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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS