The author of sports.ru Timofei Ivanchikov appreciated the game of Dynamo Minsk at the Olympics in Beijing.
“Yesterday the Olympic hockey tournament in Beijing ended, which, although it brought some small surprises, still ended as most predicted – with the victory of the Finnish team.
Due to the absence of the Belarusian national team at the Olympics, Belarusian fans mostly followed the Dynamo Minsk players called up to their national teams – Patrik Rybar, Libor Gudachek and Lukas Bengtsson.
Considering that the NHL players did not come to Beijing, players from the KHL, the second most powerful league in the world, reasonably became the leaders of their teams. This happened with the Dynamo.
Patrick Rybar – 6 matches, 0.7 KN, 96.6%
Of course, Patrick did not just play for his national team, but he helped her achieve bronze. Even despite the fact that in the opening match Rybar was out of the squad, and the second one started from the bench, I think that they counted on him, after all, as the main goalkeeper. Dynamo, after all, had a very good season, even by the standards of the KHL. Yes, at the beginning of the regular season, Patrick was not quite playing well, besides, he had a small series of injuries. But Rybar is one of those hockey players who needs some time to adapt to the championship, after which he begins to progress and show a good game (this was observed in the AHL, the Finnish league, and the KHL). And besides him, Ramsey had two goalkeepers from the middle peasants of the Czech championship in his clip, so the appearance of the Zubr goalkeeper on the ice was a matter of time.
The same adaptation that we just talked about happened to Rybar at the Olympics. At the beginning, Patrick gave a lot of uncontrolled rebounds, did not always make the right decisions, and so on. But over time, he began to feel more confident, a striking proof of this was the shootout with the US team, in which the goalkeeper of the Slovak team repelled all five shots of the Americans. Despite the fact that young skilled guys from the top 50-60 NHL draft picks of past years came out to realize their attempts against him. And what do we have? – Zero missed goals. In such cases, you always pay attention to the calmness and emotional stability of the goalkeeper. And the Slovak had it all, not only in this shootout, but throughout the tournament. There were no emotional downturns with Rybar; throughout the entire Olympics, Patrick managed to do what
At the Beijing Games, Rybar felt that they could believe in him in decisive matches and, most importantly, that he himself could win such fights for his team. The main goalkeeper of the Olympic team is a serious title that gives confidence not only to the goalkeeper himself, but also to partners with the coaching staff. Which, of course, should help Dynamo Minsk in the playoffs.
Libor Gudacek – 7 matches, 3 (1+2) points
Libor went to the Olympics as a potential center of the second link, because in the top three the Slovaks had a strong connection of Ceglarik-Grivik (last season this couple scored more than 90 points in the Swedish Leksand). And Gudachek, with his versatility, got a place in the second line of forwards and the majority, but no one removed defensive duties from him.
At this Olympics, the Slovak Dynamo proved to be a classic role player who plays great on assignment. Libor did not have any failures, serious losses, blunders that led to missed goals or unnecessary removals, and what was required of him, Hudacek did perfectly.
In general, we can say that the Slovak showed his level: there were no failures, but he did not jump above his head either.
Lukas Bengtsson – 6 matches, 2 (1+1) points
But Bengtsson played the tournament very well and showed why the fans of not only Dynamo Minsk, but also the Swedish national team, hope for him. By and large, Lucas did everything that he is good at, but let’s not forget that he can do it at a very decent level. The Swede started his team’s attacks very well, despite the pressure from the opponents, famously got out of pressure, gave an accurate first pass, which is very important. However, I would like to note that Bengtsson often took the puck out of his zone and started attacks through individual actions: he did not hesitate to pick up the puck behind the goal and carry it through two thirds of the site. Then he could join the attack or he himself would put pressure on the opponent in the event of a loss and even go down behind the opponent’s goal.
At the Olympics, Lucas once again showed that he is one of the strongest defensemen playing in the KHL in terms of versatility and offensive potential. Yes, he may not be the biggest player, but the Swede compensates for this with good positioning and wide skating (he is not so easy to budge). A plus for Bengtsson was that the system of the Swedish national team assumed a quick start of the attack. The Swedes had practically no controlled long rolls, they tried to quickly return the puck to the opponent’s half of the court in order to maintain the intensity of the game and prevent opponents from changing. And the quick start of a re-attack through a pass, a throw, or due to individual skill is what Lucas is good at and practices in Dynamo Minsk, among other things.
Of all three, only Rybar really surprised me. Of course, everyone understood that this is a good goalkeeper at the KHL level. But the fact that he will be able to show such a game at the Olympics, I think, was expected by a few. And Bengtsson and Gudachek showed their level and became important elements in the system of their teams, whose contribution to the game of the entire team cannot be underestimated,” Ivanchikov wrote.
Source: belarushockey.com