2010 WC: Czech Republic gets the Gold (Photo © REUTERS/Grigory Dukor)

Team Czech Republic won the Gold Medal in the 2010 WC Finals. The Czechs prevailed 2-1 after an early goal by Jakub Klepis assisted by Jaromir Jagr and a marker from Tomas Rolinek late in the second period. Pavel Datsyuk cut down the Czech advantage with a third period goal, but Bykov’s team didn’t manage to revert the score. Surely this wasn’t the best season for Team Russia.

Ovechkin and other Russian players didn’t manage to tie it up despite a couple of powerplay chances in the second half of the first period as Tomas Vokoun played solidly between the pipes. Pavel Datsyuk managed to put the puck in the back of the net during a last second rush, but the clock hit the zero before the puck went in.

During the second period Team Russia pushed the gas trying to tie it up, but without much luck. At the eighteenth minute Ovechkin and Fedorov collided deep in the zone, Karel Rachunek got the puck and brought it up, then centering for the rushing Tomas Rolinek, who deflected the puck in with the skates, but the refs ruled the goal valid.

In the final stanza the Czechs controlled the game and kept playing a slow tempo hockey. Team Russia looked tired and couldn’t build good offensive rushes until a late goal by Pavel Datsyuk with the man advantage and Varlamov sitting on the bench. Bykov’s team kept on pushing, but the clock ran out, gifting Czech Republic a well deserved win.

Semyon Varlamov had a good game between the pipes, with 23 players. But his good performance and a roster with 13 Olympians wasn’t enough to get past a well organized Team Czech Republic.

Jaromir Jagr: “I would like to stay in Omsk” (Photo © sports.ru)

During an interview with Sovietskiy Sport Jaromir Jagr declared that he would like to spend another season with Avangard Omsk.

Jaromir Jagr: “I really love Omsk and its inhabitants, their character. Maybe it’s strange to hear this from a Czech, and they won’t believe me. But I like everything here. I would like to stay in Russia, but I want to get something serious next year. My career will be over soon and thus I can’t waste my chances. I wanted to win something with Avangard, but we couldn’t.

This is my fault too. I never blame others. I’ve always hoped that if I would be playing well, then also other players would perform better. I’m not looking for other teams now. I would like to stay in Avangard, but it’s not up to me only. I still don’t know about my future. I believe that God will help me in getting another chance.

I don’t think about the money, that’s for my agent. But I will understand if Avangard will reduce its budget. We didn’t play like we should. Who can pay big salaries to players which don’t give results on ice?”

All quotes translated by RussianHockeyFans.com

Alexander Ovechkin: “Jagr made a move to my side and I just hit him” (Photo © Gene J. Puskar, AP)

Team Russia forward Alexander Ovechkin commented on his hit on Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic in a game between Russia and Czech Republic at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver.

“I see him coming and my first reaction was to play the puck,” Ovechkin said to NHL.com . “He made a move to my side and I just hit him.”

Alexander Ovechkin switched the moment in favor of Russia with a bone crushing, open ice hit on Jaromir Jagr in the first few minutes of the final stanza. The puck then ended up on Alexander Semin’s stick, who served Evgeni Malkin with a great cross ice pass. Malkin one-timed the puck in for the game winning goal in Russia’s 4-2 win over Czech Republic.

Ovechkin told Russian site sports.ru, “I hit Jagr automatically. I’m happy that we managed to score a few seconds later. We hugged each other after the game. Jagr bears no grudge at me. This is hockey, this is the Olympics, anything can happen here.”

After the game Jagr told SovSport, “I wish I had a concussion, I would forget Ovechkin sooner. I don’t think the hit was legal.”

Jagr, quoted by Craig Custance of SportingNews.com, acted like a true teamplayer, not looking for excuses after losing the puck to Russia in the neutral zone. “The hit I don’t really care, the mistake, the turnover I made…that hurts. That hurt me the most.”

Kovalchuk, quoted by Craig Custance, added: “That’s a great hit. It’s a clean hit… It was a big moment for us.”

Video of Ovechkin’s hit on Jagr.

All-Star Game rosters released (Photo © khlallstar.ru)

The complete KHL All-Star Game rosters have been released today. The event will be held in Minsk, Belarus, on January 30th.

This is how the rosters look like:

Team Yashin (Russian stars)

Goalkeepers: Georgy Gelashvili (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Andrei Mezin (Dynamo Minsk)

Defenders: Sergei Zubov (SKA St. Petersburg); Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan); Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Anton Babchuk (Avangard Omsk); Konstantin Korneev (CSKA Moscow); Vitaly Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)

Forwards: Alexei Yashin (SKA St. Petersburg); Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan); Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi); Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Denis Parshin (CSKA Moscow)

Team Jagr (International Stars)

Goalkeepers: Karri Ramo (Avangard Omsk); Michael Garnett (HC MVD)

Defenders: Kevin Dallman (Barys Astana); Sandis Ozolinsh (Dinamo Riga);Martin Strbak (HC MVD); Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk); Karel Rachunek (Dynamo Moscow); Jaroslav Obsut (Spartak Moscow)

Forwards: Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk); Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga); Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow); Patrick Thoresen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Josef Vasicek (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Chris Simon (Vityaz Chekhov); Jiri Hudler (Dynamo Moscow); Ville Peltonen (Dinamo Minsk); Jozef Stumpel (Barys Astana)

Read also:
Fedorov, Babchuk, Kalinin, Simon added to All-Star Game roster
KHL All Star Game’s starting lineup announced

Avangard and Vityaz get 840 PIMs, set new world record (Photo © khl.ru)

The participants of the Saturday’s bench-clearing brawl in the KHL, Jaromir Jagr’s Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov, set a new world hockey record getting 840 PIMs. The KHL disciplinary committee met on Sunday to spend 7 hours studying the incident.

As a result, the total number of PIMs was increased from 691 to 840 minutes. Six Vityaz and one Avangard player were suspended for one game. Both teams got fined for the total of $133,000. Vityaz was warned that in case of a similar situation happening in future the team will get excluded from the KHL.

According to Russian newspaper Sport-Express the teams were awarded with enormous 840 PIMs. Vityaz got 421 minutes, Avangard — 419. The teams surpassed the record set by NHL‘s Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in 2004, when teams together earned 419 PIMs. It should be noticed that Vityaz beat this record just by themselves having 2 more PIMs than Senators and Flyers combined.

See also:
Video: KHL game cancelled after bench-clearing fight, teams get 691 PIM
Jaromir Jagr: “I’ve never seen a fight like this before”

Jaromir Jagr: “I’ve never seen a fight like this before” (Photo © khl.ru)

Jaromir Jagr, playing for Avangard Omsk of the KHL, spoke about the yesterday’s massive brawl in the game against Vityaz Chekhov.

The game was canceled because there was not enough players to continue the match as the lion’s share of them got game misconducts. Jagr himself fought against Darcy Verot.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of this Jagr interview to Sovsport.ru.

Jagr: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I have never even heard of such situations. And of course it never happened in the NHL when I was playing there. It just couldn’t happen.

Why not?
Jagr: “The rules. If players fight during the warm-up or jump from the bench to the ice during a fight they can get suspended for 20 games. And it means losing a quarter of the salary. To tell you more, the suspension can be even more severe — six months or a year. No one would like to get a one-year suspension as a result of stupid behavior.”

In your opinion, why did this brawl start?
Jagr: “Because their tough guy Darcy Verot threw the puck at one of our players. Then he skated to another our player at the red line and speared him.”

And how did it happen that you fought Verot? On the video there are you standing near Verot and in the next moment he punches you in the face. As you were not ready for this punch you fell down. Then you get up and got a grip on him. It looked like Greco-Roman wrestling.
Jagr: “If you’re a tough guy you should respect the honor code. There were people fighting around us and I was holding Verot. Then he told me: “Ok, we are done. No fighting”. I released his hand and in a second he punched me in the face. I didn’t see that coming and that’s why I fell down.”

That’s just mean
Jagr: “Yes. But this is what kind of a person Verot is.”

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.