Press releases

The national team will play the preliminary round in Group B in Ostrava. Team Belarus head coach Dave Lewis called up 25 players.

The roster of Team Belarus includes:

goaltenders: Kevin Lalande (HC CSKA, KHL) Igor Brikun (HC Gomel, Extraliga), Vitaly Koval (HC Salavat Yulaev, KHL);

defensemen: Ivan Usenko (HC Shakhter Extraliga), Nikita Ustinenko (HC Gomel, Extraliga), Oleg Goroshko, Yevgeny Lisovets, Ilya Shinkevich (HC Dinamo Minsk, KHL), Nikolai Stasenko (HC Severstal, KHL), Dmitry Korobov (HC Atlant, KHL), Oleg YEvenko (Adirondack Flames);

forwards: Artur Gavrus, Alexander Kulakov, Alexei Kalyuzhny, Sergei Drozd, Andrei Stepanov, Artem Demkov, Alexander Kitarov Konstantin Zakharov, (HC Dinamo Minsk, KHL), Artem Volkov (Avangard, KHL), Andrei Kostitsyn (HC Sochi, KHL), Sergei Kostitsyn (HC Ak Bars, KHL), Sergei Demagin (HC Torpedo, KHL), Andrei Stas (HC CSKA, KHL), Alexei Yefimenko (HC Sibir, KHL), Mikhail Grabovski (New York Islanders, NHL).

The member of the Belarus national team and forward of the HC Islanders of the NHL Mikhail Grabovski said he will do his best to join the team in the Czech Republic. However, the Belarus Ice Hockey Federation informed that the question of Mikhail Grabovski’s participation in the worlds still remains open as of the morning of 30 April.

Group A (Prague): 1. Sweden 2. Canada 3. Czech Republic 4. Switzerland 5. Latvia 6. France 7. Germany 8. Austria.

Group B (Ostrava): 1. Finland 2. Russia 3. United States 4. Slovakia 5. Norway 6. Belarus 7. Denmark 8. Slovenia.

The schedule of Belarus games in Ostrava:

2.05 Belarus vs Slovenia (17h15),

3.05 Belarus vs Slovakia (17h15),

5.05 Denmark vs Belarus (17h15),

7.05 United States vs Belarus (17h15),

9.05 Belarus vs Russia (13h15),

11.05 Finland vs Belarus (17h15),

12.05 Norway vs Belarus (13h15).