Russia misses out against Canada

Russia’s World Championship campaign ended in disappointment after an overtime loss against Canada knocked Valery Bragin’s team out at the quarter-final stage. For the first time in the tournament, Russia failed to win after scoring first and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s first game in this year’s competition proved to be his last. Canada goes on to face the USA in Saturday’s semi-final, while Finland will take on Germany in the other match-up.

Canada squeezes Russia out

Russia 1 Canada 2 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-1)

Canada pulled off an overtime victory over Russia in Thursday’s World Championship quarter-final, denying Valery Bragin’s team a shot at a medal game.

Photo: 03.06.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Russia - Canada

For many observers, this instalment of the great trans-Atlantic hockey rivalry was tilted in Russia’s favor. The Canadians limped through the group stage and had a roster with fewer big names than usual, raising hopes that Russia could snap its three-game World Championship skid against Canada in World Championship play.

But, as Mikhail Grigorenko warned ahead of the game, Canada is still Canada. And the first period of this game was an evenly-matched battle. The tempo was fast, the action was relentless, but clear-cut chances were hard to conjure. The best Canadian opportunity came in the 14th minute when a turnover in center ice saw Sergei Bobrovsky — pitched in for a debut despite the impressive form of Alexander Samonov in Riga — forced to face down Adam Henrique’s solo breakaway.

Russia also had chances, and Vladimir Tarasenko came closest of all right before the intermission as his team looked to convert the first power play of the night. However, as he surged down the left and went short side, his shot flashed just wide.

The breakthrough came in the second and, unsurprisingly in such a tight game, followed a defensive lapse. Michael Bunting lost track of Dmitry Orlov in the Canadian zone, enabled the Capitals’ defenseman to get a shot away. The rebound fell to Evgeny Timkin, who made no mistake.

Unfortunately, in a game when Russia needed its offense to dominate, this was the highlight

“Obviously, one goal isn’t enough to win,” said team captain Anton Slepyshev. “We talked about how we needed to play simpler, go to the net more, but we were too timid in that aspect of the game.”

At the other end, Canada wasn’t done. A power play early in the third enabled Adam Henrique to tie the game. Russia continued to have chances, with an eye-catching solo rush from Orlov

The game went to overtime, and Canada grabbed the winner. Andrew Mangiapane, who joined the team when it was 0-and-3, was the scorer but the key contribution was Troy Stecher’s storming move into the Russian zone and away from Nikita Nesterov before delivering the puck to Mangiapane’s tape.

That beat Bobrovsky, whose World Championship ends after a solitary game, and left Russia out of the medals for the second time in three championships.

“All of Russia is disappointed,” reflected Bobrovsky after the game. “Everybody gave their all to win, and it’s really sad to lose in overtime. But for a lot of our young guys, this was their first World Championship and that’s an irreplaceable experience. The guys gave everything they had, but that’s hockey.”

Head coach Bragin summed up his team’s performance, and admitted that the pre-game plan didn’t work out. 

“Before the game we talked about playing active, fast, aggressive hockey,” Bragin said. “We tried and at times we managed it, but other times not. You get games like that, where things don’t work out. The big thing was that the opposition played defensively, almost without errors. We couldn’t break down that defense, then in overtime we allowed the goal.”

Finns edge into final four

Finland 1 Czech Republic 0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-0)

Two years ago in Slovakia, the Finns battled their way to gold on the back of rock-solid defense. And the signs are that Jukka Jalonen’s team could do it again here after grinding out a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic in this quarter-final.

The decisive goal came midway through the game from Jere Innala, with Iiro Pakarinen and Petri Kontiola assisting.

Pakarinen, who will continue with Jokerit next season, said: “I just saw the shot there and Jere was on the rebound. It was a great goal for him.”

Finland goes on to play Germany in the semi-final, having already defeated ... in the group stage. 

“They play hard hockey, they play simple hockey,” Pakarinen added. “We just have to defend well and play better in the O-zone.”

For the Czechs, captain Jan Kovar said: “It was a one-goal game, and they scored the one goal. We had a couple of chances but didn’t score and now it’s over.”

Slovakia can’t match USA

USA 6 Slovakia 1 (3-0, 1-1, 2-0)

Slovakia’s hopes of a medal were extinguished in the first period of this quarter-final meeting. The Americans hit three unanswered goals, with leading scorer Conor Garland on target again.

Photo: 03.06.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. USA - Slovakia

Garland would finish the game with two goals, matched by Colin Blackwell as team USA produced an impressive performance.

“We got off to a bad start,” said Marek Hrivik, who will be joining Torpedo for the coming season. “Our plan was to come out hard and put pressure on them and it didn’t work out. They scored a couple quick goals and it’s hard to come back against a good team like that.”

The Americans advance to the medal rounds in good form after topping Group B and are hoping to win gold at a stand-alone World Championship for the first time since 1933.

Thrilling win for Germany

Switzerland 2 Germany 3 SO (1-0, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)

A last-minute goal for Germany denied Switzerland a place in the semi-finals, and Marcel Noebels potted the shoot-out winner to send the Germans through.

Switzerland moved into a 2-0 lead in this game with goals from Ramon Untersander and Fabrice Herzog, but Germany cut the gap late in the second period thanks to Tom Kuhnhackl. It seemed that the Swiss would hold on, but in the last minute 22-year-old defenseman Leon Gawanke tied the scores and sent the game to overtime.

The extras did not generate much excitement, but Noebels, who shrugged off a shoulder injury from the game against Latvia to play in this one, settled it for Germany by emulating Peter Forsberg’s Olympic gold-winning shoot-out play. Forsberg’s goal ended up on a Swedish postage stamp — if Germany goes on to win its first ever World Championship gold, will Noebels follow suit?