2003 IIHF World Junior Championship

Russia Remains Undefeated

The defending champions Russia defeated Slovakia 4-0 in Group A action Saturday night in Sydney to improve to 2-0. Andrei Medvedev stopped all 16 shots he faced and Igor Grigorenko, Sergei Anchakov, Alexander Polushin, and Alexander Perezhogin all scored for the winners.

The Russians are the only team with no blemish in their loss column in Group A as the USA, Slovakia, and Switzerland sit at 1-1 while Belarus is 0-2.

Grigorenko opened the scoring for the Russians at 19:30 of the first after stepping out of the corner and sliding the puck under screened Slovakian goalie Peter Sevela. Anchakov put the Russians up by two 4:29 into the second period when a redirected shot from the point landed on his stick in the slot and he beat Sevela low to the glove side off the post. Sevela earned player of the game honours for his team by stopping 29 of 33 shots.

The Russians then thought they had gone up by three when a shot by Dmitry Pestunov rang off the crossbar and goalpost early in the third period. Pestunov waited for Sevela to go down and tried to put the puck in to the top of the net. He appeared to do just so as the goal light went on but referee Rob Matsouka was in good position and waved the goal off.

Russia did get the three-goal cushion at the 17:09 mark of the period when Polushin was left all alone in front after a faceoff. The puck went to Polushin on another redirected point shot and he beat Sevela through the legs.

Perezhogin rounded out the scoring with a quick snapshot from the slot that beat Sevela on the blocker side.

Earning player of the game honours for Russia was centre Yuri Trubachev. Trubachev played a strong game and picked up an assist to give him five points (1G-4A) in only two games of play.

After exploding for 11 goals on Friday night versus Belarus, the Slovaks could not muster much of an offensive attack against the Russians. Their best scoring opportunity came in the first period when Ratislav Lipka stripped the puck from a Russian defender and broke in alone on Medvedev. Lipka deked to his forehand but Medvedev slid across to make the pad save. They also hit the post when the score was 2-0 midway through the second period off a point shot which might have given them some momentum.

Russia will face Belarus tomorrow in a 6pm AT contest. Slovakia will have the day off tomorrow and will face Switzerland on Monday. Both games are slated for Sydney.

John Mayich
Sydney Co-ordinator

Final Summary
Team Russia took it’s lead from it’s top line of Ovechkin, Polushin, and Trubachev, and played a game of speed, skill and when necessary, grit. The 4-0 final score does not reflect the domination Team Russia enjoyed and the game was only kept within reach by Team Slovakia goaltender Peter Sevela who made several spectacular save point-blank saves. Andrei Medvedev, in the Russian net had a solid, though hardly challenging outing.

Team Slovakia’s only real opportunities came on the heels of Russian giveaways and mistakes. Russia ended the game with two late goals including one from their top line when Polushin finished a pretty passing play from Grebeshkov and Trubachev.

Second Period Summary
A game that began as a display of Russian speed has begun to resemble a game of pick-up hockey where one team has the lion’s share of the talent. Despite dominating the game, it took until late in the first for Igor Grigorenko to tuck one past Peter Sevela who has been strong in goal for Team Slovakia. The second began with more of the same and Sergei Anchekov scored team Russia’s second on a pass from the point at 4:29. The class of the field has been the Russian line of Ovechkin, Polushin, and Trubachev, completely dominating play. The one highlight for Slovakia came when Russian goalie Medvedev robbed Dominik Granak who was already celebrating what he thought was a sure goal.

First Period Summary
Russian speed kept Slovakia on it’s heels for much of the period, with Slovakia’s chances coming only on counter attack and power play chances. Peter Sevela has been strong in goal for Team Slovakia stopping point blank shots and making a huge short handed glove save. In the Russian net Andrei Medvedev has been solid. The Russians finally got on the board late in the period when Igor Grigorenko skated out from the corner to tuck one past Sevela.

More to follow….

Gary Caven

Box Score		RUS	1	1	2	4	0
Compte		SVK	0	0	0	0	0

Scoring/Buts : 19.30 1 - 0 EQ RUS 21. GRIGORENKO, Igor (12. KOLTSOV, Kirill 16. TARATUKHIN, Andrei) Penalties/Pénalités : 15.47 10 min RUS 24. KONDRATIEV, Maxim CHE-H 15.47 2 min RUS 24. KONDRATIEV, Maxim CHE-H 04.34 2 min RUS 21. GRIGORENKO, Igor ROUGH 04.15 2 min SVK 7. STEHLIK, Richard ROUGH 04.15 2 min RUS 5. GREBESHKOV, Denis UN-SP

Scoring/Buts : 24.29 2 - 0 EQ RUS 29. ANCHAKOV, Sergei (9. KAIGORODOV, Alexei 25. LYUBUSHIN, Mikhail) Penalties/Pénalités : 20.51 2 min SVK 8. GRANAK, Dominik INTRF

Scoring/Buts : 57.09 3 - 0 EQ RUS 18. POLUSHIN, Alexander (5. GREBESHKOV, Denis 15. TRUBACHEV, Yuri) 58.18 4 - 0 EQ RUS 26. PEREZHOGIN, Alexander (16. TARATUKHIN, Andrei) Penalties/Pénalités : 42.56 2 min RUS 18. POLUSHIN, Alexander INTRF 42.34 2 min SVK 22. SLOBODA, Karol HO-ST 51.11 2 min SVK 24. LIPKA, Ratislav ROUGH 51.11 2 min RUS 6. PESTUNOV, Dmitry ROUGH

Players of the Game	RUS	Unavailable
Joueurs du partie	SVK	Unavailable
Goaltenders	RUS	30. MEDVEDEV, Andrei
Gardiens de but	SVK	25. SEVELA, Peter
Shots on Goal by	Shots on Goal by	1st/1re	2nd/2e	3rd/3e	Final
Shots on Goal by	RUS	9	11-	13-	33
Tirs au but par	SVK	7	5-	4-	16
Officials	Referee/Arbitre	MATSUOKA, Rob
Officiels	Linesmen/Juges des lignes	TAKULA, Leo DOUCETTE, Derek
Attendance/Assistance	3,213

Defending Champs Russia Go For Second Win

The Russians take on Slovakia in Group A action at Centre 200 in Sydney tonight. Both teams are undefeated heading into tonight’s preliminary round game.

Team Russia defeated the United States 5-1 in its first game of the tournament on Boxing Day. Alexander Ovechkin led the Russian attack in that game by scoring a hat trick. The 184cm, 85kg, 17 year-old also picked up player of the game honours and was a physical presence throughout. Russian captain Yuri Trubachev assisted on all three of Ovechkin’s goals and added one himself for a four-point outing.

Slovakia pounded Belarus 11-1 with a balanced attack that included nine different goal scorers in action Friday night. Having big nights for the Slovaks were 185cm, 72kg forward Michal Kokavec and 186cm, 89kg defenseman Karol Sloboda who both had two goals and an assist.

Russia will ice the stronger of the two teams so Slovakia will have to be at the top of its game to compete. The Russians looked dominant in their victory over the U.S., but it is hard to say that the Slovaks were not dominant in their convincing victory over a weaker Belarus team as well. If Slovakia is to compete, they will need the same balanced attack it had in its last game as well as strong goaltending from netminder Jan Chovan.

John Mayich
Sydney Co-ordinator