Author: Gary Laws

Jan92010 by Gary LawsNo Comments

Prospects » WJC failure: Plyuschev blames Filatov, Filatov blames Plyuschev

Russian Prospects Profiles, Reports and News

WJC failure: Plyuschev blames Filatov, Filatov blames Plyuschev (Photo © Getty Images) The debate around team Russia WJC disaster goes on. Right after the team's return in Russia many stories hit the media, the most interesting regarding Nikita Filatov and Vladimir Plyuschev relations. As we examined earlier in the Top 5 reasons why Russia failed at WJC it looks like there have been a conflict between the coach and the captain. RussianHockeyFans.com offers you the most interesting quotes from a good sum-it-up article appeared at Bleacher report. Vladimir Plyuschev words: The main cause of our performance was my mistake in choosing the captain. A captain should be an example of how to behave on the ice, in the locker room and outside the arena. We trusted Filatov with the captaincy hoping ...

Jan72010 by Gary Laws4 Comments

Prospects » Top 5 reasons why Russia failed at WJC

Russian Prospects Profiles, Reports and News

Top 5 reasons why Russia failed at WJC (Photo © Reuters) Team Russia's sixth place at the last WJC in Saskatchewan, Canada, was nothing short of a failure. It was the worst result of the team since 2001, when the team lead by Petr Vorobiev couldn't get any better than the seventh place on the home soil. That team, just like this one, wasn't short of talent, considering that the team's front men were the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk, Anton Volchenkov and Denis Grebeshkov. This year's roster included many talented players as well, like Nikita Filatov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Dmitri Orlov and others, but the tournament didn't really finish like expected and team Russia was left out of the medal round after five straight apparitions. RussianHockeyFans.com offers you top five reasons why Russia failed a...

Jan62010 by Gary LawsNo Comments

Nikolai Kulemin progressing in Toronto Maple Leafs

Russian Players In NHL

Nikolai Kulemin progressing in Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo © Reuters) Russian NHL forward Nikolai Kulemin of the Toronto Maple Leafs is improving and even if his point production is not very high, he finds other ways to contribute to the team's success. "Kulemin has been one of our better forwards," said Leaf coach Ron Wilson to Toronto Star. "He doesn't get many points, but he forechecks well. He did a great job on the penalty kill, and he made a great play on the winning goal." In a Tuesday game against the Florida Panthers Kulemin assisted to Alexei Ponikarovsky on the game winning goal doing most of the grunt work. "Obviously, he had a full head of steam," Ponikarovsky told Toronto Star. "I knew he was going to get there first, so I just went to the net and hollered at him. "[Kulemin] i...

Jan62010 by Gary Laws2 Comments

Captain Ovechkin: “It’s a big honor for me but I’m going to play the same”

Russian Players In NHL

Captain Ovechkin: "It's a big honor for me but I'm going to play the same" (Photo © Greg Fiume/Getty Images) Russian NHL superstar Alexander Ovechkin was named Washington Capitals' captain on Tuesday. The position was vacant after the former captain Chris Clark has been traded with defenseman Milan Jurcina for Columbus Blue Jackets' Jason Chimera. "If I need to say something, I will say something," Ovechkin told the Washington Post. "But I will show what I can do on the ice. It's a big honor for me. I'm going to do my best, but I don't want to concentrate on having a 'C' on my heart. I'm just going to play the same." The Capitals won the match 4-2, but Ovechkin has been left out of the score sheet. Alexander Semin scored two goals, including the game winning one. "I had talked to a lot of ...

Jan52010 by Gary Laws4 Comments

Russians finish sixth at the WJC

Russian Prospects Profiles, Reports and News

Russians finish sixth at the WJC (Photo © Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images) Losing 4-3 against team Finland in the fifth place deciding game, Plyuschev's team Russia got their second straight defeat and finished the World Junior Championships at a very disappointing sixth place, the worst result since 2001. This year's team Russia performed badly throughout the whole tournament, and the match against Finland was no different. Ramis Sadikov started between the pipes, with Igor Bobkov being iced after twenty-sixth minutes. The first period counted three goals: Maxim Trunev opened the score, while Teemu Eronen made it 1-1 with the man advantage at the sixteenth. All the four Finn goals will be scored while on the powerplay. With only twenty-three seconds to play, Alexander Burmistrov scored the ...

Jan42010 by Gary Laws1 Comment

NHL » Ilya Kovalchuk scores 600th NHL point

Russian Players In NHL

Ilya Kovalchuk scores 600th NHL point (Photo © Lou Capozzola/SI) It took 579 games to Ilya Kovalchuk to score his 600th point in the National Hockey League. In his 579th effort, during the second period of a match between Atlanta Thrashers and Buffalo Sabres, he scored the first goal of the game with a top-shelf wrist shot from the slot. In this season Kovalchuk scored 25 goals and 47 points in 32 matches, numbers that make him the fourth top goal scorer and the eighth top point scorer in the league. He's also the fifth forward with the most average time on ice with more than 22 minutes a night. He logs in average only eighteen seconds less than the mos used forward, slovak Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers.

Jan32010 by Gary LawsNo Comments

Dynamo Minsk players broke the Spengler Cup in the locker room

KHL News and Interviews

Dynamo Minsk players broke the Spengler Cup in the locker room (Photo © Hcdinamo.by) Dynamo Minsk players' celebrations after their victory in 2009 Spengler Cup might have been a little bit over the edge as the trophy crashed on the floor, breaking in pieces. In the picture you can see the team's captain Ville Peltonen, former NHL player with San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers, hanging a bottle in the right hand with the cup, already in pieces, in front of him. Fortunately the trophy was only a duplicate of the prestigious cup, which is one of the oldest tournament in the world, being held first in 1923. The KHL, Belarussian team beaten 3-1 the hosts of HC Davos in the final match, after topping the group stage with three wins in four matches, losing only to Davos th...

Jan22010 by Gary LawsNo Comments

KHL Players of December: Eremeev, Bykov, Mozyakin

KHL News and Interviews

KHL Players of December: Eremeev, Bykov, Mozyakin (Photo © khl.ru) The KHL named the players of the month. They are: goalie Vitaly Eremeev, defenceman Dmitri Bykov, forward Sergei Mozyakin. KHL goalie of December: Vitaly Eremeev, Dynamo Moscow. Eremeev recorded 3 shutouts in 6 games, having 1.33 GAA and 95.5 saving percent. KHL defenceman of December: Dmitri Bykov, Atlant Mytischi. Bykov scored 2 goals and 4 assists in 9 games, having a plus-9 record. KHL forward of December: Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant Mytischi. Mozyakin scored 5 goals and 9 assists in 9 games, having a plus-7 record.

Jan22010 by Gary LawsNo Comments

Prospects » Team Russia to face Switzerland in WJC quarterfinals

Russian Prospects Profiles, Reports and News

Team Russia to face Switzerland in WJC quarterfinals (Photo © fhr.ru) After finishing the group stage with nine points in four games, Team Russia earned the second seed of the B Group and thus is going to face in the World Junior Championships quarterfinals the third seed of the A group, team Switzerland, who managed to skate past Slovakia 4-1 despite being without their top two defensemen, Luca Sbisa and Roman Josi. The game is scheduled for Saturday, January 2nd at 4 PM local time. In the last two group stage games Team Russia faced Team Sweden and Team Czech Republic. The match against Tre Kronor wasn't good for Plyuschev's guys, as they were down 2-0 already after the first period. During the second period Team Russia tried to react and scored a goal with Kirill Petrov, but it wasn't e...

Dec292009 by Gary LawsNo Comments

Igor Bobkov slams the door, Russia skates past Finland in WJC’s second match

Russian Prospects Profiles, Reports and News

Igor Bobkov slams the door, Russia skates past Finland in WJC's second match (Photo © The Canadian Press) With a phenomenal performance and 46 saves, goalkeeper Igor Bobkov left no way out to Finland as they couldn't score for the whole game despite a complete control of the match for more than two periods. Finland's inability to convert chances into goals costed them the game as Team Russia walked away with a comfortable 2-0 win in World Junior Championships' second match. Plyuschev team's now tops Group B ranking, sharing the lead with Sweden, with six points in two matches. In spite of Bobkov's one-man show, Nikita Filatov has been elected as player of the game for Team Russia. He did play a great game, assisting on Petr Khokhryakov's first goal of the night and scoring himself the seco...