Avangard wins first tournament of the summer

The final day’s play at the Sochi Hockey Open began with Avangard defeating Admiral to secure top spot in the tournament. There was also a first win for HC Sochi, and SKA wrapped up the competition by defeating Russia U25s.

In Magnitogorsk, the Romazan Memorial Trophy started with Traktor enjoying a 4-1 win over the host, while Vityaz thumped Spartak 8-0 in an exhibition game.

Liga Stavok Sochi Hockey Open: Avangard gets over the line

Avangard Omsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (1-0, 0-0, 2-2)

Avangard wrapped up its tournament in Sochi with victory over Admiral in its final game. That’s enough to ensure victory for the Hawks after their win over SKA on Sunday.

However, head coach Dmitry Ryabykin was not all that excited even though his team took top spot beside the Black Sea. “We didn’t play all that well, even though we got the result,” he said. “In terms of confidence, winning this tournament doesn’t make much difference. The main thing is that the team plays the kind of hockey we’re setting up for. I didn’t much like our game today.”

Ryabykin rested several key players for this game. Reid Boucher, Corban Knight and Arseny Gritsyuk were all omitted, while Vladimir Tkachyov reported an injury and missed out. That left a top line of Sergei Tolchinsky with Alex Broadhurst and Alexander Gorshkov.

Avangard made hard work of defeating Admiral. Fyodor Malykhin got the only goal of the first period, but the Sailors hung around in the game and tied the scores early in the third on a Vadim Khlopotov marker. Only then did Avangard raise its game, opening a 3-1 lead thanks to quick goals from Timofei Davydov and Sergei Tolchinsky. Even so, Admiral battled to the end and got a last-second consolation from Semyon Ivanov.

HC Sochi 5 Dinamo Minsk 3 (1-0, 0-2, 4-1)

Tournament host HC Sochi saved the best until last to record its first victory of the competition. A strong third period gave the Leopards the verdict over Dinamo and restored some pride after a difficult start to the event.

With little riding on the game following Avangard’s win, Craig Woodcroft rang the changes for Dinamo. The new-look Bison struggled to make much of an impression in the first period and trailed to Artur Tyanulin’s goal at the intermission.

The visitor perked up in the middle stanza and took the lead on goals from Pavel Varfolomeyev and Shawn Lalonde. However, Sochi was not to be denied this time. Three unanswered goals in the first 11 minutes of the final frame put the Leopards in charge, with Tyanulin potting his second of the game and fifth of the tournament.

Dinamo pulled goalie Alexei Kolosov with more than three minutes left, and pulled a goal back in 6-on-5 play. But a penalty on Varfolomeyev halted the recovery and Nikita Feoktistov’s empty net goal sealed the deal for Sochi.

SKA St. Petersburg 5 Russia U25s 1 (0-0, 2-0, 3-1)

The final action of the Sochi Hockey Open could not affect the outcome, with Avangard already confirmed as champion. However, SKA ensured that it wrapped up its time in Sochi with another victory to finish level on points with the leader.

The first period was goalless, but SKA took control with quick goals early in the second. Marat Khairullin opened the scoring, then Maxim Tankov scored his first of the tournament to make it 2-0. Oddly enough, Tankov was part of the Russia U25 roster for much of this competition before return to his club for Tuesday’s game. His goal against his recent colleagues was his first in Sochi, but he had a hat-trick of assists in Sunday’s game for the national team.

The opening moments of the third period produced two more SKA goals, putting the game out of Russia’s reach. Khairullin potted his second of the game just 20 seconds after the restart, then Valentin Zykov added a fourth within a minute. Grigory Kuzmin pulled one back for the youngsters, but SKA had the final word with a last-minute goal from Ivan Mishchenko.

Romazan Memorial Trophy: Strong start for Traktor

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Amur Khabarovsk 0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0)

The 31^st edition of Russia’s oldest pre-season tournament got underway with Avtomobilist proving too strong for Amur.

The opening exchanges produced little danger at either end of the ice, but Johan Mattsson was called into action in the Yekaterinburg net midway through the first period when Amur assembled a dangerous power play. Igor Rudenkov, named as captain for this game, was the key playmaker as the Tigers flexed their claws with a man advantage.

However, they were unable to break the deadlock and Avtomobilist punished that wastefulness soon afterwards when Patrice Cormier redirected a Denis Barantsev point shot into the net. Midway through the second, Andrei Obidin doubled the lead and after that the Motormen comfortably controlled the closing stages to seal the win.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 Traktor Chelyabinsk 4 (0-0, 0-2, 1-2)

The star attraction was the evening game, when South Urals rivals Metallurg and Traktor went head-to-head. On this occasion, Traktor came out strongly on top in front of almost 4,000 spectators in Magnitogorsk.

After a goalless first period, Traktor went ahead at the start of the second. Pyotr Khokhryakov took advantage of a breakdown in the Metallurg defense and found himself one-on-one with debutant goalie Eddie Pasquale. Khokhryakov won that duel, and within a couple of minutes saw Traktor double its lead. Captain Sergei Kalinin squeezed home a shot from a tight angle to put the visitor in control.

Metallurg was unable to find a way back in the third, and Alexei Potapov extended the lead in the 55^th minute. The final moments saw the teams trade goals: Kalinin’s second, a short-handed effort, made it 4-0 before Denis Zernov’s power play tally gave Magnitka some late consolation.

Exhibition game: Vityaz runs riot at Spartak

Spartak Moscow 0 Vityaz Moscow Region 8 (0-1, 0-5, 0-2)

The biggest victory of pre-season so far goes to Vityaz, who scored eight unanswered goals on Spartak in Tuesday’s warm-up game.

The visitor had the initiative from the start. Spartak burned through a lot of energy while defending a 3-on-5 penalty kill and soon after that Vityaz took the lead thanks to captain Vladimir Galuzin.

The second period saw Vityaz pile up the goals. Ivan Zinchenko and Stepan Urulin scored 17 seconds apart and that double blow left Spartak reeling. The Red-and-Whites never recovered, and Alexander Yaremchuk, Vladislav Kara and Ilya Anufriyev extended the lead to 6-0 at the second break.

There was more to come. Anufriyev got his second of the day with a penalty shot before Vyacheslav Sarayev had the final say with goal number eight in the 59^th minute.