Zakharau: Decision on Zankavets' discharge has already been taken

Coach of "Yunatstva" Minsk Mikhail Zakharau called every player of our team before Belarus' last game in the Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia. It is unknown whether this worked, our national team really found some strength left, but we won the game against Slovenians thus securing our place in the highest world division. 

Mikhail Zakharau: “I am grateful to our hockey players that they won the last game. I talked to literally every player before that game. I just asked them... And then I watched the game and it made me happy, that they got together, talked it all over, realized what they needed to do, that they had no other options, and played! You know, anything might happen, anything...”

According to Mikhail Zakharau, Belarusian national team's coach Edward Zankavets will be discharged after the team's failure at the Ice Hockey World Championship.

Mikhail Zakharau: “There will surely be a new coach. The decision has already been taken and everyone knows that”.

A well-known hockey specialist Uladzimir Krykunou advised Belarusians to look for a new coach for their national hockey team in Belarus. Among the others, he mentioned Zakharau's name. However, Mikhail Zakharau is not in a hurry to take Zankavets' place.

“The crisis has not gone anywhere, — Mikhail Zakharau says, — I agree with one point: there is much money, but little sense in our hockey. We keep discussing the national team, and forget that the youth team is in group B, and juniors are in group C... No one ever speaks about this! When I start convincing that money should be directed there, I become the Public Enemy No. 1. No one likes the idea - coaches, players. They immediately start complaining like: What can we do at 32?!”

Photo: www.pressball.by.