Russia edges Czechs, Latvia stuns Canada

The 2021 IIHF World Championship started with a bang. The opening game saw Russia snatch a dramatic last-minute winner against the Czech Republic, then the evening action brought a sensational result as host nation Latvia stunned Canada with a 2-0 verdict in Riga. Belarus, though, struggled in its game against Slovakia and went down 2-5.

Grigorenko grabs late winner

Russia 4 Czech Republic 3 (1-1, 1-1, 2-1)

A goal 19 seconds from the hooter gave Russia a winning start in the opening game of the 2021 World Championship. Mikhail Grigorenko snapped a 3-3 tie when he raced away with Ivan Provorov’s long pass and skated through to find Simon Hrubec’s top corner.

However, Grigorenko admitted that he wasn’t certain he had potted the game winner after firing in his shot. 

“The Czechs went to make the change, Provorov picked me out and I skated into the zone and fired at the far corner,” the former CSKA forward said. “I didn’t even realise that I’d scored — I heard the puck ding off the bar and thought it went out of play, but everyone skated over to congratulate me.”

After a 0-4 to the Czechs in Prague last weekend, Russia had a point to prove. Today’s action was far more competitive. The Red Machine led three times, the Czechs responded to each goal, but that late strike sealed the win.

The first power play of the game brought the opening goal when Anton Burdasov celebrated his World Championship debut by rifling home an effort from the top of the circle. However, the Czechs responded to level the scores midway through the opening frame when a breakaway ended with Jakub Flek squeezing a shot under Alexander Samonov’s arm and just over the line.

Photo: 21.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Russia - Czech Republic

For Samonov, part of a goaltending stable that was criticized in Prague, it was an inauspicious start to his first IIHF campaign. But the SKA man grew into his role and finished the game netting the prize for the best player on his team. 

Head coach Valery Bragin paid tribute to his performance: “Alexander played a good game. He allowed three goals, but he made some big saves as well. We worked with him all year and he got great experience of international play, so we were happy to start with him.”

The teams traded goals in the second period, with a failure on the Czech power play enabling Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi to grab a shorthanded tally for Russia, only for Jakub Vrana’s solo breakaway to tie it up before the second intermission. There was a further blow for Russia early in the stanza when Konstantin Okulov left the game nursing an injury after a collision with David Musil. Okulov will miss tomorrow’s game against Great Britain with a suspected collarbone injury. Playoff MVP Sergei Tolchinsky is poised to join the team after missing out today.

The third followed a similar pattern. Russia again went ahead, this time through Alexander Barabanov. But the Czechs hit back in the 58th minute when Dominik Kubalik’s shot was deflected into the net by the unfortunate Artyom Zub. It looked liked we were destined for overtime, but Grigorenko’s late goal changed everything.

Latvia stuns top seed

Canada 0 Latvia 2 (0-1, 0-1, 0-0)

Latvia caused a sensation in the opening game of the tournament. The host nation was a huge outsider against Canada, a nation it had never defeated in 12 previous World Championship meetings, but a battling performance saw Bob Hartley’s men grab a famous victory. Goals from Miks Indrasis and Oskars Batna gave Latvia the win, and there was a heroic goaltending performance from Matiss Kivlenieks, who stopped 38 shots as Canada endured a rare failure to score.

Indrasis, a veteran servant for the national team, was the first-period hero with a buzzer beater on 19:58, punishing Gabriel Vilardi for his high-sticking foul. The Dinamo Riga forward received a pass from Ronalds Kenins, evaded the attentions of Jaret Anderson-Dolan and fired past Darcy Kuemper to stun the world #1.

“We knew that Canada didn’t play a lot together, so we wanted to take advantage,” Indrasis said after the game. “I think we played well, scored a couple of goals and it was enough to win the game.”

It was something of a smash and grab raid after Canada dominated the opening exchanges, but once in front Latvia began to compete more evenly with its highly-rated opponent in the second. Kuemper had to make another big save to deny Ralfs Freibergs, but he was powerless to keep out a delicate redirect from Oskars Batna off a Kenins shot.

In the third, as expected, Canada pushed hard to get back into the game. But at one end, Kivlenieks was in fantastic form. At the other, Latvia was close to extending its lead: Rodrigo Abols drew another fine saw from Kuemper, and in the final seconds Kaspars Daugavins hit the post when shooting at the empty net.

Latvia’s head coach Bob Hartley, fresh from leading Avangard to the Gagarin Cup, felt that getting the first goal was all important.

“We didn’t want to start chasing the game,” he said. “Canada have a bunch of kids, lots of young, promising, talented hockey players. And we knew that if they would get the lead, then the game might get faster.”

For Hartley, it was a victory against his homeland — but he insists that’s not uppermost in his thoughts.

“It’s always special to play against Canada because it’s my country,” he added. “But there’s no special feelings for me to beat my country. I think that I’ve done my job in representing Latvia. I’m their head coach and the only import in the group. I put my efforts into trying to help our players. I’m fortunate we have great leadership and I have great support from the Latvian Federation.”

The other game in Group B saw Germany defeat Italy 9-4.

Slovakia’s fast start sinks Belarus

Belarus 2 Slovakia 5 (0-3, 0-0, 2-2)

Belarus suffered a nightmare return to the elite pool, giving up three goals in the first 11 minutes of its game against Slovakia and eventually slipping to a 2-5 loss.

Severstal’s 21-year-old goalie Konstantin Shostak was given the start, but the youngster suffered a torrid time and allowed three goals from eight shots before he was replaced by Dinamo Minsk’s Danny Taylor, who many expected to be the starting goalie. Shostak was not entirely to blame: two of the goals followed a double minor on Mikhail Stefanovich for high-sticking. And Belarusian discipline was found wanting again late in the first frame when Nikita Komarov was ejected from the game for interference.

“We just took too many penalties,” lamented Belarusian captain Yegor Sharangovich after the game. “We weren’t ready for how the opponent was playing. The started very aggressively and were creating chances from the first shifts. Playing 5-on-5 we were OK, we had chances; if we score there, the game turns out different. But we couldn’t score until the end of the third.”

It took heroics from Taylor to keep the score at three, with a pad save from Martin Fasko-Rudic in particular heading straight to the highlight reel at the start of the second period. And with the goalie keeping the game alive at one end, Geoff Platt spurned a superb chance to get Belarus back into contention. The Salavat Yulaev forward did everything right to get Branislav Konrad on the ice, but slid the puck across the face of the empty net and wide.

Then Sharangovich did put the puck in the net, but the on-ice call was no goal due to concerns that Andrei Belevich encroached on Konrad’s crease. A prolonged video review upheld that decision and Belarus remained at 0-3 and head coach Mikhail Zakharov cut an increasingly frustrated figure behind the bench.

“Our player had one foot in the crease and as I understand it the IIHF has slightly different rules here, that’s not allowed,” added the forward.

There was a further review in the third period after Zakharov challenged a Marek Hrivik goal, hoping for an offside call to reprieve his team. However, the video showed no offside and the Torpedo newcomer opened his account for the tournament with a neat finish on Taylor. Making matters worse, Belarus was then hit with a bench penalty.

Late in the game, there were some signs of hope for Belarus. A 5-on-3 power play ended with Stefanovich pulling one back with an angled shot after Sergei Kostitsyn’s shot was padded away. Then, within a minute, Sharangovich capitalized on a misplaced pass to turnover possession and fire past Konrad.

Sharangovich then spurned a glorious chance to make it 3-4 with a minute to play. Belarus got a penalty shot after Marek Daloga threw his stick at the puck carrier. However, Konrad came up with the save to ease the pressure on his team. Moments later, a second goal for Peter Cehlarik into an empty net sealed Slovakia’s win.