National Junior U20 Team
Kazakhstan was promoted out of Pool B into Pool A for 1998. In Helsinki, Finland, the Kazakhs defeated Slovakia 5-2 to earn a spot in the quarter-finals. However, a devastating 14-1 loss to eventual gold-medalists Finland sent Kazakhstan to the placement games, where they defeated Canada 6-3 to finish 7th. It still stands as Kazakhstan's biggest win at the U20 level.
Nikolai Antropov became the fifth Kazakh player drafted into the National Hockey League when selected the first-round by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1998. Antropov would captain the Kazakhstan team at the 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Kazakhstan tied Belarus 2-2 and defeated Switzerland 3-0 to finish third place in Group B and went on to play Canada in the quarter-finals. Canada won 12-2. Nikolai Zarzhitskiy scored both Kazakhstan goals and got player-of-the-game award. Kazakhstan finished 8th and avoided relegation.
Kazakhstan was without Nikolai Antropov when he decided to stay with the Maple Leafs for the 1999–2000 NHL season. Kazakhstan was demolished 14-1 by Russia on December 25, 1999. Kazakhstan's only win was a 5-2 win over Ukraine to qualify for the quarter-finals. Kazakhstan lost to the Czech-Republic 6-3.
Kazakhstan's four-year stay at the World Junior Hockey Championships ended in 2001 when the Kazakhs went win-less and lost their fight to avoid relegation to Belarus.
Kazakhstan spent six years in Division I and nearly came close to being promoted back to the top level (just needed one more win in the 2005 and 2006 games). In 2007, Kazakhstan was finally promoted by edging Norway 3-2 in an IIHF U20 Division I tournament in Torre Pellice, Italy.
Kazakhstan played in the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championships in Liberic, Czech-Republic. The Kazakhs wore only their white nike swift jerseys during the tournament because blue jerseys were not available. Kazakhstan was up 2-0 against Russia, but lost 5-4. They also lost to the US by a score of 4-2. Kazakhstan went on to defeat Switzerland 3-1 and defeated Denmark 6-3 to finished 8th.
Yakov Vorobyov became only the third Kazakh player to play in the Canadian Hockey League. Vorobyov played for the Ottawa 67's, but was released shortly after. Vadim Sozinov played for the Ottawa 67's in 2000-01 and Konstantin Pushkarev played for the Calgary Hitmen in 2004-05.
Kazakhstan boosted plenty of returning players from 2008 upon coming to Ottawa, Ontario to compete in the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Kazakhstan scored only 4 goals during the entire tournament and was relegated back to Division I after a 7-1 loss to Latvia.
Oleg Bolyakin will remain as head coach for Kazakhstan as the Kazakhs will play in the 2010 World Junior Championships, Division 1 held in Gdansk, Poland from December 14–20, 2009. Kazakhstan will compete against Belarus, Italy, Norway, Croatia, and Poland.
For the 2011 IIHF world championships they swept their group winning all 5 games and were promoted back to the championship level after being relegated last year.
Read more about this topic: Kazakhstan Men's National Ice Hockey Team
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