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This U-18 Worlds hasn't been short of excitement from what I have been reading, what network is carrying these games, if any?
Americans downed by Russians in a barnburner
Russia erases multiple deficits to win 6-5
It was the second game of the night at the Urban Plains Center in Fargo, but the USA-Russia match-up was the big ticket yesterday and the two squads didn’t disappoint. And like the small contingency of their fans parked at center ice and bearing their nations colors, Team Russia had to fight through the American roar to earn a big win heading into the playoff round.
“That had to be an exciting game for the fans,“ Team USA head coach Ron Rolston said. “There was a lot of momentum shifts in the game. We were up. They were up. Then we tied it. There was just a lot of back and forth.”
Although, if you were going to predict the flow and outcome of entire game based on the first period alone, you’d say that Russia was in for a long night. They came out sloppy, lacking chemistry and were unable to generate a sizable attack. Noticing that things weren’t going well for their opponent, Team USA was able to build off the dysfunction by using a forecheck to go up early.
“We wanted to generate a forecheck on them,” Rolston said. “I thought when we did get it deep and generating some pressure, we were getting some of the pucks they were turning over and establishing some good offensive zone play.”
USA team captain William Wrenn got the Americans on the board when he scored on the power play. After moving the puck around the offensive zone, Cam Fowler slid Wrenn a pass as he waited at the top of the left circle. His shot hit off a Russian defender, which directed it past goalie Igor Bobkov for the 1-0 lead.
USA would increase their lead to 2-0, when Chris Brown slammed home a rebound from a Jason Zucker shot at the 15:00 mark.
After taking the first intermission to regroup, the Russians came out for the middle frame and slowly got things going.
They would break through, when Evgeni Kuznetsov took a long stretch pass and beat American goalie Adam Murray to make it 2-1.
Just over five minutes later, Russia went back to the stretch pass and found success. Vladimir Tarasenko snuck in behind the USA’s defense and was off to the races. He would beat Murray again to tie it up at 2-2.
"They're very good on the rush, quick transitions," USA forward John Henrion said. "I think as we were coming into our zone we were forcing plays, making dumb plays at the blue line instead of getting pucks deep and playing our game to our favor. They turned around at us and were coming down our throats and the pucks ended up in the back of the net."
On a roll and a power play, Russia struck for their third goal of the period as Kirill Kabanov scored to give them the 3-2 lead.
“During the second period, they took advantage of their bench position a couple times and snuck in behind us,” Rolston explained. “We expected that and knew what was coming.”
USA would come right back, as they knotted things up at three apiece before heading into the second intermission. Working with the man advantage, Jerry D’Amigo found Jeremy Morin, who beat Bobkov over the left shoulder with precision.
Team USA would get back to work as they opened the third period with another power-play goal. D’Amigo was working the puck behind the Russians net. As he emerged to Babkov’s right side, he hit Wrenn who activated from the point. In one fluid motion, Wrenn converted the setup for his second marker of the night to make it 4-3.
With the Russians' confidence building, they continued to pressure the Americans. It paid off when USA couldn’t get the puck out of their own end. Kabanov pinched it at the near sideboards and picked up a loose puck. He would draw Murray and get him to move from left to right. As the play continued to develop, Tarasenko slipped in on the weak side. As Murray committed to Kabanov, the Russian hit his streaking counterpart for the score, equaling things up at 4-4.
“Our coach said we must not get upset and that we have to try to do better,” Kabanov recalled. “He said we could do this.”
As the final period carried on, Russia poured on the pressure. As American defender Jon Merrill was working the puck up to center ice on the power play, he lost control of the biscuit. Like sharks reacting to blood hitting the water, Tarasenko scooped up the puck and raced in on Murray. He faked the USA netminder by kicking his right leg. As Murray reacted, Tarasenko slide the puck in on the backhand for the shorthanded goal to complete hat trick and give Russia the 5-4 lead.
Russia would get another power-play goal from Maxim Kitsyn at 16:11 of the third to increase their lead to 6-4.
Morin would draw USA within a goal -- his second of the night -- to make it 6-5, but time ran out on the host country.
“We gave them too many easy chances on breakaways, stretch passes,” Rolston said. “Then we make a mistake on the power-play breakout. They just got too many easy opportunities.”
Wrenn offered his perspective.
“I think everyone had the effort tonight, but we tried to play a rush game with them and we can’t do that. [The Russians] all skilled and fast. We needed to do is get it down low, work their defense and get them tired early. We basically didn’t do that.”
Bobkov made 50 stops on 55 USA shots for Russia.
"Our goalie helped us a lot and we capitalized on every chance we had," Tarasenko said. "It was a great team effort. It was very important for us to get this win so we know we can beat anyone in the tournament. We thank all the Russian fans who showed up to support us. It was great to see Russian people in the stands cheering for us."
Americans downed by Russians in a barnburner
Russia erases multiple deficits to win 6-5
It was the second game of the night at the Urban Plains Center in Fargo, but the USA-Russia match-up was the big ticket yesterday and the two squads didn’t disappoint. And like the small contingency of their fans parked at center ice and bearing their nations colors, Team Russia had to fight through the American roar to earn a big win heading into the playoff round.
“That had to be an exciting game for the fans,“ Team USA head coach Ron Rolston said. “There was a lot of momentum shifts in the game. We were up. They were up. Then we tied it. There was just a lot of back and forth.”
Although, if you were going to predict the flow and outcome of entire game based on the first period alone, you’d say that Russia was in for a long night. They came out sloppy, lacking chemistry and were unable to generate a sizable attack. Noticing that things weren’t going well for their opponent, Team USA was able to build off the dysfunction by using a forecheck to go up early.
“We wanted to generate a forecheck on them,” Rolston said. “I thought when we did get it deep and generating some pressure, we were getting some of the pucks they were turning over and establishing some good offensive zone play.”
USA team captain William Wrenn got the Americans on the board when he scored on the power play. After moving the puck around the offensive zone, Cam Fowler slid Wrenn a pass as he waited at the top of the left circle. His shot hit off a Russian defender, which directed it past goalie Igor Bobkov for the 1-0 lead.
USA would increase their lead to 2-0, when Chris Brown slammed home a rebound from a Jason Zucker shot at the 15:00 mark.
After taking the first intermission to regroup, the Russians came out for the middle frame and slowly got things going.
They would break through, when Evgeni Kuznetsov took a long stretch pass and beat American goalie Adam Murray to make it 2-1.
Just over five minutes later, Russia went back to the stretch pass and found success. Vladimir Tarasenko snuck in behind the USA’s defense and was off to the races. He would beat Murray again to tie it up at 2-2.
"They're very good on the rush, quick transitions," USA forward John Henrion said. "I think as we were coming into our zone we were forcing plays, making dumb plays at the blue line instead of getting pucks deep and playing our game to our favor. They turned around at us and were coming down our throats and the pucks ended up in the back of the net."
On a roll and a power play, Russia struck for their third goal of the period as Kirill Kabanov scored to give them the 3-2 lead.
“During the second period, they took advantage of their bench position a couple times and snuck in behind us,” Rolston explained. “We expected that and knew what was coming.”
USA would come right back, as they knotted things up at three apiece before heading into the second intermission. Working with the man advantage, Jerry D’Amigo found Jeremy Morin, who beat Bobkov over the left shoulder with precision.
Team USA would get back to work as they opened the third period with another power-play goal. D’Amigo was working the puck behind the Russians net. As he emerged to Babkov’s right side, he hit Wrenn who activated from the point. In one fluid motion, Wrenn converted the setup for his second marker of the night to make it 4-3.
With the Russians' confidence building, they continued to pressure the Americans. It paid off when USA couldn’t get the puck out of their own end. Kabanov pinched it at the near sideboards and picked up a loose puck. He would draw Murray and get him to move from left to right. As the play continued to develop, Tarasenko slipped in on the weak side. As Murray committed to Kabanov, the Russian hit his streaking counterpart for the score, equaling things up at 4-4.
“Our coach said we must not get upset and that we have to try to do better,” Kabanov recalled. “He said we could do this.”
As the final period carried on, Russia poured on the pressure. As American defender Jon Merrill was working the puck up to center ice on the power play, he lost control of the biscuit. Like sharks reacting to blood hitting the water, Tarasenko scooped up the puck and raced in on Murray. He faked the USA netminder by kicking his right leg. As Murray reacted, Tarasenko slide the puck in on the backhand for the shorthanded goal to complete hat trick and give Russia the 5-4 lead.
Russia would get another power-play goal from Maxim Kitsyn at 16:11 of the third to increase their lead to 6-4.
Morin would draw USA within a goal -- his second of the night -- to make it 6-5, but time ran out on the host country.
“We gave them too many easy chances on breakaways, stretch passes,” Rolston said. “Then we make a mistake on the power-play breakout. They just got too many easy opportunities.”
Wrenn offered his perspective.
“I think everyone had the effort tonight, but we tried to play a rush game with them and we can’t do that. [The Russians] all skilled and fast. We needed to do is get it down low, work their defense and get them tired early. We basically didn’t do that.”
Bobkov made 50 stops on 55 USA shots for Russia.
"Our goalie helped us a lot and we capitalized on every chance we had," Tarasenko said. "It was a great team effort. It was very important for us to get this win so we know we can beat anyone in the tournament. We thank all the Russian fans who showed up to support us. It was great to see Russian people in the stands cheering for us."
