Canada U20 opens series with win against archrivals

There are few rivalries in ice hockey when it comes to national teams that can be compared to the one between Canada and Russia. Both, at the junior and the senior level, the two countries were the dominating forces for decades in the old Soviet-era. Back then it was not only the question which style of ice hockey was the more succesful one but also a battle between two political systems. Since the fall of the Soviet Union both countries face more high quality opponents but the old rivalry has survived the eventful years after the rebuilding of Russian ice hockey.

Beginning in 2005 the Canadian U20 national team won five consecutive gold medals at the IIHF World Championship but in the last two editions of the Top Division they were kicked out of the tournament by Russia in a very painful way. In the 2011 gold medal game the Russians managed to win 5-3 after losing by a three-goal margin after two periods. A year later the Russians already had a 6-1 lead before Canada almost reached the impossible by scoring four consecutive goals in less than five minutes in front ot the home crowd in Calgary. But the probably best description of the relation between the two nations is the 1987 scandal when a brawl between all players and coaching staff of both teams during the WC led to a disqualification of the two countries.

40 years after the first edition of the Summit Series, the Canadian and the Russian federation decided to hold a four-game series with two games in Yaroslavl, Russia, and two games in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada from 9-14 August 2012.

Before the game action started on Thursday in Yarolslavl's Arena 2000, the Canadian U20 team used the opportunity to remember the victims of the tragic air crash that killed almost all members of the local KHL team Lokomotiv on 7 September 2011. They were accompanied by Byron McCrimmon whose son Brad, a former NHL player from Canada, was head coach of Lokomotiv at the time of his death.

Once the two teams met on the ice, off course, no gifts were to expect anymore for each other. Both coaches could count with many top players on their rosters (Canada: Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Murray, Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Strome, Ty Rattie - Russia: Andrei Vasilevski, Nail Yakupov, Anton Slepyshev, Mikhail Grigorenko).  

For the home side it was a tough day to find into the game. In the first two periods they were outshot by there opponents 9-19. Still they worked well in their defense. Eearly in the second period Maxim Shalunov received a two-minute penalty for high-sticking which had consequences. With only four seconds remaining in the power play Sean Monahan opened the score for the guests from North America. Less than two minutes later Jonathan Huberdeau assisted to the goal of Scott Harrington to increase the Canadian lead.

With one of their few own attacks the Russian team cut the lead to the half when Anton Slepyshev stood at the right spot around "half time" of the match. Another power play - this time Andrei Sigarev was in the box for a hooking penalty - let the Canadians run away again with their two-goal lead when Dougie Hamilton showed no mercy in front of Andrei Vasilevski. The last 20 minutes saw a far more active Russian side but more than a goal by Edmonton's 2012 first overall pick at the NHL Entry Draft Nail Yakupov in a 5 on 3 advantage (after avoidable penalties for slashing and delay of game) didn't happen so that Canada earned the lead in the four game series.

Asked about the performance of his team Canadian head coach Steve Spott said: “We're going to have to address our discipline. This group is real physical. The challenge for us is going to be to continue to play physical but not cross a line where it's going to cost us penalties."

Next games:

Game 2: Yaroslavl (Friday, 10 August 2012, 18.00h local time)

Game 3: Halifax (Monday, 13 August 2012, 19.00h local time)

Game 4: Halifax (Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 19.00h local time)

 

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