Severstal wins Bashkortostan Cup

The big event on Monday was the conclusion of the Republic of Bashkortostan Cup. Going into the day’s action, three teams had a chance of taking the crown. However, Severstal came out on top thanks a victory over Magnitka. Salavat Yulaev’s success against Avtomobilist was not enough, because of the host club’s earlier loss to Severstal. In warm-up games, CSKA and Lokomotiv both enjoyed victories in their first engagements of the summer.

Republic of Bashkortostan Cup

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Severstal Cherepovets 6 (1-3, 0-2, 1-1)

Officially, this was a Metallurg team. In reality, though, it was the newly-formed VHL outfit, Magnitka, that took to the ice against Severstal. After losing two of its first three games and losing any hope of winning the cup, Metallurg decided to try out some of its prospects.

For Severstal this was no dead rubber. Victory would give Andrei Kozyrev’s team a chance of winning it all in Ufa. Not surprisingly, a strong roster went into this game.

There was an early shock for the KHL players: inside two minutes Alexei Fursa put Magnitka in front. However, it wasn’t long before Kirill Pilipenko tied the scores and after that Severstal took control. Yegor Stepanov made it 2-1 in the fifth minute, and Magnitka never seriously threatened after that.

Late in the opening frame, Adam Liska extended the lead. And Severstal’s captain had even more to enjoy in the second period when he completed his hat-trick with two short-handed goals.

That put the result beyond doubt with Severstal up 5-1. The final frame was exhibition stuff, with Igor Kozyachy getting a consolation effort for Metallurg before Pilipenko’s second of the game made the final score 6-2.

Salavat Yulaev Ufa 4 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (0-1, 1-0, 3-0)

After Severstal’s win in the early game, only Avtomobilist could clinch top spot with victory here. However, Ufa was unwilling to end its home tournament on a flat note and rallied to produce a solid win.

Both teams iced most of their leading players, although Salavat Yulaev opted to give the start to 21-year-old goalie Semyon Vyazovoi. He found himself under early pressure, taking a powerful Nick Ebert shot to his helmet and dealing with plenty of dangerous Avtomobilist moments. Eventually, the visitor got the goal its play deserved with Danil Romantsev finishing off a good move.

After that, though, Ufa began to assert itself. The home team tied the game in the second period thanks to Nathan Todd’s first for the club. He converted a Josh Leivo feed from behind the net to make it 1-1.

It wasn’t until the closing stages that Salavat Yulaev took control, however. Vladislav Yefremov was credited with the go-ahead goal on a 48th-minute power play. That effort, though, had far more to do with Jesse Blacker’s wildly misplaced attempt to clear; Yefremov was merely the last home player to touch the puck before the Avto D-man found his own net. Matvei Guskov gave Ufa some breathing space with eight to play and an empty net effort from Gleb Kuzmin finished the job.

Warm-up games

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 Kunlun Red Star 1 (1-0, 3-1, 0-0)

Loko’s first pre-season action at Arena 2000 saw Igor Nikitin test several young players. On the other side, Kunlun gave a start to Austin Ortega, who has joined the Dragons on a trial basis after terminating his contract with Admiral.

However, this wasn’t a great day for a Red Star forward to impress. Loko started well and opened the scoring in the fifth minute thanks to Denis Alexeyev. Early in the second, Martin Gernat doubled the lead with young Yegor Surin getting his second assist of the game.

Kunlun responded through Luke Lockhart, but never looked like salvaging the game. Instead, Lokomotiv added further scores from Alexei Kozhevnikov and Alexander Polunin to record a comfortable win.

Dinamo Minsk 2 CSKA Moscow 4 (1-2, 1-2, 0-0)

This was the first sight of the new-look CSKA under head coach Ilya Vorobyov. And, although it took some time to subdue a Dinamo Minsk outfit that is well into its pre-season program, the Muscovites duly delivered a win to mark the start of their new era.

The new CSKA is marked by Russian players who have returned from North America. Ivan Prosvetov started in goal, and there were debuts for several others, including Nikita Okhotyuk and Dmitry Samorukov on defense, plus forwards Denis Guryanov, Ruslan Iskhakov and Yegor Afanasyev.

Nonetheless, Dinamo struck first. Vadim Shipachyov set up Sergei Kuznetsov for the opening goal. CSKA responded midway through the first period thanks to Guryanov, and went ahead after Prokhor Poltapov conjured up a great chance for Maxim Sorkin.

Minsk tied it up thanks to Andrei Stas early in the second, but the Bison could offer no more after that. There was an element of fortune about the go-ahead goal, as Colby Williams batted the puck hopefully towards the net and benefitted from a deflection that deceived goalie Andrei Kareyev. Maxim Mamin added a fourth to seal the result.