The coach of the Ukrainian national hockey team explained why our team lost to Japan.

The Ukrainian national team lost to Japan in the World Championship match

In the final match of the World Championship in group 1A, the Ukrainian national team suffered a defeat against Japan. Assistant coach Dmytro Khryshchyk, Oleg Shafarenko, explained the reason for the team's failure in an interview.

In my opinion, the main reason for the loss is that the defense players did not retrieve the puck, did not perform their functions to the end...

Shafarenko placed the responsibility for the defeat on the players who were supposed to ensure counterattacks and puck retrieval. It was also noted that Japan's game speed was higher, which was a key moment in the match.

The tournament's top scorer shared his impressions of the Ukrainian team's performance

The leader of the Ukrainian national team at the World Championship in hockey, Viktor Zakharov, commented on the team's game and the performance of individual players in the tournament.

We were literally half a goal short... Perhaps, if we look at it soberly, it is still too early for us to be in the elite...

Zakharov hopes that the team will remain in group 1A and will try to repeat the successes of the current season every year. He also highlighted his own achievements in the tournament, emphasizing that it was a fantastic event.

At the final stage of the tournament, Zakharov became the top scorer with six goals and two assists, surpassing one of his teammates - Andrii Denyskin. However, even with such results, it proved to be extremely difficult to compete in the top division.