Dinamo wins the Salei Cup
Victory over the Belarusian champion secures the trophy for Dinamo Minsk.
Dinamo Minsk 3 Yunost Minsk 0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0)
Dinamo Minsk finished its pre-season campaign in some style, enjoy back-to-back shut-outs as it lifted the Salei Cup.
A 3-0 win over Belarusian champion Yunost in Sunday’s final completed a flawless weekend for Craig Woodcroft’s team. On Saturday, Dinamo won its semi-final against Gomel 4-0. Czech international goalie Dominik Furch was between the piping for both games and did not allow a single goal.
Yunost had defeated Dinamo in an earlier warm-up game, but the Bison promised to put that right in this knock-out tournament and wasted little time in taking control. Shane Prince opened the scoring in the ninth minute, but his team already had the puck in the net once before, only to be denied by a high stick call. Ryan Spooner added a power play goal midway through the first and the destiny of the trophy already looked clear. Spooner turned provider for Rob Klinkhammer midway through the second and both Canadians finished with 1+1 for the game. Francis Pare had helpers on the first two goals as the imports led the way for the KHL team.
Head coach Woodcroft was delighted to see Dinamo lift an official trophy — the Salei Cup is the current format for the long-established Belarus Cup — for the first time since the team’s Spengler Cup triumph of 2009. “It’s really important for us,” he told journalists after the game. “We’re finally seeing some concrete feedback from the work we did last season and through the current present. Psychologically, we needed that.”
Woodcroft added: “In all sincerity, we’re very happy with this weekend. Sure, it wasn’t without difficulties, but everyone did well in the end. The guys were patient, they waited for their chances and they took them.
“One of our big tasks here was to work out how to play on defense and we did that, which gives our offense a chance too. This victory gives us strength, but it is clear we have a lot of work to do before the start of the KHL season.”
Dinamo’s first action of the regular season is on Sep. 3 when the team entertains Jokerit in Minsk.
