2010 WC: Russian preliminary roster is out (Photo © Sport-Express)

Team Russia released the preliminary roster for the upcoming 2010 World Championship, that will be played in Germany from May 7th to 23rd.. Bykov and Zakharkin made some changes from the LG Hockey Games line-up. The roster is made up of 11 NHL players and 12 KHL players. The team’s captain isn’t decided yet. Most likely the starting goaltender duties will be shared between Eremenko and Varlamov, with Koshechkin acting as third goalie.

Goalkeepers:
Alexander Eremenko (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Vasily Koshechkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Semyon Varlamov (Washington Capitals)

Defencemen:
Konstantin Korneev (CSKA Moscow)
Vitaly Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan)
Alexei Emelin (Ak Bars Kazan)
Denis Grebeshkov (Nashville Predators)
Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers)

Forwards:
Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta Thrashers)
Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers)
Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals)
Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan)
Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers)
Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils)
Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Maxim Sushinsky (SKA St. Petersburg)
Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi)
Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles Kings)
Alexander Svitov (Avangard Omsk)

KHL game cancelled after bench-clearing fight, teams get 691 PIM (Photo © khl.ru)

A Saturday game between Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard Omsk in the KHL didn’t last any longer than 3 minutes and 39 seconds. It was postponed after a massive brawl because there was not enough players to continue the game. Teams got 691 PIM (Update: KHL increased it to 840), which look like a record in hockey history.

Just seconds after the game started Brandon Sugden, former AHL tough guy who recently joined Vityaz to replace Chris Simon, jumped on Alexander Svitov. Other players present on the ice started fighting too, among them was a former NHL star Jaromir Jagr who fought Darcy Verot. Here is an interview with Jagr on this fight.

After the first wave of fighting was gone the second wave came bringing a bench- and even a penalty-box-clearing fight. However, goalies didn’t fight, they didn’t even remove their hockey goalie masks during the brawls.

“What a disgrace. I have no other words for it. I can’t say why it happened, probably because Vityaz players wanted to entertain their fans. Alas, there was only a bit of hockey today,” said Alexander Svitov in an interview to Russian site shaybu-shaybu.ru after the game.

“During the warm-up Sugden jumped on our captain, Svitov,” said Anton Kuryanov of Avangard Omsk. “They fought and everything continued later in the game. In the very beginning of the 1st period Darcy Verot attacked Jaromir Jagr, and this is not welcomed in our league. Jagr plays hockey and if Verot wants to fight he should choose another sport.”

On Sunday KHL will held a special meeting to analyze the situation and discipline the players.

Below is the full video of all fights.