U18 tourney kicks off

Press Release

CRIMMITSCHAU/DRESDEN – The first two games of the IIHF World U18 Championship are in the books, and the traditional hockey powers have each opened with a victory. Russia put the Slovaks away 8-2, while the Finns outlasted Norway 5-2.

Russia vs. Slovakia 8-2 (3-0, 2-1, 3-1) Game Sheet Photos

It could have been a closer match between Russia and Slovakia, but early mistakes and costly penalties proved to be too much for the Slovaks, who fell 8-2 to the Russians in their opening game.

Russia’s power play got going early as Slovakia’s Vladimir Dolnik was penalized just over two minutes into the game for holding. Halfway into the man advantage, Russian forward Nikita Kucherov was left all alone beside the net. Teammate Mikhail Grigorenko found him with a pass and he promptly shot in in the glove side of goalie Patrik Rybar for the 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Emil Bagin was sent to the penalty box for two minutes on an interference call. The Slovaks once again left a Russian player open down low, this time it was Anton Ivanyuzhenkov, who took a pass from Maxim Shalunov and put it on the net. Rybar was able to stop the initial shot, but the ensuing rebound went straight onto the stick of Vladimir Tkachev, who shot it past Rybar to put the Russians up by two goals.

Despite the power play goals by Russia, Slovakia still could not avoid taking penalties, and the bench of the Slovak penalty box remained warm for most of the first period. The refs finally called a penalty on Russia after the Slovaks had taken their fourth, but the 4-on-4 play seemed to suit the Russians just fine, as Grigorenko took a pass down the middle, split the defenders and below Rybar’s glove to increase the lead to 3-0.

Slovak frustrations boiled over in the second period. Defender Peter Bezuska was given a ten minute game misconduct for checking from behind, and the weakened Slovak defensive corps allowed Russia two quick goals, the first from Shalunov and another by Anton Slepyshev off of a breakaway. While Slovakia was able to notch a power play goal courtesy of Filip Vasko and another in the third, the Russians didn’t look back, potting three more goals in the third period to seal the game.

Finland vs. Norway 5-2 (2-0, 1-2, 2-0) Game Sheet Photos

The Finns let a two-goal lead slip away, but regained their composure and overcame an outstanding effort by Norwegian goaltender Steffen Sodberg to win 5-2 in their first match of the preliminary round.

Everything went according to plan early on for Team Finland, one of the favourites going into the tournament. Miro Aaltonen opened the scoring at 13:28, and Tomi Wilenius added another marker less than two minutes later.

With Norway managing little in terms of offence, Finland was looking comfortable in the driver’s seat. But a funny thing happened early on in the second period.

First, Norway’s Endre Medby found the back of the net on a power play following a tripping call against the Finns. Then the Norwegians killed off two successive penalties and tied the game at 2-2 following a goal by Andreas Heier.

Though Norway’s offence was finding some success, the real star of the game was Sodberg, who by the end of the second had stopped 30 shots. Sodberg would end up stopping 51 of 56 shots on goal, compared to his Finnish counterpart Samu Perhonen, who was not quite as busy and only had to make 11 saves through the whole game.

Despite Sodberg’s strong showing, he was unable to stop Finland from adding the go-ahead goal just before the end of the second period, as Miika Salonaki converted a power play opportunity for the Finns. Salomaki and teammate Kalle Torniainen added a goal each and Norway’s attack fizzled out in the third period, giving Finland the 5-2 victory.

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