Ukraine – Romania, World Cup: preview, forecasts, broadcast

30 April 13:00

Today, at 19:30 Kyiv time, the Ukrainian national men’s ice hockey team will face Romania in the third round of the group stage of the World Championship in Division 1A. Ukraine must win this match to have a good chance of getting out of the group, "Komersant Ukrainian" writes.

The standings

After two matches, the Ukrainian national team ranks 4th in Group A with three points and is ahead of Romania.

The distance to the second place is only one point, so our team has every chance to overcome it.

Ukraine ended both previous matches in a shootout, losing to Great Britain with a total score of 3:4 and defeating Italy with a score of 3:2. Thus, the Ukrainian national team has already shown that it is not going to be a passing team after its return to the second strongest world division.

Читайте нас у Telegram: головні новини коротко

Comments from the parties

Suspilne Sport published comments from players and coaches from both teams.

“Romania? We’ve already played them, we know what to expect. It will not be such a high-speed, power hockey game as the Italians offered. It will be more technical hockey, I think, passing hockey. We are ready for this, we know how they play. Will the Romanian fans factor into the match? I think that when the stadium is full – it doesn’t matter if it’s your fans or the opponent’s – they motivate you in any case. For me, on the contrary, it will be a plus.”
Artem Hrebenyk, Ukraine defender

“We are preparing for every game, the coaches tell us not to relax. We beat Italy, but everyone will try to play 100% and do everything necessary to win.”
Ilarion Kupriyanov, Ukraine forward

“Ukraine? I don’t think they’re the weakest team [in Division A of the 2025 FIFA World Cup]. I like the way they play, the way they played against us [in February during the friendly matches], they were competitive, ‘close’ matches. I think they move well on the ice, they have skilled hockey players. They have everything to succeed at this level.”
Dave McQueen, Head Coach of Romania

What bookmakers say

For the first time in the matches at this tournament, Ukraine is a favorite, and an absolute one at that. One of the bookmakers gives odds of 1.49 for the victory of our team, 4.85 for a draw, and 5.65 for a Romanian victory.

Where to watch the broadcast

Live broadcasts of all matches of the World Ice Hockey Championship in Division 1A can be watched on the website, TV channel and YouTube channel of Suspilne Sport.