Alexander Ovechkin had a nice view through his visor today.
"Alexander Semin got a good shorthanded chance during the Kazakh power play, cutting into the slot and whipping a high shot off Kolesnik's shoulder."
"Alexander Ovechkin stretched Russia's lead to 2-0 at 7:42, taking a cute flip pass from Datsyuk and going forehand, backhand, forehand before depositing the puck into the empty net past a splayed-out Kolesnik. Ovechkin went tumbling through the air into the end boards and got up to celebrate his goal."
"... Malkin had a nice close-in chance but Kolesnik picked it off with his glove, and then the Kazakh goalie stoned Ovechkin on the doorstep after Malkin fed his fellow NHL first-rounder perfectly."
Semin was playing again with Alexei Yashin and Vladimir Antipov, and Ovechkin was on a line with Alexei Kovalev and Pavel Datsyuk. Ivan Nepriayev (drafted by the Caps in 2000) was also playing (with Malkin and Afinogenov).
Canadians squeeze by Ukraine 2-1. "It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done as far as Canada was concerned." Thank you, Brodeur (22/23)? The game winner was a PPG by Rick Nash from Ed Jovanovski and Joe Thornton. Nash (9 goals and 2 assists) and Thornton (5 goals and 6 assists) lead the tornament with 11 points in 6 games.
Slovaks beat Kazakhs 3-1. Zigmund Palffy, who scored the game winner, is now 5-3-8 in 6 games. Richard Zednik got an assist on the last goal.
Samuel Pahlsonn, who got an assist on Kronwall's goal, is 2-5-7 so far and therefore tied for 4th in points with the Slovak Jozef Stumpel (0-7-7). Now, wait, 5th, because Daniel Afredsson (1-2-3 in the first period!) is now 3-5-8 and tied for 3rd with Palffy.
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 10, 2005 2:56 PM This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 10, 2005 2:50 PM
My pleasure, Misto. I've spent too much time ignoring hockey. I must get back to it.
Final scores:
Sweden pounds Latvia 9-1. Alfredsson was 1-3-4 at the 21:05 mark. He's now the 3rd scorer of the tornament (3-6-9 in 6 games).
Czechs thump Belarus 5-1. Jagr had a goal and an assist, and is now tied with Pahlsson and Stumpel for the 5th place (he's 2-5-7 in 5 games - looks like he's missed a game).
As a result of Wednesday's 6-2 victory over Austria, Slovenia has earned the right to play in Latvia in 2006 while Austria and Germany have been demoted to the Division I World Championship next year.
Alexander Ovechkin got Russia on the comeback trail, and now they'll face Canada
Semin (scoreless and even) took 5 shots, including 2 in overtime. Ovechkin is now 3-1-4 in 6 games and +3.
"Russia put on a late rally to tie the game at 2-2. Alexander Ovechkin put the Russians on the board with 3:57 left in the first. Karalahti was in perfect position to intercept Alexander Ryazantsev's diagonal outlet pass near the center red line. He fanned on the puck, though, allowing Ovechkin to go in 1-on-1 against Kimmo Timonen. Ovechkin unleashed a low shot from the left faceoff circle through Backstrom's pads to get Russia within a goal at 2-1."
Semi-finals are Saturday: Russia-Canada at 16:15 and Sweden-Czech Republic at 20:15.
Russia and Czech Republic will stay in the Stadthalle, where they've played since the beginning (Preliminary Round, Qualifying Round, Quarterfinals).
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 12, 2005 6:06 PM This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 12, 2005 6:04 PM
The Canadians lead the game 4-0 at the 21:40 mark (Redden, Souray, Heatley PP, Jovanovski PP - Thornton already has 3 assists), but Semin (from Yashin) and Yashin scored at the end of the second period, and the game is not over.
At least they won, TAK. Glad you could see the game, and good luck for the Final. Brodeur was not his usual self in the last two games, it seems (7 goals allowed)... [Edit: Just read the recap: Brodeur had a great game.]
Czechs edge Sweden 3-2 (Cajanek, Straka, Dvorak OT - Hoglund, D. Sedin).
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 14, 2005 5:23 PM
"At 14:22, though, the inevitable happened when Alexei Yashin won a faceoff to Brodeur's right and Alexander Semin wristed a great shot over the goalie's glove to get the Russians on the board."
"Canada began the third period with greater control, playing well defensively without the puck but not giving it up easily. The Russians persisted, though, and when Dany Heatley failed to get the pcuk out of his own end, Evgeni Malkin made a cute pass in tight to Ovechkin who knocked the puck in at 8:27 to narrow the gap to 4-3. Now the game was wide open again."
Best Russian scorers: Datsyuk (3-3-6), Kovalev (2-4-6) and Kovalchuk (3-3-6), who played Russia's 8 games. Ovechkin is 4th with 5 points, but he missed a game. He leads his team with 4 goals. Semin is 2-0-2 in 5 games. Both had a GWG.
Thornton is 6-10-16 and Nash is 9-6-15, though. But our kids were amongst the leaders of their team, that's what counts.
After two periods of play, Vaclav Prospal's tally at 4:13 still stood up as the potential winning goal versus Canada in Sunday night's gold medal game in Vienna. Off the rush, Jaromir Jagr fed Martin Rucinsky in front of Canadian netminder Martin Brodeur, and his attempt went off Brodeur's left post. As the goalie sprawled, Prospal rushed in to fire the puck into the gaping cage.
Alexander Ovechkin celebrates his second IIHF tournament medal of 2005
After Russia's bronze-medal victory over Sweden, IHWC.NET reporters caught up with members of both teams to capture their feelings and thoughts after their final game of the 2005 IIHF World Championship.
Vladimir Krikunov, Head Coach, Russia: It was not an easy game for us in terms of competing after yesterday's loss. We made a change and put Ovechkin and Malkin on the second line. We trusted them and they scored two fast goals. (*) But we were lucky that there was a break after the goal that made it 3-2, because we were unstable at this point. We scored a fast goal at the start of the second period, and it put us back on track.
(...)
Alexander Ovechkin, Russia: We are happy, but we are disappointed with what happened in the last game, because we lost to Canada. We had a great chance to play in the final game, but we didn't. When you play in a tournament like this, you must concentrate all the time, because if you lose, you're in trouble. Maybe they were tired, but we're tired too. I think we have lots of good young players, and next year I hope we will win the championship. Personally, my best match was today, because we won third place. When we played against Canada in the first period, we had a lot more penalties, so we weren't able to play our game.
(...)
[That caption with that photo posted earlier is such a lie]
(*) Afinogenov scored them both, actually, one from Ovechkin and Malkin, and one from Ovechkin alone.
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 15, 2005 4:40 PM This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on May 15, 2005 4:36 PM
Jaromir Jagr kisses the gleaming championship trophy as he joins the Triple Gold Club
Golden Touch: Czechs beat Canada for first championship since 2001
Vaclav Prospal's tally at 4:13 of the opening period stood up as the winning goal versus Canada in Sunday night's gold medal game in Vienna, as the Czechs triumphed 3-0. Jaromir Jagr and Martin Rucinsky added two points apiece. Tomas Vokoun, the tournament's Best Goalie, recorded the shutout.
Joe Thornton was named the tournament's best player, while the IIHF Directorate Awards and the media's All-Star Team were also named following the gold medal game.
