Kazakhs make winning World Championship start
The 2025 IIHF World Championship got underway in Sweden and Denmark at the weekend. In the absence of Russia and Belarus, the main KHL interest hinges on Kazakhstan – and the Central Asian nation started with victory over Norway on Saturday.
Starchenko’s experience lifts Kazakh rookies
Kazakhstan 2 Norway 1 (0-1, 1-0, 1-0)
Team Kazakhstan began its 2025 IIHF World Championship campaign with an encouraging victory over Norway. Oleg Bolyakin’s men came to Herning, Denmark, with question marks over the roster. In particular, the absence of experienced netminders Nikita Boyarkin and Andrei Shutov raised doubts about the team’s chances, as did disappointing results in warm-up games against Russia 25 and Belarus.
However, there is a solid bloc of high-level KHL experience on the Kazakh team and that helped to secure victory in Saturday’s opener. Veteran captain Roman Starchenko, a key figure for Barys and his country, grabbed a tying goal off the first power play of the game early in the second period. His tally came from an assist by Metallurg’s Nikita Mikhailis.
Rookie goalie Maxim Pavlenko, 22, who emerged from the Barys system but has yet to feature in the KHL, produced a fine performance to frustrate the Norwegian offense. He was beaten once, after five minutes, but finished with 30 saves on his World Championship debut. And that meant that a goal midway through the third period from Vladimir Volkov, another international rookie fresh from helping Arlan Kokshetau win back-to-back Kazakh championships, was enough to make it a winning start for Kazakhstan.
The team is back at it on Sunday with a game against Germany. The Germans opened their campaign on Saturday afternoon with a 6-1 win over newly-promoted Hungary.
Cervenka gets Czechs off to winning start
The bulk of the KHL interest in this year’s tournament is focused on Kazakhstan. But there are other connections out there. Roman Cervenka, a Gagarin Cup winner with SKA in 2015, potted an OT winner for Czechia in the opening game. The defending champion edged a 5-4 verdict over Switzerland in a repeat of last year’s final.
The other active KHLers in the competition had a tough time. Slovak goalie Patrik Rybar (Kunlun Red Star) got the start against Sweden in Stockholm, but was on the receiving end of a 0-5 loss. Admiral defenseman Mario Grman also played for Slovakia in that one. Then on Saturday, Slovenia forward Jan Drozg (Kunlun) lined up against Canada but could not help his team escape a 0-4 loss.
