There wasn't any whimpering from Belarus when their best players were unable to suit up in the preliminary round of the Men's Olympic hockey tourney.
While the Slovaks were jumping up and down trying to get their best players rescued from NHL rosters, the Belarusans quietly made due with what they had, stunning the Ukraine 1-0 in their opener then edging France 3-1 to qualify for the final eight.
| NO. |
 PLAYER |
 Pos. |
 Ht. |
 Wt. |
 Birth
Date |
 Team |
| 2 |
Sergei Shabanov |
GK |
179 |
76 |
24/02/74 |
Metallurg |
| 3 |
Oleg Khmyl |
D |
182 |
90 |
30/01/70 |
Lada Togliatti |
| 4 |
Alexander Makritski |
D |
- |
- |
- |
Oberhausen |
| 5 |
Oleg Romanov |
D |
182 |
85 |
31/03/70 |
Karpat Oulu |
| 6 |
Igor Matushkin |
D |
187 |
93 |
27/01/65 |
Revier Lowen |
| 7 |
Sergei Yerkovich |
D |
190 |
92 |
9/3/74 |
Metallurg |
| 9 |
Alexander Andrievski |
F |
196 |
100 |
10/8/69 |
Revier Lowen |
| 10 |
Viktor Karachun |
F |
187 |
90 |
12/8/68 |
EC Wilhelmshaven |
| 11 |
Vadim Bekbulatov |
F |
182 |
85 |
8/3/70 |
Vityasz Podolsk |
| 13 |
Andrei Kovalev |
F |
182 |
86 |
2/4/66 |
Revier Lowen |
| 14 |
Vasily Pankov |
F |
- |
- |
- |
Augsburger Panthers |
| 16 |
Andrei Skabelka |
F |
186 |
90 |
20/01/70 |
Lada Togliatti |
| 17 |
Aleksei Kalyuzhny |
F |
187 |
87 |
13/06/77 |
Metallurg |
| 18 |
Oleg Antonenko |
F |
187 |
90 |
11/7/71 |
Torpedo N Novogorod |
| 21 |
Oleg Mikulchik |
D |
188 |
90 |
21/07/64 |
Sovjet Wings |
| 23 |
Ruslan Salei |
D |
- |
- |
- |
Anaheim |
| 24 |
Dmitry Starostenko |
F |
182 |
88 |
18/03/73 |
C/S/K/A/ Moscow |
| 26 |
Sergey Stas |
D |
181 |
90 |
28/04/74 |
Augsburger Panthers |
| 27 |
Alexander Zhurik |
D |
193 |
98 |
29/05/75 |
Avangard Omsk |
| 28 |
Konstantin Koltsov |
F |
185 |
88 |
17/04/81 |
AK Bars Kazan |
| 29 |
Vladimir Tsyplakov |
G |
- |
- |
- |
Berlin Capitals |
| 31 |
Andrei Mezin |
GK |
180 |
75 |
8/7/74 |
Berlin Capitals |
| 32 |
Dmitry Pankov |
F |
184 |
88 |
29/10/74 |
Torpedo N Novogorod |
| 33 |
Leonid Fatikov |
GK |
190 |
100 |
24/04/68 |
Lada Togliatti |
| 37 |
Andrei Rasolko |
F |
181 |
80 |
13/09/68 |
Severstal |
A 2-1 loss to Switzerland yesterday was meaningless.
But that may be as good as it gets for Belarus, who have few recognizable names on their roster – not a crime as Canada has found to its peril when facing the Czech Republic in recent years.
Vladimir Tsyplakov, Dmitri Khristich and Ruslan Salei are the names most North Americans might recognize.
And there the mystery begins.
Oleg Mikulchik scored the game winner for Belarus in their opening game win over the Ukraine. Mikulchik played 37 games for Winnipeg and Anaheim from 1993-96.
A very physical grinding style of game from the French failed to faze Belarus in their 3-1 victory earlier in the week, boding well for what they may face when they run into NHL calibre opposition later in the tournament.
The Belarusans also appear capable of playing a strong defensive game, giving up only three goals in three opening round games, backstopped in net by Sergei Shabanov.
No team in the tourney can be taken likely and Belarus is no exception.
Belarus also qualified for the final eight in Nagano before finishing the tourney 2-4-1.
Team Belarus
