Captain Alexei Morozov scored his second goal in sudden-death overtime as Russia rallied to beat the Czech Republic 5-4 in the preliminary round of the World Ice Hockey Championships.
Morozov’s goal just over three minutes into the extra session spoiled a superb performance on Sunday by Czech forward Patrik Elias who had a hat trick at the Colisee arena.
The thrilling see-saw game featured four lead changes, seven power play goals and a Russian penalty shot in overtime.
In Group B action, Dany Heatley had a goal and three assists and Pascal Leclaire stopped 30 shots for the shutout as defending champions Canada cruised to a 7-0 win over Latvia at the Halifax Metro Centre arena.
The US defeated Slovenia 5-1 in the other Halifax game while Denmark rolled over Italy 6-2 in the late game Quebec City.
With the victory, Russia take over first place in Group D with five points in two games, one point ahead of the Czechs.
Konstantin Gorovikov, Kostantin Korneyev and Sergei Zinoviev also scored for Russia who outshot the Czechs 4-2 in the overtime.
Elias’ three goals all came on the power play. Buffalo Sabres forward Ales Kotalik added another power-play goal for the Czechs who blew two leads in the game (2-1, 4-3) and outshot the Russians 43-27.
Morozov capped off an exciting overtime frame, taking a drop pass from Zinoviev and firing it between the blocker of Czech goalie Milan Hnilicka and the far post.
The overtime started with Russia’s Ilya Kovalchuk being awarded a penalty shot after just 30 seconds when he was hauled down on a breakaway by Tomas Kaberle. But after some nifty stickhandling moves, Kovalchuk’s shot hit the left post and sailed into the corner.
The victory may have proved costly for Russia as starting goaltender Alexander Eremenko left the game with a suspected knee injury. Russia are now left with just one fit goalie because their third string goalie is also hurt, Bykov said.
Eremenko was replaced by backup Mikhail Biryukov and it seemed to spark the Russians as Morozov scored the first of his two goals just minutes later to give Russia a 3-2 lead.
In Halifax, Canada’s Rick Nash had two goals against Latvia and with his four points on Sunday, Dany Heatley surpassed current general manager Steve Yzerman for the all-time lead for Canada in World Championships.
Heatley is playing on a star-studded line with Anaheim Ducks Ryan Getzlaf and Columbus Blue Jackets Nash. The trio have 16 points two games so far.
Like Russia, Canada are also 2-0 after beating Slovenia 5-1 in their opening game.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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