Сборная России уступила Канаде в финале молодежного чемпионата мира по
хоккею со счетом 4:5. Отыграв во втором периоде три шайбы подопечные Валерия
Брагина так и не смогли сравнять счет в заключительном отрезке матча. Канадцы
вернули себе чемпионское звание на родном льду спустя шесть лет.
В любом случае, стоит поблагодарить этих ребят за те эмоции, которые они
дарили нам на протяжении последних двух недель. Стоит сказать спасибо Валерию
Брагину, который пусть и проиграл свой четвертый финал МЧМ, но в очередной раз
собрал великолепную сборную! Если вспомнить, как наша команда начинала турнир,
два поражения на групповом этапе... В такой итоговый исход верилось с трудом.
Но они сделали это. Они действительно доказали очень многое. Пусть на этот раз
не получилось. Вы все равно - ГЕРОИ. А проиграли они
действительно сильнейшей команде на этом турнире.
Это был настоящий финал. Потрясающий матч.
Великолепная борьба. Буря эмоций. Во втором периоде был момент, когда
показалось, что судьба встречи решена - сборная Канады вела в
счете 5:1. Но россияне не сдались. Они в очередной раз показали свой характер и
отыграли целых три шайбы. Для чудо оставалось сделать один шаг, самый
главный... Но именно на него, к сожалению, не хватило ни сил, ни удачи.
Читайте
также:
- Мнения специалистов и итоги выступления сборной России на МЧМ →
- Игроки и тренер сборной России рассказали о причинах поражения в финале МЧМ →
- Россия и Канада сыграют в финале молодежного чемпионата мира по хоккею →
- Ожидания российских хоккеистов перед финалом с Канадой на МЧМ →
Canada pounds Slovakia, meets Russia Monday night
Hosts
in search of first gold medal since 2009
TORONTO - Fourth place at
the world junior.
That’s so last year. And the year
before that.
For Canada in the 2015 World Junior
Championship, there will be nothing less than silver.
Silver, of course, is what you get
in this tournament when you lose in the title match.
Against Russia on Monday night at
the Air Canada Centre, Canada will attempt to put an end to its golden drought.
Canada will have that opportunity
after beating Slovakia 5-1 at the ACC on Sunday evening in a semifinal. Earlier
in the day, Russia defeated Sweden 4-1 to advance to the final.
It will mark the first time since
the 2011 world junior in Buffalo that Canada and Russia meet in the gold-medal
game. That year, Russia won 5-3 after Canada melted down in the third period.
Canada has not won gold since 2009.
Nic Petan, a Winnipeg Jets prospect,
and 17-year-old phenom starred for Canada before an enthralled crowd at the
ACC. Petan recorded a hat trick and McDavid assisted on all three of the goals.
Canada coach Benoit Groulx moved
Petan to a line with McDavid and Curtis Lazar, replacing Brayden Point.
It, um, worked.
Zach Fucale made 14 saves for
Canada. Slovak goalie Denis Godla, chased by Canada in the tournament opener,
faced 44 shots.
Goals by Anthony Duclair and Petan
in the third period put the game away.
As Canada, which has scored 34 goals
in the tournament and allowed just five, enjoyed its third-period bulge, many
in the crowd started chanting “We want Russia!” And there was a rendition of “O
Canada.”
There was some nail-biting in the
packed ACC as the second period progressed and Canada was hanging on to a 1-0
lead.
That changed at 18:06 when McDavid —
with a country behind his back and a Slovak on it — managed to slip a pass
across to Petan. A split-second later, the puck was hitting the top corner of
the net over Godla’s right shoulder.
McDavid can’t go higher than No. 1
in the NHL draft in June, but he has putting more space between himself and
American forward Jack Eichel as the tournament has gone on. Still figure that
Eichel will go second overall, but there shouldn’t be much more debate as to
whether he can overtake McDavid. Not after the way McDavid has performed in the
world junior.
In six games, McDavid has two goals
and eight assists.
What appeared like it was going to
be a 3-0 lead for Canada after 40 minutes turned into a two-goal advantage when
David Soltes slipped the puck past Fucale after a pass from Matej Paulovic.
The goal came with 3.4 seconds left
in the period and after Shea Theodore had given Canada a three-goal margin.
Duclair picked up the puck along the side boards and passed to a surging
Theodore, who skated in alone and went high on Godla’s blocker side. It might
have been the first goal of the tournament for Theodore, a defenceman with the
Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, but he knew what he was
doing. The defenceman scored 22 goals for Seattle last season.
Canada controlled play through the
first 20 minutes, but despite cycling well, could not penetrate often a tight
Slovak defence.
The lone goal came during a power
play when Lazar spotted Petan to the left of Godla.
Petan took the pass and after a
couple of strides, beat the netminder over the glove from a sharp angle for a
1-0 Canada lead. To that point, Slovakia had killed 16 of 17 minor penalties in
the tournament.
McDavid also assisted on the goal.
Shots on goal in the first period were 6-6.
The biggest save easily was by
Fucale, who stared down Pavol Skalicky, who had a breakaway. The Slovak forward
deked to his forehand, but Fucale stretched out and made a save with his right
leg.
By Terry
Koshan, Toronto Sun
Russians get revenge on Sweden, advance to final
TORONTO - Everyone in
Toronto spent the last 10 days swooning over the Swedes.
For 10 days, their world junior team
resembled – and acted – like the popular cheerleader in high school.
All that adoration annoyed the
Russians to no end. After three straight years of medal-round losses, they
viewed the Swedes as the bully who kept kicking sand in their faces at the
beach.
But this time, they had enough.
“It was time to stop this unlucky
tradition (against Sweden),” Russian coach Valeri Bragin said through an
interpreter after a convincing and clinical 4-1 semifinal beat down before
15,400 fans on Sunday evening at the Air Canada Centre.
“To get the win, the players
realized there is nothing to be scared about.
“Just do what the coach asks and the
win will come.”
Bragin isn't exactly a Don
King-style of boxing promoter, but he knows what drives ratings and sells
tickets on the ice.
Asked who he would like to face in
Monday's final before Canada-Slovakia, he replied, “the best thing for (the
hockey) business is a Russian-Canadian hockey classic.”
And what does he think of the
Canadian squad?
“Very strong,” he said. “No weak
points.”
If you have one, these Russians will
find it.
The Swedes rarely faced adversity in
racking up five straight wins here. They had an unstoppable power play and a
perfect penalty kill.
Bragin's crew poked holes in all of
it.
They scored the opening goal –
undrafted KHLer Alex Sharov's first of two – and forced the Swedes to play from
behind, which was a rather new experience.
Then, defenceman Ziat Paigin blasted
a point-shot past goalie Linus Soderstrom, ending Sweden's perfect 18-for-18
run on the penalty kill.
The Swedes' power-play struck fear
in the hearts of opponents. The shot-blocking Russians didn't give them a
sniff.
“It feels terrible right now,” said
high-scoring defenceman Gustav Forsling, who crushes pucks from the point.
This time, the Russians never
blinked.
“They blocked the shots better than
they did last game,” Forsling added. “We didn't shoot like we should do because
the goalie (Russian Igor Shestyorkin) is not so great. We needed shots and
rebounds and people in front.
“There would be more goals for us
but we didn't do that today.”
The Swedes looked mortified. In
their biggest moment, they came up small.
Even the International Ice Hockey
Federation was in a quandary, having to come up with a Swedish top player for
the post-game ceremonies.
No one in bright yellow
distinguished themselves, so they gave it to Soderstrom.
And now, it has left us to wonder if
the Russians, who banked a medal for the fifth straight year, were playing
possum during the preliminary round.
The team that squeaked out a
shootout win over Denmark is playing for gold?
“We knew it was kind of brutal in our
group,” forward Ivan Barbashev said, “but after quarters (against the United
States in Montreal) and semis, we played together and 100%.”
They lost to the Swedes last Monday
after Barbashev's go-ahead goal was denied by video review. This time, they had
another one wiped out – but they kept driving to the net.
Neither of these team's back ends
are outstanding, but the Russian rearguards, at least, are bigger and older.
Rinat Valiev, the Leafs
third-rounder who was largely overshadowed in Toronto's William Nylander
love-fest, smartly busted up a threatening Swedish 2-on-1 late in the second.
“I was waiting for this all my
life,” the Kootenay Ice (OHL) defender said. “We're playing fine right now. We
play like one team. That's the biggest thing for us – trying to play physical
and support each other.”
The Swedes crumbled when it counted.
They have been among the final four teams at this event nine straight years,
but have only won it all once in that time.
The Russians, who haven't made a ton
of friends here, are proving hard to write off. All they know is keep those
boos coming.
“Everybody's going to cheer against
us,” Barbashev said, “but it's pretty normal here for Canadians. They probably
hate Russia.”
But you can't help admire that
they're still standing.
Russia we don't hate you. Where else
would we get our vodka from. Besides you've got a lot of very hot girls there!!
Canadians don't hate Russia...
Russians are good guys, like us. It's great that their players come to live and
play here...
this is about hockey you idiots ,
not you're look at me political view. and when it comes to hockey....hes
right...most hate them .
Russia, we don't hate you or your
people, just your autocratic, antagonizing, liar of a leader and his invading,
dictator-supporting ways. I think the Russian people are wonderful and our
cultures have lots to learn from each other. Enjoy your stay in Canada, and
here's hoping for a wild hockey series.
i don't support the western backed coup of Ukraine that
began a year ago, nor do i support the NATO encirclement of Russia. I don't
support Putin either. What i do support is truth, and freedom...and if the west
gets what they want we are all screwed....
for the people that think that Ukraine was started by the
Russia...all i ask is for you to look into the Victoria Nuland leaked
conversations...as well as previous attempts by the west to destabilize russia
and turn it into a puppet state.....so i ask you all, who is the real threat to
global security...the bully starting all the worlds problems( washington) or
the one defending himself, (russia)
I don't support the wests attempt to further destabilize the
world with the price of oil crashing as punishment towards Russia.
If you guys could only watch TV that wasn't controlled by
Putin, you'd see that OPEC is the reason oil is down, not the west. We don't
produce as much as they do.
So that's what Victoria's Secret was all about, and I
thought it was hot girls in underwear, anywho, how's their hockey team doing?
What is wanted here is a chance to
compete with the best, and hopefully win. This is starting to look like our
team will get a real chance to prove just how good they are. Good luck Canada
and good hockey!
