Kazakhstan's ice hockey team has caused a sensation at the World Championship, VRK News reports.
In their fourth group-stage match our hockey players inflicted the first defeat on the tournament leader, Germany's national team. Kazakhstan drew level on points with Finland and Latvia and is ahead of them on goals scored.
The German side had gone three matches in a row without defeat, beating Canada, Italy and Norway in turn. Germany is supposedly the stage's leader in goals scored: as many as 19 in four games. But the German machine could not cope with Kazakhstan. In the end, Kazakhstan's ice hockey team beat the Germans in regulation time at the World Championship 3:2!
For our team it was the third win on the ice in Latvia, for the Germans the first defeat.
Alexander Shin opened the scoring in the match. It happened only in the second period.
The opponents quickly equalised and then scored a second goal against the Kazakhstanis.
The course of the game was turned around in the final twenty minutes. In the very first minute of the period Roman Starchenko scored against Germany.
And less than five minutes before the final siren Pavel Akolzin put the finishing touch to the game.
Nevertheless the German team kept top place in the group table. It has nine points. Kazakhstan's team is in fourth position with seven points.
Recall that earlier Kazakhstan sensationally beat the group's favourites in penalty shoot-outs — first the tournament host Latvia and then the reigning world champion Finland. But then it lost to the USA in regulation time without scoring. The team coached by Yuri Mikhailis will play its next match on 28 May against Canada, which has won its first game.
Squad of Kazakhstan's national team at the World Championship in Latvia, 2021
| Number | Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Height | Weight | Shoots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 |  Nikita Boyarkin | Goalkeeper | KAZ | 22 | 185 | 77 | L |
| 20 |  Demid Yeremeyev | Goalkeeper | KAZ | 21 | 185 | 90 | L |
| 31 |  Andrei Shutov | Goalkeeper | KAZ | 23 | 188 | 83 | L |
| 9 |  Jesse Blacker | Defenceman | KAZ | 30 | 188 | 83 | R |
| 65 |  Samat Daniyar | Defenceman | KAZ | 22 | 182 | 70 | R |
| 44 |  Darren Dietz | Defenceman | KAZ | 27 | 187 | 91 | R |
| 85 |  Alexei Maklyukov | Defenceman | KAZ | 27 | 188 | 81 | L |
| 28 |  Valery Orekhov | Defenceman | KAZ | 21 | 186 | 88 | L |
| 23 |  Kirill Polokhov | Defenceman | KAZ | 23 | 191 | 94 | L |
| 58 |  Viktor Svedberg | Defenceman | KAZ | 30 | 204 | 108 | L |
| 55 |  Ivan Stepanenko | Defenceman | KAZ | 25 | 186 | 94 | L |
| 4 |  Yegor Shalapov | Defenceman | KAZ | 26 | 181 | 82 | R |
| 18 |  Pavel Akolzin | Forward | KAZ | 30 | 196 | 102 | L |
| 96 |  Alikhan Asetov | Forward | KAZ | 24 | 186 | 94 | L |
| 14 |  Curtis Volk | Forward | KAZ | 28 | 175 | 77 | L |
| 68 |  Dmitry Gurkov | Forward | KAZ | 24 | 186 | 75 | L |
| 77 |  Sayan Daniyar | Forward | KAZ | 22 | 180 | 78 | L |
| 11 |  Artyom Likhotnikov | Forward | KAZ | 27 | 189 | 100 | L |
| 10 |  Nikita Mikhailis | Forward | KAZ | 25 | 175 | 73 | R |
| 22 |  Kirill Panyukov | Forward | KAZ | 24 | 187 | 86 | R |
| 15 |  Yegor Petukhov | Forward | KAZ | 27 | 177 | 77 | L |
| 88 |  Yevgeny Rymarev | Forward | KAZ | 30 | 174 | 73 | L |
| 84 |  Kirill Savitsky | Forward | KAZ | 26 | 183 | 89 | L |
| 89 |  Anton Sagadeyev | Forward | KAZ | 27 | 180 | 86 | L |
| 48 |  Roman Starchenko | Forward | KAZ | 35 | 178 | 85 | L |
| 95 |  Dmitry Shevchenko | Forward | KAZ | 25 | 195 | 101 | L |
| 64 |  Arkady Shestakov | Forward | KAZ | 26 | 180 | 85 | L |
| 49 |  Alexander Shin | Forward | KAZ | 35 | 185 | 77 | L |
