Our team beat Slovakia 6-2 in the final game.
(KZN.RU, May 21, by Renat Shirmanov) Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin congratulated Russia's ice hockey team on winning the world championship, which ended in Helsinki yesterday.
"I congratulate our team on winning the world championship. This is a serious bid on the eve of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It would be nice if they could stay in high gear. For Kazan, the win in the 2012 World Cup is doubly significant: the national team captain was the first Ak Bars vice-captain Ilya Nikulin, while its head coach is an honorary citizen of Kazan Zinetula Bilyaletdinov," said Ilsur Metshin.
The Russian team was the only undefeated one in the 2012 championship, which was held in Finland and Sweden. Having confidently overcome the group barrier, our players defeated the Norwegian and the Finnish team on their way to the finals. In the finals, the Russians were able to win 6-2, thus taking a kind of revenge for their defeat by Slovakia in the 2002 World Cup finals and for the third time in the past five years becoming the strongest team in the world. Including the Soviet period, this is the 26th victory of Russia’s hockey players.