Alexei Emelin: “I’ll think about NHL next year” (Photo © Getty Images)

Habs‘ prospect Alexei Emelin, 23, declared to Sovietskiy Sport v Tatarstane (via sports.ru) that he’ll think about the NHL only next year.

Alexei Emelin: “I’m under contract with Ak Bars Kazan for the next season. I’ll think about the NHL next year.”

Recently Emelin has been awarded with Best Defenseman of the KHL Finals honor and skated in the 2010 World Championship in Germany.

2010 WC: Russia trumps Finland 5-0 (Photo © REUTERS/Grigory Dukor)

Team Russia defeated team Finland 5-0 in the last Qualification Group game of the 2010 World Championship. Alexander Ovechkin ended his goal streak.

Team Finland started well the first period, putting a lot of pressure over Varlamov. But despite a long 5-on-3 chance with Alexei Emelin and Dmitry Kulikov in the penalty box, the Finns didn’t manage to score. With the teams back on even strength Kulikov had a good chance getting out of the sin bin, but he was hooked down by a defenceman, thus drawing a penalty for Bykov’s team. On the consequent man advantage team Russia cycled well the puck, but couldn’t get it into Vehanen’s net.

At the sixteenth minute team Russia scored the first goal of the game: the puck moved fast from Alexander Ovechkin to Alexander Semin to Sergei Fedorov and went in after the veteran’s easy touch.

In the second period Russia started pushing a bit more and midway through the game they had a great chance when Evgeni Malkin and Kovalchuk exchanged the puck while on a 2-on-0, but Vehanen robbed Malkin of a goal with a fantastic save on the forward’s one timer.

At the 33rd minute, with the man advantage, a good rush put Russia up by two goals. Ilya Kovalchuk got the puck deep in the slot, but instead of shooting he nicely served Evgeny Malkin, who one timed the puck between Vehanen’s legs.

The consequent face off was won by Rangers’ Artem Anisimov. Maxim Afinogenov rushed fast on the right and shot, Nikolai Kulemin picked up the rebound and put it in the back of the net.

The thid period started well for Russia as they managed to quickly score twice. First Alexei Emelin scored with a great slap shot from the blue line, then Maxim Afinogenov spoiled a wrong change by Finland to get in front of Vehanen and make it a 5-0 goal with a quick wrist shot. After this goal team Finland benched Vehanen and brought in Predators’ Pekka Rinne.

The rest of the game was considerably slower and the Russians could celebrate a deserved win. Semyon Varlamov started between the pipes and finished the game with a 36-save shutout.

Team Russia’s next game will be the quarterfinal game against Canada, scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th.

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)