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)

2010 Olympics: Team Russia aftermath (Photo © sovsport.ru)

The 2010 Olympic Hockey Tournament has probably been the biggest disappointing ever for Team Russia. The early quarterfinal elimination against Team Canada was the worst result ever.

As soon as the tournament was over for Russia, we published the Top 5 reasons for this fail, now RussianHockeyFans.com judged all the players on the roster.

Goalkeepers

Ilya Bryzgalov: B+
He played a good game against Slovakia, but he got a L and thus he got benched in the following matches. He should have get more chances.

Evgeny Nabokov: D
In the first match against Latvia he didn’t look too good, but it was an easy game. Against the Czechs he did his job, but in the quarterfinals he had just a terrible night. He should have been benched earlier. He was really disappointing.

Defencemen

Andrei Markov: C+
Unfortunately he wasn’t in his best shape. He tried hard being useful for his team but he didn’t play his best and also he didn’t get enough ice time.

Anton Volchenkov: C+
One of the best blueliners for this team. He always tried hard, blocked a lot of shots, played physically. But against Canada he didn’t particularly stand out .

Dmitriy Kalinin: C
He didn’t look out of place. He wasn’t team Russia’s best blueliner but he did his job.

Sergei Gonchar: C
Just like Markov he didn’t get too much ice time. And he appeared in the score sheet only once.

Fedor Tyutin: C-
He didn’t do anything special. As a NHL player he should have bring more to the team.

Ilya Nikulin: C-
He didn’t make disasters, but it showed that he’s not used to face elite level competition and he faced some hard time in the own zone.

Denis Grebeshkov: C-
He didn’t impress, even in the round robin games. He still has a lot of room for improvements, but he has to deliver better performances.

Konstantin Korneev: C-
He didn’t look bad, but he was the only pointless player on the roster. The CSKA captain didn’t look out of place in the round robin, even if he has been played most of times in an unusual and unexpected role. His ice time has been limited in the game against Canada.

Forwards

Sergei Fedorov: C+
The proof that you can be a good player even at 40. Even if he looked a bit slow, he played well throughout the whole tournament and despite the infamous quarterfinal game he was one of the best players in Team Russia jersey.

Evgeni Malkin: C
Malkin, just like most of the forwards, played fairly well in the round robin matches, but he didn’t show up when it mattered more.

Pavel Datsyuk: C
Maybe he didn’t gel with his linemates, but Datsyuk didn’t really impress during these Olympic games, he didn’t look the key player he is for the Red Wings, just think about the shoot out attempt against Slovakia.

Alexei Morozov: C
Team Russia’s captain tried hard, but didn’t impress too much. He scored an important goal against the Slovaks, but that’s pretty much all.

Maxim Afinogenov: C
He went unpleasantly unnoticed in the first couple of games, then he improved a bit and scored a nice, yet unuseful, goal against the Canadians.

Danis Zaripov: C-
The ZZM line has always had good chemistry, too bad in Vancouver they played on small ice…He did fairly well in the first couple of games, then he slept away.

Viktor Kozlov: C-
His call was questionable, and he didn’t do too much to make people change idea. That being said, he could have get a chance in the shootouts against Slovakia.

Alexander Radulov: C-
Radulov didn’t play bad, but not great either. He almost spoiled the party against the Slovaks when he missed a chance, got a penalty and then injured Zinoviev, but he probably deserved more ice time.

Sergei Zinoviev: C-
Kudos for playing in the quarterfinals on one leg, but he should have sat on the bench, especially after that terrible turnover in the neutral zone that led Canadians to a goal.

Alexander Ovechkin: D
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the tournament as he was the most awaited player. He was a no factor against Canada and overall lost the phenom fight against Crosby.

Ilya Kovalchuk: D
What a difference between the Kovalchuk we admired at the last two WC in Quebec and Switzerland. He looked more the player on ice at the Turin Olympics. One goal is definitely not enough for a player of his caliber.

Alexander Semin: D
Just like other Russian superstar forwards, he didn’t show up.

Team Russia latest news: Fedorov misses practice, Kovalchuk out of Malkin’s line, Nabokov to start against Czechs (Photo © Shaun Best, Reuters)

Here is the latest news from the Russian team at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver.

Evgeny Nabokov will start in the game against the Czech Republic
Igor Zakharkin, Russian coach to Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport: “We think that with Nabokov in the net our players feel more confident.”

Sergei Fedorov missed a practice
Zakharkin: “Fedorov has an individual program. But he’s alright, there is no injury.”

New lines in the game against the Czech Republic
Zakharkin: “Maybe we are going to swap the center forwards. We think that Kovalchuk’s efficiency should be higher. We remember what chemistry Malkin and Kovalchuk had at the World Championship 2008, but two years have passed and they are different players now, their styles changed too. There is a bit of imbalance on the Kovalchuk-Malkin-Afinogenov line. We hope to fix it.”

Only first three shootout players were known beforehand in the game against the Slovaks
Zakharkin: “We knew who would have first three shootout attempts, but when it went on… Bykov has a good intuition, but this time it didn’t work. We hoped that the game wouldn’t get to the shootout. Now we are going to make a list of players beforehand.”

New power play lines
According to Mikhail Zislis of Sport-Express, the new power play lines look like this:
1. Alexander Ovechkin – Pavel Datsyuk – Evgeni Malkin, Kovalchuk – Gonchar
2. Alexander Semin – Viktor Kozlov – Alexander Radulov, Andrei Markov – Ilya Nikulin.
Ovechkin and Radulov were positioned in front of the goalie, screening him.

Update: Team Russia’s coaches swap Malkin with Datsyuk
According to sports.ru, the new top two lines look like this:
1. Alexander Ovechkin – Evgeni Malkin – Alexander Semin, Sergei Gonchar – Fedor Tyutin.
2. Ilya Kovalchuk – Pavel Datsyuk – Maxim Afinogenov, Konstantin Korneev – Denis Grebeshkov.
The other two lines remain the same:
3. Alexei Morozov – Sergei Zinoviev – Danis Zaripov, Ilya Nikulin – Andrei Markov.
4. Viktor Kozlov – Sergei Fedorov – Alexander Radulov, Dmitriy Kalinin – Anton Volchenkov.

Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com

Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Semin, Kovalchuk-Malkin-Afinogenov and other lines at Team Russia practice (Photo © Reuters)

The Russian team practiced for the second time in Vancouver.

According to the Russian channel “Russia 2” the lines were:

Ovechkin – Datsyuk – Semin, Grebeshkov – Korneev.
Kovalchuk – Malkin – Afinogenov, Gonchar – Tyutin.
Zaripov – Zinoviev – Morozov, Markov – Nikulin.
Radulov – Fedorov – Kozlov, Kalinin – Volchenkov.

“I was sure that our line would look like that”, said Evgeni Malkin to Russia 2. “I agree with the coaches, it’s an optimal combination”.

“I supposed that our line would look like that because we played together during the Olympic camp”, Ilya Kovalcuk told Russia 2. “It is a good, interesting and dynamic line. I think if we try hard we can be very useful to the team.”

Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com

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

Fedorov, Babchuk, Kalinin, Simon added to All-Star Game roster (Photo © khlallstar.ru)

Sergei Fedorov, Anton Babchuk, Dmitri Kalinin, Chris Simon and others were added to the All-Star game roster today as KHL journalists decided the teams’ second lines.

The All-Star Game will be played in Minsk, Belarus, on January 30th and it will be a challenge between Team Yashin (Russian Stars) and Team Jagr (International Stars).

The second lines look like that:

Team Yashin (Russian stars)
Goalkeepers: Andrei Mezin (Dynamo Minsk)
Defenders: Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Anton Babchuk (Avangard Omsk)
Forwards: Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan); Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi)

Team Jagr (International Stars)
Goaltender: Michael Garnett (HC MVD)
Defenders: Martin Strbak (HC MVD); Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk)
Forwards: Patrick Thoresen (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) – 112,681; Josef Vasicek (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Chris Simon (Vityaz Chekhov)

The KHL will name the third lines on January 28th.

Read also:
KHL All Star Game’s starting lineup announced

KHL player to carry Russian flag at Olympics opening ceremony (Photo © vancouver2010.com)

The Vice President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Vladimir Vasin in an interview to Russian newspaper Sovetskiy Sport claimed that a KHL player will most likely carry the Russian flag at the Vancouver Olympics’ opening ceremony.

Vasin: “The opening ceremony will take place on the 12th of February. Our hockey players will arrive in Vancouver one day before and will play only on the 16th, so it is quite logical to choose the standard-bearer from the hockey players. This player will be from the KHL.”

Q. Maybe you should choose Sergei Fedorov, the most experienced player?
Vasin: “Why not.”

9 out of 23 players in the Russian Team will represent the KHL, they are: defencemen Ilya Nikulin, Dmitriy Kalinin, Konstantin Korneev, forwards Sergei Fedorov, Danis Zaripov, Sergei Zinoviev, Alexander Radulov, Viktor Kozlov and Alexei Morozov.

Who do you think will carry the Russian flag?

KHL individual stats: goals, assists, points (Photo © khl.ru)

More than half of a season has passed in the KHL and it is time to tally up an interim total.

Below are Top 5 lists of goal scorers, assists, points and plus/minus leaders. Among the highlights are Marcel Hossa of Dinamo Riga topping the scorers rating, Maxim Spiridonov proving his worth after a few bad seasons with 20 goals in 40 games, SKA linemates Maxim Sushinskiy and Alexei Yashin being assists leaders and Sergei Fedorov being the 3rd in plus/minus rating.

KHL Top Goal Scorers

1. Marcel Hossa, Dinamo Riga, 24 goals in 37 games.
2. Alexei Morozov, Ak Bars, 20 in 34.
3. Maxim Spiridonov, Barys, 20 in 40.
4. Maxim Sushinskiy, SKA, 18 in 39.
5. Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, 18 in 36.

KHL Assists Leaders

1. Alexei Yashin, SKA, 32 assists in 39 games.
2. Sushinskiy Maxim, SKA, 29 in 33.
3. Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, 28 in 42.
4. Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant, 26 in 36.
5. Patrick Thoresen, Salavat Yulaev, 26 in 38.

KHL Points Leaders

1. Maxim Sushinskiy, SKA, 47 points in 39 games.
2. Alexei Yashin, SKA, 44 in 39.
3. Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, 43 in 36.
4. Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, 42 in 37.
5. Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant, 41 in 36.

KHL Plus/Minus Leaders

1. Patrick Thoresen, Salavat Yulaev, +25.
2. Raymond Giroux, SKA, +25.
3. Sergei Fedorov, Metallurg Mg, +22.
4. Vitaliy Vishnevskiy, Lokomotiv, +22.
5. Miroslav Blatak, Salavat Yulaev, +22.

Here are some useful links with complete lists:
Top Goal Scorers
Assists Leaders
Points Leaders
Plus/Minus Leaders

Sergei Fedorov gets into a fight to avenge his brother Fedor (Photo © khl.ru)

Sergei Fedorov, who moved from NHL to KHL past summer, got into a fight with Roman Derlyuk to avenge Derlyuk’s dirty hit on Sergei’s younger brother, Fedor.

After the game 23-year-old Derlyuk couldn’t beleive he fought 40-year-old Sergei Fedorov himself.
“Fedorov is a great player, I remember watching him play when I was a kid. I’d even call myself his fan. And if someone told me that I’d ever fight Fedorov I would… I would… never beleive. It just happened that he went after me, one of his punches reached my head and I… Of course I’d never start a fight against such player as Sergei Fedorov… never,” said Derlyuk to Alyona Shilova of vhockey.ru after the game.

Sergei Fedorov is playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk on a line with his younger brother Fedor. In 36 games Sergei scored 8 goals and recorded 16 assists. His plus/minus rating is +23. It’s Metallurg’s best and KHL’s 3rd best result.