Sedlak sinks SKA, Cehlarik opens his account. August 7
There were shut-out wins for Traktor and Avangard in today’s Sochi Hockey Open action, with Avtomobilist needing to take something from its game tomorrow to deny Traktor the prize.
Parimatch Sochi Hockey Open
Single strike downs SKA
Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 SKA St. Petersburg 0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0)
Traktor finished its schedule at the Sochi Hockey Open with a hard-fought win over SKA. Anvar Gatiyatullin named a team that was close to full strength, while his counterpart Valery Bragin rested several players, including captain Igor Ozhiganov.
Photo: 07.08.21. Sochi Hockey Open. Traktor (Chelyabinsk) - SKA (St.Petersburg)
The game proved to be even, with the only goal coming early on. Lukas Sedlak was the scorer, redirecting a point shot as it whistled through the slot. Roman Will secured Traktor’s second shut-out of the tournament and his team must now wait for the result of Avtomobilist’s game tomorrow against Russia U20 to find out if it will win the tournament.
Traktor head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin
We did what we came here to do. It was important to look at our partnerships and the state of the players. We saw all that, another stage of our preparation is complete. We’re going home to prepare for another tournament. Teemu Pulkkinen took an injury and couldn’t play today, so Alexei Byvaltsev replaced him on the first line.
SKA head coach Valery Bragin
It was an even game. They scored, and we didn’t. We’ll keep working, we know what we have to do. We looked at some new combinations, some things worked well, some didn’t. The power play is a delicate thing at the moment. We’re expecting Yaroslav Askarov to play for SKA in the tournament in Kazan.
Dubrovsky blanks host
HC Sochi 0 Avangard Omsk 2 (0-1, 0-1, 0-0)
Peter Cehlarik, one of the most impressive performers at the recent IIHF World Championship, potted his first goal for Avangard as Bob Hartley’s men picked up a second successive win beside the Black Sea. However, the host club had little to celebrate from its encounter with the Gagarin Cup holder, failing to score for the second time in four games here.
Photo: 07.08.21. Sochi Hockey Open. HC Sochi (Sochi) - Avangard (Omsk)
Cehlarik opened the scoring after 15 minutes. The Slovak forward collected a cross-ice pass from Corban Knight and fired over the shoulder of Magnus Hellberg to wrap up a perfectly played two-on-one rush. And the Hawks extended that lead in the second period when Francis Pare did a great job chasing down the home defense, forcing the error that enabled him to feed Sergei Tolchinsky for a second goal. At the other end, 21-year-old goalie Georgy Dubrovsky recorded a deserved shut-out. The youngster dressed four times in the KHL last season without getting on the ice.
Sochi head coach Evgeny Stavrovsky
The guys got away from our game plan. We handed them both the goals that they scored but midway through the second period we recovered and in the third we were able to play our hockey. Unfortunately, we suffered that old problem of not taking chances. We learned a lot in the tournament, we’ll mull it over, there are questions about where we can strengthen the roster. After all the hard work that we’ve put in, the guys skated pretty well.
Avangard head coach Bob Hartley
I thought our team skated well. We have a lot of new forwards and it’s important that they understand how we play on our special teams. I liked the way we played on the power play, Hellberg cost us another five goals. I like how our players are rising to their new roles. And that applies to the PK as well.
Warm-up games
Vityaz Moscow Region 1 Kunlun Red Star 5 (0-2, 1-1, 0-2)
Two goals from Tyler Wong led the way as the Dragons enjoyed a big win in Podolsk. Alexei Kovalev, stepping in for absent head coach Ivano Zanatta, used the same personnel as yesterday’s shoot-out loss against the same opposition; Yury Babenko changed up his players, handing a debut to Canadian center Daniel Audette and giving goalie Anton Todykov the start.
Red Star was first to show, with Wong opening the scoring on the power play after three minutes. Brandon Yip extended that lead before the intermission, but Vityaz got one back when Viktor Antipin scored his first for the club after the break. Alex Riche extended the visitor’s lead and the result was put beyond doubt with two goals in quick succession early in the third. Josh Nicholls made it 4-1 before Wong completed the scoring. There was some consolation for Vityaz as it came out on top in the overtime period and shoot-out that the teams had agreed to play regardless of the result in regulation.
Dynamo Moscow 1 Amur Khabarovsk 2 (0-2, 1-0, 0-0)
Vladimir Vorobyov, recently part of the coaching staff at Dynamo, returned to his former club as head coach of his new charges, Amur. He arrived with a team boasting an impressive power play — in their previous game, the Tigers scored three goals on three PPs to defeat Spartak. This time, they did it again in the first period, taking the lead when Vladislav Naumov redirected Danil Faizullin’s shot after Dynamo took its first penalty of today’s game. Faizullin was involved again as Amur increased its lead, with Alexander Gorshkov converting the rebound after Ivan Bocharov’s save.
Midway through the second period, Dynamo got a goal back on a power play of its own thanks to Eric O’Dell. But that was the end of the scoring as Amur picked up a narrow win.
