Canada and Russia advance to finals at WJC

For the third time in the last four years, the final game of the World Junior Championship will be between Russia and Canada. In 2002, Russia won the ultimate game 5-4 in the Czech Republic. Russia kept his title the following year with a 3-2 win in Nova Scotia, Canada.

 

For a decade, Canada and Russia have been by far the best national junior teams in the world. They have respectively earned nine and eight medals, including three gold each. 

 

"Probably, it is the best two teams who will meet in the finals," said the Canadian coach Brent Sutter after the Russian win over the U.S.

 

Sutter noted that Russia played better and better after they lost to the U.S. in their first game of the tournament. "We are going to continue to play our own game against Russia in the finals," he said.

 

Canada dominated the Czech Republic

 

In the first semifinal yesterday in the Ralph Arena in Grand Forks, Canada dominated the Czech Republic. Canada won 3-1, but the score was far from reflecting what really happened on the ice.

 

Czech coach Alois Adamsczik went with Marek Schwarz in the net instead of Vladislav Koutsky who was the best player of the precedent Czech game against Team USA. Schwarz played a remarkable game yesterday, preventing his team from losing by a wider margin.

 

The Canadians outshot the Czechs 42-11. The latter had only two shots on goal in the first and in the second period. Four of the 11 shots made on the Canadian goalie Jeff Glass came from the red line area.

 

Overall, the Czechs had only one real chance for scoring. It came from Rostislav Olesz, who capitalized on it while his team was playing a man short, early in the third period. Jeff Glass was not very strong on the play.

 

Olesz was the best forward yesterday in the Czech team, as he was over the entire tournament. He ranks third in the scoring leaders with ten points (7 goals, 3 assists).

 

Schwarz was named the best Czech as defenseman Shea Weber earned the same award for Canada. Weber played well but Dion Phaneuf reigned on the Canadian blue line.

 

"We certainly are where we wanted to be for sure," said Bergeron. "The Czechs obviously played a pretty good game, we knew that they were to come hard. We wanted to play well defensively," added Bergeron.

 

Asked if he thinks the team can play a better game than against the Czechs, Bergeron answered positively. He also noted that the crowd was extraordinary. "We felt like playing at home."

 

Canadian winger Clarke MacArthur said "I thought we played pretty tonight. Anytime you give up only 11 shots, you have to be proud of yourself."

 

"I think that we started a little too slowly, maybe respecting Canada too much," commented the Czech captain Petr Vrana.

 

Was the game plan to play so much defensively, Vrana was asked. "We didn’t shoot enough, that is probably the reason that we have lost," he replied.

 

Marek Schwarz was still looking for his breath after the game. Asked if he was tired, "Yes, I am," he replied between breaths.

 

"It was a horrible game for us, we had too few shots on the goal," he shrugged.

 

Russia beats an undisciplined USA team

 

In the second game of the day, Russia won 7-2 against Team USA.

 

The best players on the ice were the first NHL 2004 draft selections Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. Both scored two goals for a total of three points apiece.

 

The Russians scored three power play goals. Two of their seven goals were scored in an empty net in the last minutes of the game while coach Scott Sandelin tried it all.

 

Apart the great performance of Ovechkin and Malkin, the story of the game was the number of penalties taken by the Americans.

 

They had 12 penalties, including a double minor and a five-minute major at the end of the game. They played for 14 of the first 40 minutes a man short.

 

Enver Lisin, Sergei Shirokov and Mikhail Yunkov were the Russians other scorers. Patrick O’Sullivan and Robbie Schremp replied for the Americans.

 

"We deserved to win, we outshot and outplayed them. Overall, our team played very well," said Dimitri Vorobiev after the game the one who was officially named the best Russian of the game.

 

Vorobiev said that the game against Canada will be a very tough one for Russia. "Canada has a very good team but we will give them a fight," he commented, adding that to beat Canada, Russia will have to pass very well and use all their skills.

 

"It wasn’t an easy game tonight," commented Malkin. On the upcoming game against Canada, he said the Russians will have to play a reliable game if they hope to win.

 

"We were nervous in the first game against USA. Tonight, we finally got playing together and played our own game," commented Ovechkin.

 

The Russian assistant captain Dmitri Pestunov said the game wasn’t as physical as the first one played earlier in the round robin against USA.

 

A few people remember that Pestunov is playing his third WJC along with Ovechkin. Having played the final Canada-Russia game in 2003 in Halifax, Pestunov said that the final game against Canada will be exciting. "These are always the best games," he stated.

 

A 2003 Phoenix third round selection and Magnitogorsk Metallurg member in the Superleague, Pestunov was asked to comment on the main difference between the type of hockey played in this WJC edition compared to the one of the Superleague. "It is a lot more aggressive hockey here than in the Superleague and the smaller ice rinks make a lot of difference," he said.

 

"The loss against Belarus didn’t matter for us, the loss against the Czechs is the one that matters," stated Ryan Suter on the American side as the lost forced them to play an extra game in the quarterfinals game against Sweden. "That said, I think that this extra game didn’t matter that much," added Sutter after a while.

 

"We lost tonight because we didn’t make the little things, we didn’t play our game and beat ourselves on penalties," commented Sutter. "I don’t know if we deserved all of them," he concluded.  

 

The Russian coach Sergei Gersonsky said at the post game press conference that the Russians were a little bit luckier than their opponent. "We were fresher also," he said.

 

"We were in the penalty box the whole game," stated Sandelin, adding that the U.S. team lost to a very good team. 

 

 

Simon Richard is the author of La Serie du siecle, Septembre 1972, a book about the Summit Series published in 2002.
Copyright 2004 Hockey’s Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.