Ukraine keep pace

The main attraction of the night is the debut of Colorado Avalanche forward Borna Rendulic, arrived in the morning, on the ice of Dom Sportova Arena, not exactly packed, despite the status of national hero of the first ever Croat to play in NHL. The loss against Great Britain has significantly down the possibility of a promotion. On the other side, Ukraine needs to confirm the status of favourite, taking advantage from the point loss by Great Britain in the afternoon. And the team of Aleksandr Savitsky needs three minutes to take the lead: a mistake of Croatian attack paves the way to Dmitri Chernishenko to skate in front of Tomljenovic and beat him. Croatia reacts giving some work to Eduard Zakharchenko with Blagus and Glumac from the distance and same Glumac unable to find the momentum in front of the cage but Ukraine, proved to be a more expert team, waits for the next mistake, a puck not cleaned by defence, to bite again: Petrangovsky serves Dmitri Isaenko for an angled shot with no chance for goalie. At 18:06 Croatia is back in the game with a beautiful shot of Luka Mikulic, allowed after the replay. It’s Viktor Zakharov to rain on Croatian parade scoring the third goal after just 13 seconds in the second period, with a shot from the angle and a not perfect answer by Tomljanovic. The young goalie is not responsible for the fourth goal, copyright of Yunost Minsk duo Andrei Mikhnov – Oleg Shafarenko: assist from Mikhnov and finishing by the latter. The positive Luka Jarcov has a chance rebounded by Zakharchenko before a power play for home team that proves the skill of Ukrainian goalie. A brawl between Roman Blagoy and Kenny Macauley, costing a 2+2 penalty for both players, closed a period well controlled by Ukraine. A shot by Perkovich, well defended by Zakharcheko is the first emotion of last 20 minutes in a depressed Arena, aware that simply Ukraine is stronger than home team. The reflex on ice is, obviously, a widespread nervousness resulting in a misconduct for Marko Ljubic at 47:59 after a vehement protest for a penalty called to Mike Glumac. Even with two men down Croatia bravely resists the bombing, extolling the qualities of Tomljenovic and flaming again the standings. Croatia tries to close the game attacking: Zakharchenko rebounds with the pad a shot by Smolec and with the mask an attempt by Glumac and finally stops Jankovic, served by Rendulic, while Puzic incredibly misses a perfect assist by Perkovich, all in five last minutes, before a penalty called to Perkovich stops the Croatian storm, when home team frankly deserves another goal, allowing Ukraine to make another step on the road to Division I.

MVP: Oleg Shafarenko – Bruno Kegalj

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