Metallurg wins Romazan Memorial

An overtime victory over Salavat Yulaev saw Metallurg win its home tournament this summer. Andrei Razin’s men finished with four wins from four games, pushing Ufa into second place. In Moscow, Dynamo secured its place in the Mayor’s Cup final with a 5-2 win over Avtomobilist. The Blue-and-Whites will play Dinamo Minsk tomorrow for the title. Lokomotiv missed the chance to wrap up the Blinov Cup, losing in a shoot-out to host club Avangard.

Romazan Memorial

Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 OT (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0)

Daniil Vovchenko’s overtime goal saw Magnitka claim the Romazan Memorial trophy for the 15th time. His effort saw off Salavat Yulaev, which nonetheless finished second despite today’s loss.

After an overtime loss to Amur, Ufa was a point behind Magnitka but could still win the cup with victory on Saturday. Viktor Kozlov recalled his big hitters: Sheldon Rempal and Vadim Shipachyov were back on the first line; Jack Rodewald, Devin Brosseau and goalie Semyon Vyazovoi also returned.

That strengthened roster enjoyed the better of the early exchanges. Metallurg was held to just two attempts on Vyazovoi’s net in the goalless opening frame. And early in the second, Salavat Yulaev’s dominance was rewarded when Prokhor Korbit’s one-timer opened the scoring. However, Metallurg managed to tie the game close to the second intermission when Alexander Siryatsky’s stretch pass sent Ruslan Iskhakov clear to make it 1-1.

A short-handed goal put Metallurg ahead in the 47th minute. Nikita Korotkov forced a turnover and after his two-on-one rush was thwarted, Magnitka managed to keep the play alive and Vladislav Provolnev found the net. Ufa had to kill another penalty, but soon after Danil Alalykin returned to the game he made it 2-2.

That sent the game to overtime, and Vovchenko settled it after three minutes. He took the play down the wing and fired a trademark wrist shot past Vyazovoi to claim the trophy.

Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 Lada Togliatti 3 (0-1, 1-0, 0-2)

Traktor’s unhappy pre-season continued with defeat against Lada leaving Scott Gordon’s team rooted to the foot of the tournament standings. The Motormen had allowed 12 goals in their previous two games – both 5-6 losses – but tightened the defense today and limited Traktor to a single marker.

That went to Ivan Vydrenkov early in the second period, cancelling out an opener from Nikita Mikhailov just before the intermission.

The game remained tied until the start of the third, when Andrei Chivilyov restored Lada’s lead. And Rasim Shakirov’s empty-netter with two to play seal the win. Lada finishes the tournament in third, Traktor has just one victory from its pre-season engagements.

Blinov Cup

Sibir Novosibirsk 6 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 (3-0, 3-1, 0-2)

An entertaining game to open Saturday’s play in Omsk brought Sibir a victory that preserves its chances of winning the Blinov Cup. Yaroslav Lyuzenkov rested Evgeny Kuznetsov, Darren Dietz and Stepan Nikulin, and lost starting goalie Anton Krasotkin to injury inside 10 minutes.

Neftekhimik, which enjoyed a convincing win over Severstal yesterday, turned to several fringe players for this game. After the first two periods, which saw Sibir get up 6-1, it looked like that decision might lead to an embarrassing result. However, an improvement in the third made the final score at least somewhat respectable.

The opening stages saw the Wolves on top, helped by an early power play. But after Krasotkin was replaced by Mikhail Berdin, Sibir managed to get ahead. Mikhail Orlov opened the scoring in the 12th minute, and 46 seconds later Ilya Fedotov doubled the lead. A power play saw Sergei Popov make it 3-0 before the first intermission.

In the middle frame, the teams played at a lower pace for 13 minutes. But when Sibir got a five-on-three power play, Anton Kosolapov added a fourth. The penalty continued, and Neftekhimik managed to grab a shorthanded goal through Matvei Nadvorny. But now the goals were coming thick and fast. Fedotov quickly got his second of the game, redirecting Nikita Smirnov’s shot, then Smirnov himself made it 6-1 before the second break.

The game was gone, but Neftekhimik regained some pride in the third. Nikita Popugayev converted the rebound from his own shot early in the session. Then, in the 56th minute, Nikita Khoruzhev pulled back another to make the final score 6-3.

Avangard Omsk 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1 SO (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

The Hawks got their first win of their home tournament, and in the process prevented Lokomotiv from clinching the Blinov Cup with a game to spare.

A shoot-out winner from youngster Gleb Burlaka, the only one of six players to convert his post-game attempt, was enough to give Guy Boucher a much-needed win after losses against Sibir and Severstal. Lokomotiv’s point keeps it clear at the top, but it needs to beat Severstal in tomorrow’s game to secure the trophy.

This game got off to a spectacular start. Loko got on the power play in the first minute and Artur Kayumov opened the scoring on 1:33. Another penalty on Avangard brought another goal, but this time the host tied it up with a shorthanded effort from Yegor Afanasyev less than two minutes after the opener.

But then the scoring stopped. The rest of the game proved goalless, with neither Nikita Serebryakov nor Daniil Isayev beaten until the last of the penalty shots got past the Yaroslavl netminder.

There were still plenty of penalties – 12 in all by the second intermission, culminating in a slew-footing call on Andrew Poturalski on 39:40. Lokomotiv failed to convert that major penalty, and there were no further calls in the game.

The result keeps the tournament wide open. Severstal still has a shot at winning it. If it beats Lokomotiv tomorrow, that would set up a winner-takes-all showdown against Sibir on Monday. Loko can finish the job by beating Severstal. Avangard is unable to finish on top, but will hope to end with another victory against Neftekhimik tomorrow.

Mayor of Moscow Cup

Dynamo Moscow 5 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 (2-0, 3-0, 0-2)

Former Dynamo head coach Alexei Kudashov faced his ex-colleagues for the first time with Avtomobilist – but it wasn’t a happy return. The teams were playing for a place in tomorrow’s tournament decider, but this contest was effectively over at the start of the second period.

Kudashov replaced goalie Evgeny Alikin with Vladimir Galkin, but otherwise kept the same team that thrashed Shanghai Dragons in its opening game here. Leonids Tambijevs handed a debut to his new defenseman Luca Profaka and preferred Mikhail Melikov to Nikita Tertyshny on the third line.

Dynamo dominated the opener frame. Smooth skating and chance creating, the Blue-and-Whites had five golden opportunities to score. Two of them went in: the opener went to Yegor Rimashevsky midway through the frame after a scramble in front of Galkin’s net; the second saw Igor Ozhiganov convert Daniil Pylenkov’s feed during a passage of four-on-four play.

The Muscovites began the second period on the power play. Helped with an opening face-off in Avtomobilist territory, it took Rimashevsky just two seconds to get his second of the night. There was more to come as Artyom Bondar set up Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi for the fourth before Melikov made it 5-0 after Dylan Sikura’s looping pass took him beyond the defense.

In the third period, Tambijevs opted to give young goalie Ilya Podsukha some game time in place of Maxim Motorygin. The new netminder immediately faced a penalty kill and Anatoly Golyshev pulled a goal back for Avtomobilist. In the last minute Daniel Sprong got a second for the Motormen, converting a five-on-three power play, but there was no way back for Kudashov’s team.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Shanghai Dragons 7 (3-0, 0-4, 0-3)

Following an overtime loss to Dynamo, Torpedo turned to its prospects for the game against Shanghai – and experienced the highs and lows of young players in senior hockey.

By the ninth minute, 18-year-old forward Viktor Fyodorov had two goals, both assisted by Michael Vecchione following the American’s arrival from Barys. Another 18-year-old, Artyom Matyuk, made it 3-0, with a helper from Sergei Skvortsov, 17.

But the Dragons, heavily beaten by Avtomobilist in their opener, found a way back. Despite the absence of leading forwards Dmitrij Jaskin and Nic Petan, Mitch Love’s team scored four goals in 10 second-period minutes to turn the game around. The power play clicked: 1+1 for David Chen, 0+2 for Calen Addison. At equal strength, goals from Stepan Khripunov and Tahir Mingachyov put the Dragons in front.

Early in the third, Shanghai padded its lead with two quick goals to put the game beyond Torpedo. Yegor Solovyov potted the fifth, then Barulin got his second of the night. Turner Ottenbreit completed the scoring as the Dragons found their fire at last.

Spartak Moscow 1 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (0-0, 0-2, 1-0)

Ak Bars took a 2-1 verdict over Spartak to secure third place in Group B and a playoff for fifth place in tomorrow’s concluding day in the capital.

In a goalless first period, Ak Bars was closest to breaking the deadlock when Alexander Chmelevsky dinged the crossbar. The Tatars began the second period on the power play after a skirmish involving Nikita Kholodilin, Sergei Lukyantsev and Dmitry Katelevsky. But that, too failed to produce a goal.

The breakthrough came in the 33rd minute when a strong forecheck won back possession behind the net. Nikita Yevseyev’s shot from mid-range was blocked, but the rebound went to Artyom Galimov to make it 1-0. And Katelevsky doubled the lead four minutes later, banging home a one-timer after Alexei Pustozyorov found him in space in the right-hand circle.

Midway through the third period, Max Comtois pulled a goal back for Spartak after good work from Mikhail Maltsev on the left. That was Spartak’s first marker of the tournament following a 0-4 loss to CSKA in its opener. But it was not enough to spark a fightback. Ak Bars closed out the remaining 10 minutes to take a 2-1 verdict.

Tomorrow’s final day sees four games. Torpedo faces Spartak in the seventh-place playoff, Shanghai Dragons take on Ak Bars for fifth. The bronze medal game sees CSKA play Avtomobilist before Dynamo Moscow and Dinamo Minsk battle it out for the trophy.