KHL World Team makes international debut

Thursday saw the start of the 2024 Channel 1 Cup. The four-team international tournament at the SKA Arena in St. Petersburg featured a KHL World Team for the first time. The roster, coached by Mike Keenan and comprising 28 top imports, faced a Russian national team in its opening game and fell to a 1-4 loss. Earlier, Belarus defeated Kazakhstan 3-1.

SKA stars make the difference

Russia 25 4 KHL World Team 1 (0-0, 3-0, 1-1)

The KHL World Team made its first appearance in the evening game in St. Petersburg – but faced something of a baptism of fire against the Russian roster in the competition. Russia 25, a development roster with an average age of around 25 years, took charge of the game in the second period and skated to a 4-1 victory over the freshly minted World Team.

If the final score was not as close as might have been hoped, there was no shortage of entertainment for the 21,400 fans who came to the world’s biggest hockey arena to see the game. From the opening exchanges, both teams looked to play exciting hockey. Home fans enjoyed the efforts of an all-SKA line – Grigory Kuzmin, Mikhail Grigorenko and Marat Khairullin – who played with a sense of greater chemistry than might be expected from a trio that seldom ices together in the KHL.

At the other end, the old rivalry between Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev was temporarily set aside. Ufa duo Nathan Todd and Alexander Chmelevski joined Kazan’s Nic Petan and created chances to open the scoring for the World Team. However, solid goaltending from Ilya Nabokov, and especially Kunlun Red Star’s hard-working Jeremy Smith, kept the game goalless through the intermission.

That SKA combination eventually forced the breakthrough. Early in the second period, Khairullin opened the scoring, taking on Alexander Yelesin’s stretch pass and skating away to beat Smith at last. Then came a power play goal for Grigorenko to double the lead before the two goalscorers combined to set up Yelesin for the third.

After 19 saves in the first period, Smith allowed three goals off 13 shots in the second and made way for Patrik Rybar during the intermission. The World Team had not generated much offense through 40 minutes, but a power play at the start of the final frame offered some hope, and after returning to equal strength an odd-man rush involving Frederik Gauthier and Dmitrij Jaskin tested Nabokov.

Rybar kept his goal intact until the 52nd minute when Ilya Safonov added a fourth for Team Russia. But the World Team had something to cheer in the final seconds when Admiral captain Libor Sulak potted a late consolation goal. It couldn’t change the final outcome, but it did deprive Nabokov of his shut-out.

Third-period flourish gives Belarus the win

Belarus 3 Kazakhstan 1 (0-1, 0-0, 3-0)

In the opening game of the tournament, Team Belarus came from behind to defeat Kazakhstan in the third period. The Kazakhs came to Petersburg with a roster largely comprised of players from their national championship. Goalie Andrei Shutov (Barys), defenseman Dmitry Breus (Torpedo) and forward Oleg Boiko (Barys) were the only current KHLers on the team.

Against a Belarusian line-up that draws heavily on Dinamo Minsk, plus other active KHL players, there was a danger that Kazakhstan would find itself overmatched. However, a cautious first period suited Oleg Bolyakin’s men well: few shots at either end, but an opening goal from Alexander Borisevich separated the teams. After the intermission, Belarus stepped it up but could not find a way past Shutov.

However, it all changed in the third period. Vitaly Pinchuk, who leads Dinamo with 14 goals this season, tied the game in the 45th minute. Four minutes later he struck again, this time on the power play, and Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team got in front for the first time in the game. A 54th-minute effort from Vadim Moroz wrapped up the verdict.