Evgeny Kuznetsov News and Interviews

After the 1-0 defeat to Sweden in the 2012 WJC Gold Medal Game, Evgeny Kuznetsov shared his thoughts about the game with the popular news agency RIA Novosti.

"In the first two periods we had a total of four shots on net. This speaks loud. If we won, it would have been unfair. Makarov was great, he saved the game for us, he stopped everything. So, destiny decided otherwise. So the Silver medal is good? Maybe it's good for you. It hurts, but life goes on.

Nothing terrible, we have to know how to lose as well. We will make it through. This will temper our character."

Kuznetsov went on talking about MVP honors: "Being the Most Valuable Player is always pleasant, but it hurts as I didn't get the Medal I wanted."

He also tried to analyse the reason which brought to Team Russia's defeat: "Maybe we lost many phsycological and physical forces in the game against Canada. Team Sweden was better than us, they completely outplayed us. We started playing well during the third period, but we didn't manage to score. And the overtime... we all made a mistake. There's no need to blame any player, we all lost.

I wish good luck to all the players who will play in next year's WJC."

With the 26th overall pick, the Washington Capitals picked wing Evgeny Kuznetsov. He's the third player to get picked in the first round after Alexander Burmistrov and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kuznetsov, 18, has recently signed a new 2 years deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, but most likely the Caps are willing to wait a bit so that he can develop at home.

Evgeny Kuznetsov had a very good rookie season with Traktor, with nine points in 35 games. He also scored once in the playoffs. He skated at both U20 and U18 WJC.

We have started a new site dedicated to Russian prospects, RussianProspect.com.

We have compiled a list of Top Russians for the upcoming draft along with players' profiles (History, Talent Analysis and Future).

1. Kirill Kabanov, 9D
2. Vladimir Tarasenko, 8.5B
3. Evgeny Kuznetsov, 8.5B
4. Alexander Burmistrov, 8.5C
5. Stanislav Galiev, 8B
6. Ivan Telegin, 8C
7. Alexei Marchenko, 7.5B
8. Nikita Zaytsev, 7.5C
9. Maxim Kitsyn, 7C
10. Sergei Barbashev, 7C
11. Nikita Gusev, 7D

For now the site has profiles for the top Russian players available for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but during the summer the site will be upgraded and it will have profiles of older and younger players, news, interviews and more scout reports, to give our readers the best coverage of Russian prospects available on the internet. The "Prospects" section of Russian Hockey Fans will be shut down.

The International Scouting Services announced its final rankings for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Vladimir Tarasenko, playing for Sibir of the KHL, is the highest ranked European, having the 4th spot in the rankings.

There are three more Russian prospects in the Top 30, they are:

14. Alexander Burmistrov (OHL, Barrie Colts)
19. Evgeny Kuznetsov (KHL, Traktor Chelyabinsk)
24. Stanislav Galiev (QJMHL, Saint John Sea Dogs)

The notorious Kirill Kabanov has fallen out of the Top 30.

After the defeat against Team Sweden in the 2010 U18 WJC semifinals, Team Russia lost the third place to Finland losing the bronze medal game 5-1.

Team Finland got the lead only during the second period with a goal by Teemu Pulkkinen, then in the third period they scored four unanswered goals (with Pulkkinen getting the hat trick) to get a five goals lead.

Team Russia lost the nerves and at the 57th minute a fight broke out and six players were sent off, three for Finland, Hovinen, Partanen and Moisio, while for Russia Nikita Nesterov, Zakhar Arzamastsev and Maxim Shalunov.

On the 58th minute team Russia scored the consolation goal with Emil Galimov.

"I have no claims toward players", declared team Russia's head coach Mikhail Vasiliev, who once again iced 15-years old Andrei Vasilevski between the pipes.

Team USA won their second straight Gold Medal after defeating Team Sweden 3-1 in the April 23rd final. Team Russia captain Evgeny Kuznetsov has been included into the tournament's All-Star team.

In the third match of the 2010 U18 WJC Team Russia lost to Finland 4-5. Markus Granlund opened the score after less than two minutes in the first period, but Emil Galimov made it an 1-1 game just before the first horn.

In the second period Finland got a quick two goals lead thanks to two goals by Teemu Pullkinen. After Finland's third goal, head coach Mikhail Vasiliev swapped goalie Sergei Kostenko for Andrei Vasilevski.

In the third period Russia tried hard to get back on track and it paid off when captain Evgeny Kuznetsov cut down the opponents' lead spoiling a mistake by a defenseman midway through the latest stanza. Two minutes later center Vladislav Namestnikov scored the game tying goal. But it didn't last long as Makinen scored another goal that allowed the Finns to go ahead. Later on Vasiliev called the goalie on the bench, but Finland scored the 5-3 on the empty net with Asten. Russia added another goal at the 59th minute with Sergei Barbashev, but it was too late and the game thus ended 5-4.

Team Russia's next match will be played on Sunday against Slovakia.

In the second day of the 2010 U18 WJC Team Russia faced Team Latvia and easily beaten them with a score of 9-0. Head Coach Mikhail Vasiliev decided to give Sergei Kostenko a rest and thus 94-born Andrei Vasilevski started between the pipes.

In the first period team Russia got the early lead with young defenseman Nikita Nesterov during a powerplay. Two minutes later, at the seventh minute, Vladislav Namestnikov gave team Russia a two goals lead.

In the second period team Russia pushed the gas and scored four unanswered goals. Team Russia's captain Evgeny Kuznetsov made it a 3-0 game, then Namestnikov added other two goals to complete his hat-trick. After the fifth goal Latvia changed the goalie and iced Kristers Gudlevskis, but after seven minutes Grigori Zheldakov scored once again to put Russia up by six goals. Namestnikov assisted this powerplay goal.

On the third period Kuznetsov scored other two goals and got a hat-trick too giving Russia a 8-0 lead. 93-born Maxim Shalunov at the fifty-seventh scored the ninth goal of the game.

Vasilievski finished the match with 18 saves.

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.