Kuznetsov spearheads Russian attack
They had needed overtime to win Monday’s quarter-final over Czech Republic, a team Canada had drubbed 5-0 in the round robin. But on Tuesday they were, at their best, a different animal altogether.
The best two players on the ice for most of the night were Russian. Evgeni Kuznetsov, the Washington Capitals’ prospect and the only alumnus of the team that stunned Canada with last year’s legendary third-period outburst, scored three goals. Nail Yakupov, the Sarnia Sting winger who reaffirmed his claim as the consensus first overall pick in the coming NHL draft, added four assists and, at age 18, often dominated the action in a tournament usually ruled by 19year-olds.
“We win. Russia wins. Russia better than Canada,” Yakupov boasted in broken English after it was over. “See you next time.”
The Canadians, for much of the evening, couldn’t rise to Russia’s bravado. Canada’s starting goaltender, Scott Wedgewood of Brampton, allowed four goals on 13 shots before he was pulled after he was bowled over in his crease by a Russian assailant. Mark Visentin, Wedgewood’s replacement, al- lowed Russia’s fifth goal on just the second shot he faced.
For a long while, it looked as though it just wasn’t Canada’s night.
Even a first-intermission ceremony showcasing a few dozen Canadian alumni of world-junior tournaments past went awry when the microphone-holding arena host introduced Pat Quinn, coach of the 2009 gold medallists, as “Pat Burns,” the late coaching legend.
And it took a while for it to get much better on the ice. The Russians struck first and hard. Kuznetsov opened the scoring 7:26 into the game on a brilliant pass from Yakupov. A little more than seven minutes later, Nikita Nesterov’s point shot through traffic made it 2-0. And while Brett Connolly, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward who was Canada’s best of the tournament by some margin, made it 2-1 early in the second period, the Russians kept coming. A little more than six minutes later Kuznetsov had his second and third goals— the third on a 2-on-0 precipitated by a criminally inept Canada line change. The Canadians, who’d been most- ly untested in the tournament beforetuesday, didn’t help themselves with headiness. Boone Jenner took a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing Kuznetsov late in the second period, this after Jenner was levelled on an illegal hi that drew a two-minute penalty, not to mention a power play Canada could have desperately used. Nathan Beaulieu took a thirdperiod tripping minor and, instead of getting back on defence, lamented his lot to the referee while Russia made it 6-1 on the delayedpenalty rush. And just when Canada was making its third-period rally —goals by Dougie Hamilton, Jaden Schwartz, Brendan Gallagher and Brandon Gormley bringing the score to 6-5 with 5:43 to go — Jonathan Huberdeau, whose skill could have come in handy in the charge, had experienced most of the excitement in the box serving a 10-minute misconduct for banging his stick on the ice in protest of some injustice or another.
Ingloriously, if tirelessly, a decade-plus dynasty was, for an evening, defeated. “We made mistakes you can’t make,” said Connolly. “It sucks.” From Damien Cox’s blog, The Spin on Sports:
The stars, you have to believe, are perfectly aligned.
Hockey Canada will be hosting the world junior hockey championships in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 as part of a new agreement with the IIHF. It may not be good for the event to be in Canada so regularly, but it’s a big money maker and will keep coming to the Great White North until some other country wants it as much and can put on as good a show.
So with those four Canadian hosting dates set over the next nine years, you have to believe one of them will be the perfect occasion for Hockey Canada to take the big leap of faith.
Let Toronto host the WJC for the first time.
For starters, a fairly successful Mastercard Memorial Cup in Mississauga last spring — good crowds, mediocre profits — certainly addressed the notion that the GTA won’t buy junior hockey at all. Many of the games were sold out despite doomsayers who said it would all be a disaster, suggesting a well-organized, well-promoted junior event could be successful here.
Second, by next summer, TSN (Bell) will own half the controlling interest in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in a joint venture with Sportsnet (Rogers). When that deal was announced, it was clear both TSN and Rogers viewed it primarily as a content arrangement.
But an MLSE bid to host the world juniors could do that and more.
TSN’S broadcast deal for the WJC expires in 2014. Sportsnet, you can bet, has big-time interest in gaining at least some of the rights.
Read more at thestar.com/cox