Russian Hockey Prospects WJC reports and news

Denis Chaltsev and Timofey Tankeev might be two names that we will hear again in the future. The two guys from Moscow are posting impressive stats for the St. Louis Jr. Blues of the Central States Hockey League, as reported in my article appeared on the St. Louis Globe Democrat.

Denis Chaltsev has posted a 17-1 record with four shutouts, a 1.50 goals against average and a .944 save percentage. Timofey Tankeev has had a terrific offensive season. In 43 games, Tankeev has scored 25 goals and added 43 assists for 68 points.

Denis Chaltsev: "Due to the different rink size the play here is faster and tougher. There are many dangerous shots and lots of bounces. In Russia there is more emphasis on passing play and players' technique. Now I try to combine Russian hockey school with American speed."

Tankeev's position is similar.

Timofey Tankeev: "Hockey here is a bit faster and tougher," he said. "You have to take a decision twice as fast as in Russia. You can't get your head down even for one second, or someone will give you a good lesson."

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Alexander Avtsin is without a doubt one of the highest touted prospects from Russia. Unfortunately he is not playing now because of a hand injury, and will come back most likely only in one month.

In this interview with Olga Alexandrova, appeared on the official Dynamo Moscow's site, Avtsin explained why he decided to remain in Russia for this season, discussed his own current season's performances and he also told how he met his girlfriend Milana.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Vladimir Tarasenko, one of the top Russian players eligible for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft, confirmed that he is under contract for the 2010/11 season.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the most interesting quotes from an interview recently appeared on Sibir Novosibirsk's official site.

Vladimir, let's talk again about the recent WJC. There was a lot of speculation about the conflict between the team's head coach, Vladimir Plyuschev, and the team's captain, Nikita Filatov. If there is no team then there can't either be results. Do you agree?
Vladimir Tarasenko: Yes, there was no team spirit. We couldn't work as a true team and I don't know who's to blame. But there are also other reasons. Team USA played together the whole year, they skated in some tournaments together. This might have had an impact over the tournament.

Is your contract with Sibir valid also for the following season?
Vladimir Tarasenko: Yes, it is. But this is not the only reason. I think I should continue my career with Sibir also because of the human conditions. There are a lot of people that really helped me. First of all - my family.

Kirill Petrov is likely to join the New York Islanders of the NHL at the end of this season. His KHL team, Ak Bars Kazan, isn't giving him ice time as he was demoted down to the Russian High League.

"I wasn’t getting ice time and I was going to leave for the second half of the season," Petrov said through a translator to The Hockey News. "But management told me after the World (Junior) Championship I will get ice time. I will finish the season in Russia and maybe come to North America next year."

Kirill Petrov was a big part of this year's WJC Team Russia. In the six games of the tournament he scored four points an six assists. He also got the C on the chest after head coach Vladimir Plyuschev decided to strip Nikita Filatov of the captaincy, after the surprising defeat against Team Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

"It means I must be a leader on and off the ice," Petrov said of the captaincy to The Hockey News. "It was the coach’s decision, so I took it."

Mikhail Grigorenko is arguably the best 1994 born player in Russia. He plays with the 1993 national team and has played in this summer's Ivan Hlinka Tournament, playing against 1992 born players.
In the latest World Under-17 Hockey Challenge he scored six goals and ten points in six games, and Team Russia finished the tournament at the fourth place.
In this interview given to Russian website allhockey.ru he talked about his performances with the national teams, about his future plans and he also replied to some personal questions.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

St. Louis Blues' Russian prospect Nikolay Lemtyugov has been traded from Severstal Cherepovets to Ak Bars Kazan.

The former Peoria Rivermen's player has been sent to Severstal for the quick winger Evgeny Ketov, who disappointed in Kazan after being brought there from Lada Togliatti.

Nikolay Lemtyugov scored this year nine goals and twenty-three points in 39 regular season matches, being -1 and gettin an average ice time of about fifteen minutes a game.

Just a week ago Ak Bars got Hannes Hyvonen from Dynamo Minsk.

Habs' prospect Alexander Avtsin was surprisingly left off the Russian WJC squad and in this interview appeared on Sports.ru he discussed the WJC outcome, tried examinating the reasons of his exclusion from the team and admitted that he could have been useful for the Russians.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the interview with Avtsin.

The debate around team Russia WJC disaster goes on. Right after the team's return in Russia many stories hit the media, the most interesting regarding Nikita Filatov and Vladimir Plyuschev relations. As we examined earlier in the Top 5 reasons why Russia failed at WJC it looks like there have been a conflict between the coach and the captain.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you the most interesting quotes from a good sum-it-up article appeared at Bleacher report.

Team Russia's sixth place at the last WJC in Saskatchewan, Canada, was nothing short of a failure. It was the worst result of the team since 2001, when the team lead by Petr Vorobiev couldn't get any better than the seventh place on the home soil. That team, just like this one, wasn't short of talent, considering that the team's front men were the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk, Anton Volchenkov and Denis Grebeshkov.
This year's roster included many talented players as well, like Nikita Filatov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Dmitri Orlov and others, but the tournament didn't really finish like expected and team Russia was left out of the medal round after five straight apparitions.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you top five reasons why Russia failed at WJC 2010.

Losing 4-3 against team Finland in the fifth place deciding game, Plyuschev's team Russia got their second straight defeat and finished the World Junior Championships at a very disappointing sixth place, the worst result since 2001.

This year's team Russia performed badly throughout the whole tournament, and the match against Finland was no different. Ramis Sadikov started between the pipes, with Igor Bobkov being iced after twenty-sixth minutes.

The first period counted three goals: Maxim Trunev opened the score, while Teemu Eronen made it 1-1 with the man advantage at the sixteenth. All the four Finn goals will be scored while on the powerplay. With only twenty-three seconds to play, Alexander Burmistrov scored the go-ahead goal for the Russians.

During the second period Plyuschev subbed Sadikov with Bobkov, which allowed a goal to the Finns ninety seconds to the second horn.

The third period decided the game. With a double man advantage Jyri Niemi made it 3-2, but Burmistrov scored his second goal of the game to tie it up once again. At the fifty second minute team Russia was caught with too many men on the ice and the Finns spoiled the chance getting the game winning goal with Edmonton Oilers' prospect Teemu Hartikainen.

In the dying seconds Plyuschev recalled Bobkov on the bench for the extra-attacker, but the desperation move didn't work and thus the Finns could celebrate a well deserved win.

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.

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.