KHL, NHL, Russian Prospects and Team Russia

With a determinated performance and some help from luck, Team Switzerland knocked out Team Russia at the World Junior Championships. The Swiss will face Team Canada tomorrow at the tournament's semi-finals.

This was definitely not Team Russia's best game and it showed already during the first period, in which Plyuschev's team wasn't really dangerous until the sixteenth minute, when Vladimir Tarasenko hit the post after a breakaway launched by a great pass by Maxim Chudinov.

In the second period Igor Bobkov stood up and made some good saves to rescue the result, but after eight minutes Michaël Loichat scored the go-away goal for Switzerland, surprising the crowd at the Credit Union Center in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Team Russia tried to react, failing to capitalize the bigger number of moments. But after a big save by Benjamin Conz on Nikita Filatov something happened for Plyuschev guys.

Maxim Kitsyn got a good puck in the offensive zone and served Tarasenko without thinking twice. The Russian Number 10 lifted the puck over Swiss goalie Benjamin Conz in style and tied it up at the 38th minute.

Just a bunch of seconds later Filatov fed nicely the rushing Kirill Petrov right in front of Conz and that was an easy chance for the Islanders prospect, who scored the go-ahead goal.

In the third period Russia relaxed and controlled the match. Just like last year's during the semifinals, team Russia allowed a key late goal: 2010 eligible Nino Niederreiter fired the puck from the blue line, the shot hit defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and went in past Igor Bobkov, sending the game to the overtime.

Russia controlled the flow of the game for most of the extra period, but there were chances for both teams and Bobkov was rather busy. Once again though team Russia lacked the concentration to finish up the plays and with only twelve seconds to the final horn another shot by Nino Niederreiter has been deflected in and that meant that Russia will have to play for a hugely disappointing fifth place on Monday, while Switzerland will try to surprise Canada too tomorrow in the WJC semi-finals.

The KHL named the players of the month. They are: goalie Vitaly Eremeev, defenceman Dmitri Bykov, forward Sergei Mozyakin.

KHL goalie of December: Vitaly Eremeev, Dynamo Moscow. Eremeev recorded 3 shutouts in 6 games, having 1.33 GAA and 95.5 saving percent.

KHL defenceman of December: Dmitri Bykov, Atlant Mytischi. Bykov scored 2 goals and 4 assists in 9 games, having a plus-9 record.

KHL forward of December: Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant Mytischi. Mozyakin scored 5 goals and 9 assists in 9 games, having a plus-7 record.

After finishing the group stage with nine points in four games, Team Russia earned the second seed of the B Group and thus is going to face in the World Junior Championships quarterfinals the third seed of the A group, team Switzerland, who managed to skate past Slovakia 4-1 despite being without their top two defensemen, Luca Sbisa and Roman Josi.

The game is scheduled for Saturday, January 2nd at 4 PM local time.

In the last two group stage games Team Russia faced Team Sweden and Team Czech Republic. The match against Tre Kronor wasn't good for Plyuschev's guys, as they were down 2-0 already after the first period. During the second period Team Russia tried to react and scored a goal with Kirill Petrov, but it wasn't enough as Team Sweden added a further marker in any period to finish the match 4-1.

In the very last group stage match Team Russia downed Team Czech Republic. The game's breaker was Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored a double and added one assist in Plyuschev's squad 5-2 victory. Tarasenko himself opened the score in the first period after a beautiful combination between Maxim Trunev and Alexander Burmistrov. Kirill Petrov doubled the advantage for Team Russia in the second period, who allowed a powerplay breakaway to Jan Kana at the thirty-sixth minute that meant the 2-1. The third period was quite until the 54th minute mark, when Stepan Novotny tied up the match.

But less than one minute later Vladimir Tarasenko took control of a loose puck in the neutral zone, launched Maxim Kitsyn, who returned him the puck seconds later. After a couple of strides Tarasenko shoot the puck in and scored with an eye-catching wrist shot.

Team Russia added a couple of goals later, first with Maxim Chudinov and then with Alexander Burmistrov.

The winner of the quarterfinal match will face Team Canada in the semifinals on January 3rd.

With a phenomenal performance and 46 saves, goalkeeper Igor Bobkov left no way out to Finland as they couldn't score for the whole game despite a complete control of the match for more than two periods. Finland's inability to convert chances into goals costed them the game as Team Russia walked away with a comfortable 2-0 win in World Junior Championships' second match. Plyuschev team's now tops Group B ranking, sharing the lead with Sweden, with six points in two matches.

In spite of Bobkov's one-man show, Nikita Filatov has been elected as player of the game for Team Russia. He did play a great game, assisting on Petr Khokhryakov's first goal of the night and scoring himself the second one with a rocket-like shot from the blue line.

Team Russia's start was quite good as they got the go-ahead goal after six minutes only, when Petr Khokhryakov deflected in a superb pass from Nikita Filatov after a quick counterattack sparkled by Kirill Petrov. After this goal they held back and Finland started controlling the game rather easily, but without getting the puck past Bobkov. The referees were busy tonight as they whistled a combined total of 50 penalty minutes and this spoiled the flow of the game especially on the second and third periods.

Midway through the game Nikita Filatov, with the man advantage, made it a 2-0 game with a great blue line shot after a pass by Maxim Chudinov.

The rest of the match was pretty much a Finland vs Bobkov show, with the latter getting the victory, stealing the match for his team with a huge 46 saves performances.

Team Russia's next game is scheduled for tomorrow against Team Sweden.

Former NHL players Sergei Zubov, Robert Esche, Oleg Saprykin and Kevin Dallman took part in a massive brawl in a Sunday game between KHL's Barys Astana and SKA St. Petersburg.

The game flared up in the end of the 3rd period when SKA scored a powerplay goal to make the score 5-1 to their advantage.

The fans didn't get a chance to witness a goalie fight but instead they saw a goalie-defenceman fight, as Barys keeper Alexei Kuznetsov faced defenceman Alexei Petrov of SKA.

More than half of a season has passed in the KHL and it is time to tally up an interim total.

Below are Top 5 lists of goal scorers, assists, points and plus/minus leaders. Among the highlights are Marcel Hossa of Dinamo Riga topping the scorers rating, Maxim Spiridonov proving his worth after a few bad seasons with 20 goals in 40 games, SKA linemates Maxim Sushinskiy and Alexei Yashin being assists leaders and Sergei Fedorov being the 3rd in plus/minus rating.

2010 eligible Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals, Kirill Petrov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Maxim Chudinov and Maxim Trunev contributed with one goal each as Russia downed Austria 6-2 in WJC first game for both teams. The match was pretty much decided after the first period as Russia was up 4-1 after the goals scored by Trunev, Chudinov, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko, this last one was particularly eye-catching. Team's captain Nikita Filatov has been silent and left out the score sheet.

Plyuschev's team didn't had their best game even if they controlled the flow of the game with relative ease thanks to its forward's superior skating, probably they tried to save energy for the upcoming matches. Goalkeeper Igor Bobkov stopped 14 shots, but he wasn't really responsible in any of the goals he allowed.

The defense's game wasn't really spot-on, but Washington Capitals' prospect Dmitry Orlov had two assists, Maxim Chudinov scored two points (one goal and one assist) and both players logged big minutes and were the most noticeable among blue liners.

Read Russianprospects.com's article for a complete game report and scouting notes.

Team Russia's next match will be played on Monday against Team Finland.

Sergei Fedorov, who moved from NHL to KHL past summer, got into a fight with Roman Derlyuk to avenge Derlyuk's dirty hit on Sergei's younger brother, Fedor.

After the game 23-year-old Derlyuk couldn't beleive he fought 40-year-old Sergei Fedorov himself.
"Fedorov is a great player, I remember watching him play when I was a kid. I'd even call myself his fan. And if someone told me that I'd ever fight Fedorov I would... I would... never beleive. It just happened that he went after me, one of his punches reached my head and I... Of course I'd never start a fight against such player as Sergei Fedorov... never," said Derlyuk to Alyona Shilova of vhockey.ru after the game.

Sergei Fedorov is playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk on a line with his younger brother Fedor. In 36 games Sergei scored 8 goals and recorded 16 assists. His plus/minus rating is +23. It's Metallurg's best and KHL's 3rd best result.

The latest winner of the Rookie of the week award, Alexander Avtsin, during an interview published on KHL official site, talked about his first goals in pro hockey, about the upcoming WJC and about his plans for the next season.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation:

20 years old Sergei Andronov has been traded from financially troubled Lada Togliatti to CSKA Moscow. Andronov, who has under his belt a golden medal from the U18 WJC and a silver medal from the U20 WJC, has been drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the third round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, with the 78th overall pick. This is what he declared to Komsomolskaya Pravda:

Andronov: "It's sad to leave Togliatti, I spent here the last six years and here I became a pro. Unfortunately nowadays it looks like Lada's management don't care about the team. We don't recieve a salary for three months, and they always promise that they are going to refund our debts. And thus I decided for myself, I don't believe to promises anymore. I plan to sign a contract with CSKA Moscow, I'm very familiar with their head coach, Sergei Nemchinov, I played under him in the National Junior Team. In my new team I want to get more playing time."

The same Nemchinov yesterday declared to Sovietskiy Sport:

Nemchinov: "Andronov is an excellent forward. I enjoyed working with him during last year's World Junior Championships."

On December 25th, Russian national junior team head coach Vladimir Plyuschev named the final roster for the World Junior Championships. He took some drastic decisions as he decided not to call goalkeeper Alexander Pechursky, defenseman Kirill Yuriev, forwards Mikhail Fisenko and Dmitry Kugryshev.

This is how the final roster looks like:

Goalkeepers
Igor Bobkov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 1991
Ramis Sadikov, Erie Otters, OHL, 1991

Defensemen
Anton Klementyev, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, AHL, 1990
Dmitry Orlov, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, 1991
Maxim Chudinov, Severstal Cherepovets, 1990
Dmitry Kostromitin, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL, 1990
Nikita Zaitsev, Sibir Novosibirsk, 1991
Nikita Pivtsakin, Avangard Omsk, 1991
Alexander Tarasov, HC MVD, 1990

Forwards
Nikita Filatov, CSKA Moscow, 1990
Alexander Burmistrov, Barrie Colts, OHL, 1991
Vladimir Tarasenko, Sibir Novosibirsk, 1991
Pavel Dedunov, Amur Khabarovsk, 1990
Ivan Telegin, Saginaw Spirit, OHL, 1992
Maxim Kitsyn, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, 1991
Maxim Trunev, Severstal Cherepovets, 1990
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Traktor Chelyabinsk, 1992
Evgeny Timkin, Avangard Omsk, 1990
Vyacheslav Kulemin, CSKA Moscow, 1990
Kirill Petrov, Ak Bars Kazan, 1990
Magomed Gimbatov, SKA St. Petersburg, 1990
Petr Khokhryakov, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, 1990

Team Russia's first match will be played on Boxing Day against Team Austria.

The official Russian Hockey Federation site has released Team Russia's roster for the Olympics in Vancouver.

Goalkeepers
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks, NHL
Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes, NHL
Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals, NHL

Defencemen
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens, NHL
Ilya Nikulin, Ak Bars, KHL,
Dmitriy Kalinin, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Konstantin Korneev, CSKA, KHL,
Denis Grebeshkov, Edmonton Oilers, NHL
Fedor Tyutin, Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL
Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL
Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa Senators, NHL

Forwards
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings, NHL
Sergei Fedorov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers, NHL
Maxim Afinogenov, Atlanta Thrashers, NHL
Danis Zaripov, Ak Bars, KHL
Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals, NHL
Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Viktor Kozlov, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, NHL
Alexei Morozov, Ak Bars, KHL

Russia's coaches Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin call this roster 'preliminary' and say that the final roster will be known on the 15th of February.

9 out of 23 players represent the KHL which makes its slightly less than 40%.

4 players come from Salavat Yulaev of the KHL, the team coached by Bykov and Zakharkin.