Sunday, November 7, 2010

Russians top East

Press Release

RUSSIANS SCORE GAME'S LAST FOUR GOALS TO TOP CANADA EAST WEST KELOWNA, B.C. ' Russia shook off the jetlag to score the game's final four goals, handing Canada East a 7-4 loss in World Junior A Challenge exhibition action on Friday night at Royal LePage Place. The Russians landed in Vancouver at 3:30 p.m. PT on Thursday before a five-hour bus ride to Penticton, which followed a cross-globe flight, and took much of the first two periods to find their legs before flexing their offensive muscle. Mikhail Grigorenko and Albert Yarullin got Russia on the board with goals in the first 11 minutes, but Scott Wilson got one of those back for Canada East at 16:16 of the opening frame, sending the Canadians to the dressing room down a goal despite outshooting the Russians 9-6. Evan Rodrigues notched his third in two games to pull Canada East even just 1:47 into the second before Wilson's second of the game gave the Canadians their first lead at 3-2. After Dmitry Mikhailov and Matthew Peca traded goals just 1:34 apart, Nikita Kucherov scored in the final minute of the second, putting the finishing touches on a wild period that saw the teams combine for five goals and 27 shots. Kucherov's goal seemed to kick start the Russian offence ' Konstantin Vorshev, Sergey Smurov and Alexey Shubin all beat Canada East goaltender Justin Gilbert in the third period, putting away the Canadians with two goals in the final 2:45 to give them a little breathing room. Denis Perevozchikov earned the win in goal for Russia after taking over for starter Oleg Dyatlov seven minutes into the second period; Dyatlov left the game after taking a shot to the mask. Canada East will see the ice on the tournament's opening day on Monday, facing the United States at 4 p.m. PT, while the Russians will be the last team to make their 2010 debut, taking on Switzerland on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. PT).

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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