovka Arena in Minsk, and the brightest moments of the Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament 2018 in our photo gallery!

Opening ceremony of the 14th Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for the prize of the President of Belarus
Head of state and amateur hockey player Alexander Lukashenko opens the 14th Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament in Minsk
Opening ceremony of the 14th Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for the prize of the President of Belarus
Opening ceremony of the 14th Christmas amateur ice hockey tournament for the prize of the President of Belarus
Switzerland vs China (7-4)
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