For the first time, a Belarusian club has won the Euro-Asian Friendship Hockey Cup. And it's "Vitebsk"!

In the final, our compatriots met the Russian team "Torpedo-Gorky". "Vitebsk" scored two goals in the first period (Vyacheslav Ipatov and Evgeny Astankov). The second period was scoreless, and in the final third, the Russians scored their first reply goal. But our team did not allow the opponent to score any more, and the game ended with a score of 2:1.

"Vitebsk" did what other top teams of the Belarusian championship – "Yunost", "Metallurg" and others – failed to achieve in the history of the tournament.

We remind you that our compatriots took first place in the preliminary stage of the tournament, defeating the Kazakh "Nomad", the Russian "Khimik" from the Moscow region, and "Gomel". In the semifinal match of the decisive stage, Vitebsk defeated "Yunost".

It should be noted that the opponent in the final includes many players with experience playing in the KHL (the second strongest hockey league in the world). This makes the victory of our compatriots even more valuable.

Alexander Subbotin congratulated "Vitebsk" on their victory in the Euro-Asian Friendship Cup on his Instagram account.

- Congratulations to our team, our "bears" on a stunning victory!!!! We all rooted for you and proved that we can do anything and even more!! Together we defeated the cyclone, won in hockey, and I hope this is just the beginning of a series of victories for the new year!

Following the results of the tournament, the best players were determined. Representatives of "Vitebsk" received recognition in three nominations. Moreover, Roman Bobariko was noted in two of them – he was recognized as the best goaltender and the most valuable player. Sergey Safin-Tregubov was named the best defenseman.

The team from the northern capital won the third trophy in its history – all in recent years. We remind you that before that, "Vitebsk" won the Saley Cup twice.

Photo by the press service of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation.