Russia wins WJC after an incredible third period

06 Jan 2011 | David Schlegel

It was one of the most memorable games in the history of World Junior championships. The Russians completed the biggest comeback ever and beat Canada in the finals. Being down 3-0 after the 2nd period, they seemed to be reconciled with silver medals. Then the miracle happened. Russia scored five consecutive goals and won the gold medals.

Canada dominated the game for the first two periods. After captain Ellis scored a power-play goal at 4:50, Russia was under constant pressure. Just before the buzzer Ashton surprised Shikin from an improbable angle and Schenn added the third goal in the 2nd period. And what is more, Russian captain Tarasenko and one of the best players in the game left the game with an injury. "I never give up," said Russian coach Valeri Bragin at the press conference after the game. "I told my players we need to score just one goal. Then Canada becomes more nervous. I was confident in my guys."

The game looked decided but there was a lot of noise in the Russian locker room. Coach Bragin even broke the blackboard as he tried to wake his players up and Tarasenko announced he would return into the game despite an injury. "He just came and said he is going to play. He was hurting, but he knew he has to do it," said Igor Bobkov, the Russian goalie, who was the best goalie of the 2009 U18 World Championship in Fargo. Here in Buffalo he was the no.2 goalie, after Shikin for the greater part of the tournament. He replaced Shikin after the 3rd goal in the 27th minute and had 20 saves during the rest of the game.

Artemi Panarin and Maxim Kitsyn scored just 13 seconds apart to make it 3-2 for Canada and that completely changed the picture of the game. Instead of calling time out Cameron let the game continue and the Canadians lost all their self-confidence. "We just stopped skating, stopped working hard, stopped doing things which got us there. Russia turned it on, we have to give them credit," said Captain Ryan Ellis who was selected as the best defenseman of the tournament.

Four minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko, the injured captain, scored an equalizer after a brilliant pass from his fellow Kuznetsov. With five minutes to go Artemi Panarin put Russia into a lead and later Dvurechenski went on a breakaway and put the puck between Visentin´s legs.

The Canadian sold-out audience was stunned in disbelief and many fans left the stands before the end. "This was the worst feeling I have ever had," said Tyson Barrie after the buzzer. "Five goals in the third period of a gold medal game. You can't expain it," said MVP of the tournament Brayden Schenn.

Russia was not a big favorite of the tournament. The Russians had to fight for the last quarterfinal spot with the Czech Republic in the lat game of Round Robin. In a quarterfinal game, Russia was losing to Finland 1-3 with less than four minutes to go. In a semifinal game against Sweden, Russians tied the game 87 seconds to go and won in the shoot-out. And then the Russians' miraculous turn-over in the finals came. Russia was never known for fighting into the very end. This is something Russia can celebrate.