Features

World Championships 2007 Day Eight

Friday, 4th May 2007

 Jim 'Tambo' Piper gives us his take on the action from Day Eight of the IIHF World Championships.

GROUP F

CANADA 6 BELARUS 3

Canada found themselves in penalty trouble early in the first period and when Belarus found themselves with a 2 man advantage they took the lead on 8:43. Ugarov took control of a rebound off an Antonekno shot and swept the puck past Cam Ward. For some strange reason the goal went to video review but was allowed to stand. Canada continued to find themselves in the box and took 6 minors in the period but apart from a wrister from Antonenko that Ward grabbed with his glove, there were not too many scoring chances. End of 1st 1-0 to Belarus.

The game took a turn with just over a minute gone in the second as Chimera took a slashing penalty. Canada then tied the game with a short handed goal as Nash skated down the right wing and made the perfect pass to Doane to one time the puck into the net. 25:15 gone and Canada took the lead on the powerplay when Toews tried a wrap around only to be denied by Goryachevskikh who saved with his stick handle. Doane grabbed the loose puck and roofed it for 2-1. 8:32 and Canada had a 2 goal lead as Toews tipped the final pass in on a neat play with Chimera and Staal. 41 seconds later and it was 4-1 when Lombardi centred to Doan for a tap in to give the Canadian captain his hat trick. With 3:40 left in the period Mike Cammalleri made it 5-1 as he scored on an outrageous backhand tip off a blueline shot from Phaneuf. Belarus came back at Canada for the remaining 3 minutes but Ward stopped all in front of him.

Belarus fought back in the third and scored on 49:58. Ryadinsky, shooting from just inside the blueline beat ward through traffic on a 4 on 4 play. Lombardi restored Canada’s 4 goal lead on 56:45 as he tipped Commodores shot past the Belarus goalie. With just over a minute left Meleshko wristed a shot high on the goalie’s glove side and into the net to make it 6-3 and finish the scoring.

A fine win for the young Canadians and a perfect answer from Shane Doane to his detractors back in the motherland.

GROUP E

RUSSIA 3 ITALY 0

Italy frustrated Russia for long periods of this game as the favourites struggled to break down a well disciplined defence. Russia pressed from the start and pinned the Italians back in their own defensive zone. With nearly 7 minutes gone, Italy had to survive nearly 90 seconds of a 3 on 5 situation. Russia played the puck around the defence as they normally do but the final shot was lacking and Italy survive.Russia were obviously not at their most fluent and for the first 20 minutes had no idea how to find a way round five Italians camped on the blueline. Despite outshooting Italy by 11-2, the Red Machine were booed off the ice.

The second period mirrored the first with Italy defending resolutely and Russia getting more and more frustrated at their failure to score. Italy in fact had the best chance of the period around the half way mark when Ansoldi broke away but Eremenko stonewalled him to make a big pad save. Again boos all around the stadium for the misfiring Russians. Muzzatti, having a stormer , was throwing his body in every direction to keep the \Russians at bay. The deadlock was finally broken on 34:16 after an unholy stramash in front of the Italian net with the puck hitting both posts and Kovalchuk eventually batting the puck home on the fourth rebound to change the boos to cheers. Italy had a 5 on 3 chance soon after this but the red defence was strong and safe. End of the period and a very relieved Russia went to the locker room 1-0 up.

Italy visibly tired in the third and a series of penalties including a 2 plus 10 for a check from behind for Trevisani put them behind the 8 ball for long periods. 53:35 gone and Russia got the insurance goal. A breakdown by Italy ended with a 2 on 1 break for Frolov and Kovalchuk. A quick one-two ended with Frolov neatly shooting the puck into the empty net with Muzzatti sprawling after Kovalchuk’s pass. Muzzatti was suffering from leg cramps towards the end and had to have treatment. The back up goalie was ready to come on but wild horses couldn’t drag him off the ice. The high scoring Kazan line of Morozov, Zaripov and Zinoviev finally got on the scoring sheet with 4 seconds left with Morozov getting his seventh goal of the competition. Final score Russia 3 Italy 0.

A plucky performance by Italy who gave it their all but still came up short and Russia advance to the quarterfinals with still to games to play.

RELEGATION GROUP

AUSTRIA 2 NORWAY 3 (after o/t)

The first period of this game was like watching paint dry and although there were 14 shots on goal, none of the troubled the scorer. Setzinger went closest for Austria when he charged down the left and shot, only to see it easily stopped by Grotnes. Norway also only had one decent chance when Nygard had a point blank chance which was stopped by Divis.

Norway had chances to open the scoring early in the second with a long 5 on 3 chance but never really troubled Divis. Austria took the lead at 29:19 on the powerplay. Tratting won a face off and Philipp Lukas delivered the puck to the point where his brother Robert hit a quick shot on goal. Grotnes lost the puck through traffic as it nestled behind him. Norway scored on a powerplay of their own at 32:19. On a seldom seen 4 on 1 rush, Anderson carried the puck and passed to Trygg whose shot was saved by Divis only to watch as Andersen swept the rebound home. 1-1.

There was a long delay shortly later when Canadian referee Pellerin was levelled by Daniel Welser. After quite some time on the ice, he recovered to continue his work.

Norway got their noses in front with just under 3 minutes left in the period again on the powerplay. Morten Ask hit a shot from the point and it went in off the skate of Bastiansen in front of goal. End of the period and 2-1 to Norway.

Austria equalised at 42:26 with the games 4th powerplay . A wrister from Lakos was blocked by Grotnes but the rebound fell toDaniel Welser to score . The game flowed end to end for the rest of the period but with no further goals, the game went to overtime.

The Norwegian fans went wild with only 2:22 gone in overtime when Morten Ask scored the winner. Trygg forced the puck from behind the net and Divis lost sight of the puck. Ask reacted first and swept the puck home for the winner.

A deserved win for Norway as yet again individual mistakes by Austria cost them dearly.

LATVIA 5 UKRAINE 0

Latvia proved too strong for Ukraine in this relegation round battle and its Latvia who have early advantage in the group.

Latvia came out strong and pinned Ukraine back behind their own blue line. It took them till 8:58 to take the lead when Cipulis hit a slapshot that Seliverstov could only have heard whistle past him. Ukraine, much like their previous games, could not keep out of the penalty box and Latvia scored at 17:22 on one of those powerplays. Vasilijevs passed to Galvins who fired a low slapshot on goal. This was well saved by Seliverstov but the rebound was struck home by Saviels to give the Latvians a 2-0 lead going into the first break.

The second period was the Oleg Sorokins show as Latvia’s leading scorer marked twice . The first came after only 1:15 of the period had gone when he mazily skated into the Latvian zone past four defenders before slotting home his first goal of the competition. His second came with 34:44 on the powerplay as he backhanded the puck past the goalie. Latvia were in complete control and the Ukrainians couldnot muster any penetrative offence at all in the period and Latvia went in 4-0.

Ukraine actually outshot Latvia in the third by 9 shots to 8 but never really troubled Masalskis in the Latvian goal. It was left to Redlihs to finish the scoring on 47:00 and wrap up a convincing win for Latvia against the poorest side in the competition.

More 2nd round and relegation round action tomorrow with the top game being the Czech Republic against neighbours and former countrymen Slovakia.

See you tomorrow

Tambo