Channel 1 Cup: winning start for Russia and Belarus
The 2023 Channel 1 Cup visits St. Petersburg for the first time. SKA Arena saw Belarus start it off with a win over Kazakhstan, before Russia 25 shot down at VHL Stars team 5-2 in the later game.
Fast start leaves Kazakhs struggling
Belarus 6 Kazakhstan 2 (3-0, 1-2, 2-0)
The opening game of the Channel 1 Cup brought a convincing victory for Belarus. A strong start saw three unanswered goals in the first nine minutes and after that there was no way back for Kazakhstan.
The Belarusians are coached by Konstantin Koltsov at this tournament, with Dmitry Kvartalnov remaining home to work on his “day job” behind the bench at Dinamo Minsk. That also impacts the Belarusian roster in Petersburg, which features fewer Bison than usual. Dinamo is not exactly under-represented, with 10 players on the national team. However, this is less of a “one club” roster than Kazakhstan, where 24 of the long list come from Barys or its farm club Nomad.
Nonethless, it was the Dinamo connection that made the early breakthroughs. Nikita Pyshkailo opened the scoring after three minutes, Andrei Stas soon doubled the lead and a power play goal saw Ilya Sushko make it 3-0 on 8:21. When Avangard’s Igor Martynov added a fourth early in the second period, Kazakhstan head coach Galym Mambetaliyev swapped his goalies, sending Nikita Boyarkin to replace Andrei Shutov.
That change seemed to help a little. Kazakhstan pulled a couple of goals back in the second period through Maxim Musorov and Alikhan Omirbekov. But Belarus was unruffled, extending its lead on tallies from Evgeny Lisovets (Admiral) and Pavel Denisov (Severstal) to complete a convincing win as it begins its defense of last year’s title.
SKA connection powers Russian win
Russia 25 5 VHL Stars 2 (0-0, 1-1, 4-1)
The second game of the day saw Team Russia take on a line-up representing the second-tier VHL. At least, to some extent.
The Russian roster was always designed to test potential candidates for a future fully-fledged national team. As such, the Russian Hockey Federation determined that the average age of the team should be under 25, hence the “Russia 25” designation. VHL Stars, meanwhile, draws heavily on young players from the VHL but also has a smattering of KHL prospects. Arseny Gritsyuk, 22, is the best-known of these: Gagarin Cup winner, Olympic silver medallist and a KHL regular with Avangard and now SKA, he was originally destined to play for Russia 25 until injuries robbed the VHL team of a bunch of key forwards. The teams are coached by men from the SKA organization. Roman Rotenberg takes charge of R25, while the VHL Stars are under the guidance of Nikolai Voyevodin of SKA-Neva and the Russian Junior national team.
As expected, Russia 25 had the better of the game for long stretches. However, it was unable to force a breakthrough in a goalless first period. Then, early in the second, VHL Stars took the lead on Gleb Petrov’s 27th-minute marker. Despite the KHL experience on the team, the opening goal was created by genuine VHL stars: AKM’s Petrov was assisted by Matvei Kabush of SKA-Neva and Bars defenseman Vsevolod Almetkin.
The senior team responded with a goal midway through the game from SKA’s Vasily Glotov. He made the most of a great set-up from Prokhor Poltapov, whose feed sent him beyond the defense. Then, at the start of the third, Russia 25 went in front through another SKA man, Mikhail Vorobyov after club-mate Sergei Tolchinsky jumped on a loose puck to create the chance.
That triggered a cascade of goals, with CSKA’s Maxim Sorkin and SKA’s Marat Khairullin – at 27, one of the “veterans” on Russia 25’s team – stretching the lead to 4-1 in the 43rd minute. Midway through the final frame, a power play for VHL Stars saw Matvei Zaseda, who has divided this season between Spartak and Khimik Voskresensk, pull a goal back. But there was no doubt about the final outcome and Khairullin finished the job with an empty-net goal to get the Russians off to a winning start.
