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ПРЕССА
Russians irate over missed goal
06.01.2006. Canadian Press
VANCOUVER (CP) - The Russian bravado was gone after losing 5-0 to
Canada in the gold medal game at the world junior hockey championships
Thursday.
The cockiness the Russians showed leading up to the game was replaced
by complaints about a goal that wasn't allowed and an empty feeling
after finishing second behind Canada for a second consecutive year.
"At the end of the game I had tears in my eyes," said defenceman Andrei Zubarev.
Just a day earlier Zubarev had said that historically the
Russians were more skilled than Canada. Khudobin had even boasted
Russia would "dominate" Canada.
Asked to explain what happened, Zubarev was suddenly lost for words.
"You saw everything yourself," he said finally through an interpreter.
"It was just the way the game took a turn. It just happened."
Goaltender Anton Khudobin was so distraught he tossed his glove, stick
and mask at the Russian bench. Several team officials had to console
him.
Coach Sergey Mikhalev argued that a disallowed goal could have swung the game in Russia's favour.
"This goal would have had an outcome on the game," said Mikhalev. "Team Canada would have had to play differently."
Canadian coach Brent Sutter doubted the goal would have made any difference.
"I have to disagree with the Russian coach," said Sutter. "We would not
have changed our game plan if the Russians had scored one goal."
The controversial play occurred early in the second period with Canada ahead 2-0.
Nikolai Lemtyugov fired a shot that TV replays showed beating Canadian
goaltender Justin Pogge between his skates and stick. The puck quickly
bounced out of the net and play continued.
After a whistle and a faceoff, play continued again. It wasn't until
another whistle that Russian officials began demanding American referee
Brian Thul review the play.
Thul told the benches that because play had resumed, the goal could not be reviewed.
"If that goal was counted and taken into consideration, the psychological impact would have inspired the team," said Lemtyugov.
Evgeni Malkin, named the MVP after tying American Phil Kessel with a
tournament-leading 10 points, wasn't surprised the call went against
Russia.
"We were ready that the referee might not be on our side," said Malkin.
"Of course it didn't help our motivation. Nonetheless, we fought back
and tried our best."
Prior to the final, Malkin said if his team played to its potential it
would "easily" beat Canada. After the loss, Malkin could only praise
the Canadians.
"They are a very good team," said second player taken in the 2004 NHL draft. "They play tough, physical and strong."
Lemtyugov shrugged when asked about his teammates pre-game chatter.
"Everyone speaks for themselves," he said glumly. "It doesn't matter
what game you are playing, you have to do your job and you have to play
a good game."
Defenceman Alexei Emelin said the loud, soldout crowd of 18,630
intimidated the Russians in what was a physical, high-energy game. The
Candians hit everything in red, disrupting the flow of the Russian
attack like boulders in a river.
A stifling Canadian defence kept the big Russian guns silent, forcing
them to shoot from the outside and hurrying their attempts to dodge a
hit. Pogge was easily able to handle the few shots that got through.
After playing like a well-oiled machine in winning five games during
the preliminary round, the Russians blew a cog in the final.
They were on their heels after trailing 2-0 after the first period.
When Michael Blunden scored his first of two power-play goals at 12:02
of the second period to make it 3-0, the Russians began losing their
cool and taking needless penalties.
For Khudobin, who plays for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey
League, it was like reliving a nightmare. In last year's final Khudobin
was pulled after allowing three goals as Canada hammered Russia 6-1 for
the gold.
After giving up the third goal Thursday he lay flat on his back in his
crease. He didn't look like a man who wanted to stand up.
Первая страничка молодежных чемпионатов мира 2006 года
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Подгруппа А - подробнее
Канада, США, Финляндия, Швейцария, Норвегия |
Подгруппа В - подробнее
Россия, Чехия, Швеция, Словакия, Латвия |
За 7-10 места - подробнее
Швейцария, Словакия, Латвия, Норвегия |
1/4 финала - подробнее
Швеция - Финляндия
США - Чехия
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1/2 финала - подробнее
Канада - Финляндия
Россия - США |
Финал - подробнее
За 5 место. Швеция - Чехия
За 3 место. Финляндия - США
За 1 место. Канада - Россия |
| Страничка статистики |
Молодежные чемпионаты мира (до 20 лет) 2006 года.
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