CHVANOV’S HAT TRICK LEADS RUSSIA TO RECORD-TYING WIN OVER BELARUS

CAMROSE, AB – Group A at the 2008 World Junior A Challenge just got very interesting.

Sergey Chvanov had a hat trick and added an assist and Vladimir Tarasenko pitched in with four assists as Russia routed Belarus 10-4 on Monday night at the Edgeworth Centre.

The 10 goals equaled a World Junior A Challenge record, set by Canada West in a 10-2 win over Belarus at the 2006 tournament in Yorkton, SK. The two teams also combined for a record-tying seven goals and 37 shots in the third period.

Kirill Kabanov scored twice and Pavel Zotov, Maxim Kitsin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vladimir Malinovsky and Stanislav Bocharov also scored for the Russians, who set up a winner-take-all game with Canada West on Tuesday night (8 p.m. MST).

Coming off its shocking upset of Canada West just 24 hours earlier, Belarus found itself in an early hole after Zotov and Kitsin scored similar goals in the first period, both beating Belarussian goaltender Aliaksandr Zhuk through the five-hole.

The Russians poured it on to start the second period, scoring three times in the opening 6:20 of the frame, chasing Zhuk from the net after Chvatov’s first goal at 4:22. Unfortunately for Belarus, new netminder Vitali Bialinski, one of the heroes of Sunday’s shootout win, didn’t fare much better, allowing a pair of goals before the second period was done to send the Russians to the dressing room up 6-1.

The defences rested in the final 20 minutes, as the teams combined for 37 shots in the frame – 22 by Russia and 15 by Belarus – and seven goals.

Siarhei Drozd, who scored twice in the win over Canada West, added two third-period goals in the loss, momentarily getting the Russian lead to four at 7-3 before the floodgates opened in the final seven-and-a-half minutes, when five goals were scored.

Andrei Pichukha and Mikalai Susla also scored for Belarus, who can finish no better than second in Group A and will play in a quarter-final game on Thursday.

Despite the lopsided score, the final shots on goal were close, with Russia holding a slim 41-37 advantage over the Belarussians.