Belarus: Belarusian prospects. Updates, reports.

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
hi all
i'm planning to attend some belarusian open league games in february and would like to write here about some young players.

also i'm planning to visit some yunost games in vhl, because all young players from yunost farm-club yunior are playing now for the vhl team and all players from vhl team are playing in bol.
yunost lost their chances to make the playoffs so they have sent down their best players to compete for the belarusian league championship.
so because of that some young players made their vhl debut yesterday, in a game against izhstal'.

list of debuted players included such names as khenkel and dyukov, two of the most promising defenceman of their age. they are both late 1995-born and 2014 eligible.

so i want to start this thread with some words about them playing in yesterday's game.

i haven't seen them in person more than a year, so it was quite interesting how they are playing now and if they progressed much.

first impression was that khenkel has become a little higher and bigger, because he was a bit smaller than dyukov and now they are on par.
they still have a lot of room to grow and i expect them to bulk up also, because now they are bit lightweight (they are listed as 182-78 (dyukov) and 182-76 (khenkel) at vhl official site).

they played together and received pretty much playing time (25 shifts, 21:18 for dyukov and 24 shifts, 19:23 for khenkel). dykov was also on the ice with three other forwards when yunost' scored ot-winner.

they played disciplined and solid game, without any big mistakes.

khenkel impressed more with his physicality, he wasn't afraid of bigger and older opponents and tried to hit them every shift when he had a chance. there was a pretty interesting moment in the first period when he managed to hit two different forwards in a span of 5 seconds and he knocked them off the puck with the help of these hits. so he was somewhat effective with these moves.
also had some good stick-checks and blockshots. his skating is not ideal but pretty good (especially as it's a problem for many belarusian young players) and there is a time to perfect it.

khenkel showed some tendency of choosing some difficult plays to make, while dyukov prefers to make it more simple.

also khenkel succesfully made a pair of perfect first passes and proved that he possesses a good ice vision - some thing which other more experienced d-man from the both teams didn't show in this game.

it looked like they have some balance in their pairing, with khenkel having more offensive potential and dyukov playing more like a shutdown d-man who tries to make it safe and simple.

though, it may be early to say, because they haven't much chances to show something in offense because of the very cautious game they played. they were afraid of joining the rush and when the puck was loose in the offensive zone, they started to skate back to the neutral zone and didn't even try to help keeping the puck in the enemy zone, so they wouldn't get caught with the counter-attack.

only once during the game one of the youngsters jumped in the play and moved with the puck to the izhstal' blueline and to my surprise it was dyukov. he also had one shot on goal during powerplay but it was easily saved.

khenkel hadn't any chances to show his shot which was one of his strengths on junior level.

they are playing together for a long time so they are actively communicating on the ice and they understand well each other, it helps them much. in an ideal world you'll want them playing for your team together, as one unit.

so, i was pretty pleased to see them yesterday and though there is really much work to do, but now i'm sure that they're progressing well. on another hand, izhstal is one of the worst vhl teams and it's interesting to find out how they'll look like against tougher opponents and i'll try to follow them more this month.
maybe they need to move to NA, but only if they move together and to one team, i think.

1991-born yunost goalie borodulya also played very good game yesterday, he made some big saves.

so that's all for today, stay tuned
 
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ozo

Registered User
Feb 24, 2010
4,320
425
This is an awesome write-up no doubt, but can you be a bit more general at the beginning for us - outsiders. Can you start with an introduction of the biggest prospects from each birthyear, where they play and general trends of youth hockey, for example it's widely believed that each next Latvian generation on average is better than the previous one, what about Belarus?

Also, you have a PM.
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
This is an awesome write-up no doubt, but can you be a bit more general at the beginning for us - outsiders. Can you start with an introduction of the biggest prospects from each birthyear, where they play and general trends of youth hockey, for example it's widely believed that each next Latvian generation on average is better than the previous one, what about Belarus?

Also, you have a PM.

i wrote some time ago this at the khl section of the forum:

if we talk about 1994 and older

goalies: borodulya (1991), shelepnyov (1993), karnaukhov (1994)

forwards
gavrus (94 born, drafted by devils, returned from ontario league, now playing against men in belarusian open league and having great stats - 12 points in 15 games (5+7) and +10, already drawn some comparisons to grabovski with his size and playing style), dunaev (playing in vhl, had good stats in mhl, 93 born), lopachuk (1992, playing 5-6 minutes in the 4th line for dinamo minsk in khl), valkov (1994, 21 games 3+4 -15 in BOL)

d-men
graborenko (playing in ahl, 92 born, good puck-moving skills), gotovets (91 born, ncaa), lisovets (late 94, 2013 eligible, plays for neman in belarusian open league, 23 games 2+7, +19), zalamay (94 born, big size - 196-96, plays in vhl, 27 games 1+4, -3)

we have some talented 1995-96 born d-men in khenkel, klyavzo and dyukov, they all have good potential, but need to work
khenkel is already playing in belarusian open league against men (26 games, 1 assist, but horrible -13, though) for yunior (farm of the vhl yunost)
dyukov is khenkel teammate (26 games, 1+1, -3)
klyavzo played last season in russia and was leader and captain of his 1996-born (neva) team, was one of the scoring leaders, while playing at defence. though, he's january-1996 and maybe that's why he's so dominant at this level(age group), he is really big and there are reports that his shot is really hard for the boy of his age. he played also at the same time for 1995-born teams in russia (also for neva st.petersburg) and it was somewhat different though he still managed to score points
klyavzo returned to belarus and is playing in junior league now, though maybe it would be good for him to move to NA or russia (though, there were rumors, that top russian junior teams offered him to join them but they demanded from vadim to change citizenship, vadim refused)

there is more problems with young forwards

though i can recall vlad misnikov (96 born), who was leading scorer of his team last year (if i'm not mistaken), while playing in russia for neva st. petersbourg (was klyavzo teammate) and there was some good reports about him

so at the point it seems we don't have any high-end prospects, just some players who can become solid at their position and some hopes that these d-men can turn into real deal. and besides gavrus you can't find any going-to-be top class forward

i think, we have to have a deeper look at lisovets, maybe he'll turn into something

but it's really in brief

there were some changes, though

gavrus has returned to owen sound
dunaev signed with shakhtyor of the bol (and is horrible -5 in 3 games)
lopachuk playing time increased slightly

and some others

so maybe i'll write something like a little introduction with prospects list year by year
 

ozo

Registered User
Feb 24, 2010
4,320
425
Also, is there any prospects that have obtained Russian passports lately? Like for example, it took years to for Misyul to commit to Belarussian NT and thus he never once played for u18's. But I guess, this isn't such a big problem for you guys compared to Ukrainians and Kazakhs, right?
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
Also, is there any prospects that have obtained Russian passports lately? Like for example, it took years to for Misyul to commit to Belarussian NT and thus he never once played for u18's. But I guess, this isn't such a big problem for you guys compared to Ukrainians and Kazakhs, right?

yeah, there were some, but most of them are pretty young kids which are not big names, though they may played good (as i've heard there are about 5 kids of 95 and younger of belarusian descent with russian citizenship who are playing in st.petersburg junior hockey league and maybe 3 or 4 who are playing in moscow junior hockey league). and still there might be repetition of misyul case, who knows
and this is not surprising - russian clubs offer better conditions and level of competition in exchange for citizenship.

and yes, i suppose, it's harder for ukranians and kazakhs, because they produce less talent.
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
So how do you compare your prospect pool(Belorussian) to your direct competitors : Latvia,Denmark,Norway etc?
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
So how do you compare your prospect pool(Belorussian) to your direct competitors : Latvia,Denmark,Norway etc?

to be honest i really do not know much about latvian, norwegian and danish prospects simply because i almost haven't seen them.

though, this u-20 in december gave me some positive thoughts, that our 1993-1994 might be slightly better than norwegian and danish teams, because we dominated them both, but hadn't some luck in a game against norway. and that's after u18 of those guys when we were already behind them, so our youngsters showed some progress these two years.
after the end of div 1 wc-20 during ceremony iihf representative said that it wasn't the best team (norway) which promoted to the elite thus hinting that belarus was.

on the other hand is that belarus hasn't been at elite division of u-20 since 2007, and others were at least once.

we haven't produced an elite talent for a while and latvia has girgensons, denmark - ehlers?

but i'm trying to be positive (though, it's hard) and my thoughts now that we're on par with norway and denmark while latvia going slightly ahead of us
 

BalticWarrior

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
6,477
320
Riga
to be honest i really do not know much about latvian, norwegian and danish prospects simply because i almost haven't seen them.

though, this u-20 in december gave me some positive thoughts, that our 1993-1994 might be slightly better than norwegian and danish teams, because we dominated them both, but hadn't some luck in a game against norway. and that's after u18 of those guys when we were already behind them, so our youngsters showed some progress these two years.
after the end of div 1 wc-20 during ceremony iihf representative said that it wasn't the best team (norway) which promoted to the elite thus hinting that belarus was.

on the other hand is that belarus hasn't been at elite division of u-20 since 2007, and others were at least once.

we haven't produced an elite talent for a while and latvia has girgensons, denmark - ehlers?

but i'm trying to be positive (though, it's hard) and my thoughts now that we're on par with norway and denmark while latvia going slightly ahead of us

How do you see the impact of Dinamo Minsk on popularity of hockey in Belarus and overall producing of good talent?
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
How do you see the impact of Dinamo Minsk on popularity of hockey in Belarus and overall producing of good talent?

i think we'll see it in 5-10 years but there is nothing to say now.

as for popularity - yes, there is a big boost of
everyone knows now how dinamo is playing and everyone ready to criticize them when they're slumping.

we also have many dinamo haters here :D
 
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Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
At the U20 WC I think especially Shelepnyov and Gavrus stood out.
Defence was also a lot better than what Denmark could bring.
Beside Gavrus scoring was a bit of a problem though in that tournament.
So no need to be pessimistic about prospects (thats more the Ukrainian department at the moment).
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
Will any Belarusians be drafted this year?

there are almost no chances of belarusian being drafted this year, i think (but i wouldn't mind if i make a mistake :) )

though, i would like to see evgeni lisovets, defenceman, late 1994-born and 2013 eligible, being drafted by any nhl team.
he's having tremendous year with belarusian powerhouse neman, playing against men - 6+7 in 35 games and what's more important - + 29 in plus-minus which is good for the second place in his team and for the 12th place in the league.

he has good size already - 183-89 and it won't be surprise if he becomes a pair of cm higher

he performed well at wjc-20 this year and playing solid game

i'm gonna watch him one more time at the 16th february and will post a report here
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
there are almost no chances of belarusian being drafted this year, i think (but i wouldn't mind if i make a mistake :) )

though, i would like to see evgeni lisovets, defenceman, late 1994-born and 2013 eligible, being drafted by any nhl team.
he's having tremendous year with belarusian powerhouse neman, playing against men - 6+7 in 35 games and what's more important - + 29 in plus-minus which is good for the second place in his team and for the 12th place in the league.

he has good size already - 183-89 and it won't be surprise if he becomes a pair of cm higher

he performed well at wjc-20 this year and playing solid game

i'm gonna watch him one more time at the 16th february and will post a report here

That is actually pretty impressive. With his size and showing so far, it's not impossible he might get drafted.
Since he is apparently called to the olympic qualification as a substitute for Ilya Shinkevich we will see him already the 7-10 of february in Denmark!
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
Will any Belarusians be drafted this year?

also maybe someone would buy on dmitry zalamay' size
dmitry is 1994 born (he was 12 eligible), played in vhl this season and though he wasn't perfect, sometimes he played reliable game.
he is right-handed and as i've mentioned before he is 196-96

so, maybe, we have belarusian chara in the making :sarcasm::sarcasm:

and also i'm going to write about him some more in a near future
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
That is actually pretty impressive. With his size and showing so far, it's not impossible he might get drafted.
Since he is apparently called to the olympic qualification as a substitute for Ilya Shinkevich we will see him already the 7-10 of february in Denmark!

no, maybe we won't see him

he was called only for the training camp first, and there is still unclear if he flies with the team to denmark

though, because of tampa's refusal to let korobov play for the national team his chances have become somewhat real - he will compete for the final, 7th, defenceman spot
 
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Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
no, maybe we won't see him

he was called only for the training camp first, and there is still unclear if he fly with the team to denmark

though, because of tampa's refusal to let korobov play for the national team his chances have become somewhat real

Thanks...so who will officially step in to replace Ilya Shinkevich or is it not decided yet?
(Its just so my roster updates gets as correct as possible...)
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
Thanks...so who will officially step in to replace Ilya Shinkevich or is it not decided yet?
(Its just so my roster updates gets as correct as possible...)

so there is a little math :) :

originally we had 9 defencemen who were invited to the camp:

denisov, goroshko, chernook, filichkin, maslennikov, stasenko, kaznadey, shinkevich, korobov

then shinkevich had his minor issues with health (flu) and lisovets was called up to substitute him for the camp

so, we have 10 now on 7 spots

today it was announced that shinkevich is still ill and yzerman didn't let korobov to join the national team

so it's 8 now on 7 spots:
denisov, goroshko, chernook, filichkin, maslennikov, stasenko, kaznadey, lisovets

and gm of national team, safronov, said that lisovets is likely to stay at home :)

but there is a game tomorrow, against france, and the final decision will be made after the game, i suppose
 
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Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
so there is a little math :) :

originally we had 9 defencemen who were invited to the camp:

denisov, goroshko, chernook, filichkin, maslennikov, stasenko, kaznadey, shinkevich, korobov

then shinkevich had his minor issues with health (flu) and lisovets was called up to substitute him for the camp

so, we have 10 now on 7 spots

today it was announced that shinkevich is still ill and yzerman didn't let korobov to join the national team

so it's 8 now on 7 spots:
denisov, goroshko, chernook, filichkin, maslennikov, stasenko, kaznadey, lisovets

and gm of national team, safronov, said that lisovets is likely to stay at home :)

but there is a game tomorrow, against france, and the final decision will be made after the game, i suppose

Great...look forward to see the final lineup! :)
 

malkinfan

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
4,315
33
Canada
Kostitsyn is key. Isn't blowing up the KHL or anything, but I think he can help them win this thing.
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
Kostitsyn is key. Isn't blowing up the KHL or anything, but I think he can help them win this thing.

yeah, especially he can help when the coach excluded him from the team few days ago because he didn't show up in time to the training camp. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

also it's no wonder that lisovets won't go to denmark - he was cut today so the roster is finalized now

i saw him (lisovets) against france yesterday - he had limited playing time (i think he hadn't a shift in the first period) and looked a bit shaky. maybe he was nervous while debuting for national team in front of lukashenko and 14.000 of fans. though he didn't make any mistakes, one can see lack of confidence in his output.
 
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malkinfan

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
4,315
33
Canada
yeah, especially he can help when the coach excluded him from the team few days ago because he didn't show up in time to the training camp. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

also it's no wonder that lisovets won't go to denmark - he was cut today so the roster is finalized now

i saw him (lisovets) against france yesterday - he had limited playing time (i think he hadn't a shift in the first period) and looked a bit shaky. maybe he was nervous while debuting for national team in front of lukashenko and 14.000 of fans. though he didn't make any mistakes, one can see lack of confidence in his output.

Are you serious, no Kostitsyn? Already some adversity, great
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
yeah, especially he can help when the coach excluded him from the team few days ago because he didn't show up in time to the training camp. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

also it's no wonder that lisovets won't go to denmark - he was cut today so the roster is finalized now

i saw him (lisovets) against france yesterday - he had limited playing time (i think he hadn't a shift in the first period) and looked a bit shaky. maybe he was nervous while debuting for national team in front of lukashenko and 14.000 of fans. though he didn't make any mistakes, one can see lack of confidence in his output.

So how does the final roster look like?
With regards to Lisovets...maybe not that surprising if he was nervous!
 

kunabai

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
201
13
Minsk
So how does the final roster look like?
With regards to Lisovets...maybe not that surprising if he was nervous!

koval, milchakov, goryachevskikh

stasenko, denisov, goroshko, kaznadey, filichkin, maslennikov, chernook

senkevich, mikhalyov, kulakov, stepanov, ugarov, meleshko, demagin, stas, koltsov, stefanovich, kalyuzhny, kitarov, drozd
 

Justinov

Registered User
Apr 30, 2012
4,206
22
Copenhagen
koval, milchakov, goryachevskikh

stasenko, denisov, goroshko, kaznadey, filichkin, maslennikov, chernook

senkevich, mikhalyov, kulakov, stepanov, ugarov, meleshko, demagin, stas, koltsov, stefanovich, kalyuzhny, kitarov, drozd

Thank you :)
 

malkinfan

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
4,315
33
Canada
Team looks terrible so far, poor offensive play, defense with terrible turnovers. Cutting Kostitsyn hurt.
 

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