Highlights from the Russian coverage! YEAH!
The Super Series is a 6-game exhibition hockey tournament held annually between a team of Russian juniors and all-star teams from the three leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League (the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.) It has been held annually since 2003.
* There’s some future NHL Stars in this game – Russia has Nail Yakupov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Andrei Vasilevski in goal while the QMJHL has Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Huberdeau.
* There’s plenty of draft picks on every team in the series along with plenty of players that are draft eligible for 2013.
* Russia has won four in a row against the QMJHL in the Super Series
* The QMJHL changed their approach to this series by going with a top-6 for their top two lines and role players for the 3rd & 4th lines.
Drop the CLUTTERPUCK!!!
1st Period
* Nail Yakupov has a great feel for the game. Off a rebound of a Andrei Vasilevski save, Nail grabs the puck and sees or knows Alexander Khokhlachev is breaking up the center and he makes a quick, soft pass that Khokhlachev can skate into for a breakaway that ended with a save by Etienne Marcoux on a shot to his blocker side.
* The shot actually might have gone wide after looking at the replay.
* It’s cruel that Edmonton can get the #1 pick three years in a row and possibly have a forward line with all of them on it. Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupow on a line or at least on the power play could be fun for those Oiler fans.
* PENALTY – Karill Kapustin for Hooking at 3:33 of the 1st period – A bouncing puck gets past the Dillon Fournier giving Kirill Kapustin a chance but he’s too anxious to get around him and he ends up hooking him down for an easy call for the official.
* If Fournier doesn’t fall down, maybe that call isn’t made but Kapustin would’ve had a scoring chance out of that so the call pretty much had to be made
* BIG SAVE – Andrei Vasilevski on Cedric Paquette at 5:15 of the 1st period – A hit in the neutral zone leaves a loose puck for Anthony Manta to pick up heading into the left of the Russia zone for a 2-on-1 on the power play. Manta makes a pass to Cedric Paquette for a point-blank shot that Andrei Vasilevski saves but leaves a rebound. Paquette gets to that too but Vasilevski saves that as well.
* BIG HIT – Brent Andrews on Alexei Vasilevski at 8:45 of the 1st period – A slow dump in goes to Andrei Vasilevski. Andrei shovels it to his older brother Alexei Vasilevskii to the right of the net. Alexei goes behind the net and doesn’t see Brent Andrews coming. “Alexei, meet Brent! Alexei, meet the ice!” BOOM!!!
* GOAL – Mikhail Grigorenko from Anton Zlobin & Valentin Zykov at 9:45 of the 1st period – A bad drop pass by Nathan McKinnon coming up the right side turns into a quick transition and a 3-on-1 for the Russians. The drop pass was Ryan Culkin but it was in his feet and the puck got by him and Valentin Zykov was there to pick it up and quickly pass it up to Anton Zlobin going up the left side. Defenseman Xavier Ouellet tried to take away the pass but it got through to Mikhail Grigorenko with enough time for his to catch the pass and shoot it blocker side by Etienne Marcoux. RUSSIA 1-0!!!
* Xavier Ouellet might not have seen Grigorenko or he saw Jean-Sebastien Dea back checking and thought he’d get there to cover him but Ouellet probably should try to take away the pass a little more there.
* Defenseman Ryan Culkin joined in the offensive attack and Jean-Sebastien Dea didn’t cover for his d-man
* The drop pass has its place but it can turn into offense for the opposition more often than not.
* GOAL – Nail Yakupov unassisted at 10:04 of the 1st period – A poor clearing attempt by Ryan Tesink is sent up the middle of the ice where Nail Yakupov intercepts it and has the time to back up and take a low slap shot to the low left corner of the net. RUSSIA 2-0!!!
* The puck might not have left the ice on that shot which shows everyone that a low shot properly placed is a tough save for any goalie.
* Horrible attempt at clearing the zone. Never a great idea to go up the middle to clear the zone or pass through the middle while breaking out. If you do, it better be a hard pass or clearing attempt.
* PENALTY – Mikhail Naumenkov for Boarding on Francis Beauvillier at 13:53 of the 1st period – Francis Beauvillier is in the right corner of the Russian zone and he’s protecting the puck with his body and Mikhail Naumenkov hits him high for a boarding penalty.
* It wasn’t too bad of a hit and probably could’ve gone either way.
* PENALTY – Charles Hudon for Slashing on Nikita Nesterov at 17:26 of the 1st period – After some offense from the QMJHL team, the puck goes into the left corner to Nikita Nesterov and Charles Hudon reaches and slashes Nesterov in the forearm. Nesterov reacted to the slash making the call easy for the official.
* If Nesterov doesn’t react, maybe the call isn’t made? Not sure and not sure if it was a real reaction or a way to try to get the penalty called.
* Most of the time those are probably legitimate reactions and not an embellishment to draw a penalty. I hope players aren’t doing that on purpose even if it happens in their defensive zone.
* BIG SAVE – Andrei Vasilevski on Jean-Sebastien Dea at 19:55 of the 1st period – Jonathan Huberdeau wins a battle in the left corner of the Russian zone leaving the puck available for Jean-Sebastien Dea to pass it out front to Nathan MacKinnon waiting in front of the net. MacKinnon passes it to the right of the net where Dea had come around the net for a backhand shot to a mostly open net but a fully stretched out Andrei Vasilevski gets a piece of the shot with his glove to make a huge save at the end of the 1st period.
* Not sure if that was a pass by Nathan MacKinnon or an attempted shot that was deflected. It appears he tries to get the puck over the Dea so I’m going with it being a pass.
* Great vision to see Dea coming around the net for what would be a goal most of the time.
2nd Period
* PENALTIES – TWO PENALTIES ON ONE PLAY!!! WOW! – Kirill Dyakov for Hooking Jonathan Huberdeau & Andrei Sigarev for Checking From Behind on Jean-Sebastien Dea at 1:32 of the 2nd period – A good cycle in the offensive zone with Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Huberdeau and Jean-Sebastien Dea forces Russia into two penalties on the same play. Huberdeau got the puck from Dea and Kirill Dyakov had his stick in Huberdeau’s stomach and pulled him down. As Huberdeau is going down he passes it back to Dea on the left half wall and Andrei Sigarev checks him from behind for a 2:00 6-on-3 power play!
* Huberdeau might’ve made that veteran move of tucking Dyakov’s stick under his arm and then falling down.
* Andrei Sigarev argues with the ref and gets a 10-minute misconduct added on to his 2-minute minor!
* Arguing with the officials is pointless especially if you’re a player so you’re playing with fire when you do it.
* A chance for the Q to maybe get 2 goals and tie the game on a full 2 minutes of 5-on-3!
* GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Xavier Ouellet from Jonathan Huberdeau & Anthony Mantha at 2:53 of the 2nd period – Anthony Mantha is at the right point and passes the puck down to Jonathan Huberdeau at the right of the net (to Andrei Vasilevski’s left). Huberdeau handles the puck a little and tries to make a pass back to Mantha but fans on it so he quickly gets the puck back on his stick through Albert Yarulin’s legs to Xavier Ouellet and Ouellet fires one top shelf over Andrei Vasilevski’s right shoulder. QMJHL 1-2!
* Great job by Huberdeau to corral the puck and have the patience and vision to see Ouellet open and get the puck to him through the legs of the Russian defenseman.
* Great job by Ouellet to get open even though it was on a 5-on-3.
* Albert Yarulin could maybe try to get down a little making a pass through his legs more difficult.
* Get your stick and your body in the way of the passing lanes!
* GOAL – Maxim Shalunov from Vladimir Tkachev & Evgeni Mozer at 6:14 of the 2nd period – Maxim Shalunov gets the puck on the left wall in his own zone and makes a pass/clear that hits the glass across the ice in the neutral zone behind Evgeni Mozer. Mozer fell down but was still able to get to the puck and make a backhand pass to Vladimir Tkachev. Tkachev turns to start up ice and gets hit by Nathan MacKinnon but the puck squirts through just waiting for Shalunov to pick it up on the right side of the neutral for a 1-on-1 against Nikolas Brouillard. Shalunov cuts to the middle, fakes a shot getting Etienne Marcoux to move laterally and shoots back to the upper right corner over Marcoux’s glove. RUSSIA 3-1!
* Nathan MacKinnon makes a big hit that knocks down Tkachev and his teammate, Jonathan Racine, but doesn’t get the puck and he was covering for Brouillard, who had pinched the zone from the right point to keep the puck in. Strangely, Brouillard ends up being the last man back even after he had pinched.
* Jonathan Racine, the QMHL defenseman on the left point, read the crossing pass by Shalunov to Mozer and went to defend Mozer. He also made a hit instead of getting the puck.
* Just bad coverage and a case of puck-watching by the Q team. Four Q players went to the puck and none of them got to the puck.
* I’m a big fan of big hits but you can’t go out of your way to make a big hit. You have to read the play and make sure its the right play. In this case, it would’ve been a better decision to play the puck or at least play better defense.
* The hit got a bunch of cheers from the crowd but a minus-1 on the ice.
* PENALTY – James Melindy for Checking From Behind on Anton Zlobin at 12:06 of the 2nd period – James Melindy makes a body check on Anton Zlobin at the right half wall but hits him from behind for a relatively easy call for the official.
* Announcers said a checking from behind penalty in international play gets a 2-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct so Melindy is escorted off the ice due to insufficient time left in the period for him to have a chance to get out of the penalty box!
* PENALTY – Mikhail Naumenkov for High-Sticking Hooking on Jean-Sebastien Dea at 15:04 of the 2nd period – A Nathan MacKinnon shot was deflected wide to the left of the net. Jean-Sebastien Dea gets to the puck and skates behind the net into the right corner. Mikhail Naumenkov picks up to Dea as he clears the net and looks like he taps him with his stick to let him know he’s there or just to bother him and the official makes a call for hooking.
* Not sure how the official saw that but it was a really quick hook and probably could’ve easily been a no-call.
* GOAL – Mikhail Naumenkov from Mikhail Grigorenko at 17:34 of the 2nd period – A face-off to Etienne Marcoux’s right is won by Mikhail Grigorenko back to Mikhail Naumenkov at the left point and Naumenkov one-times a slapper into the net to the low right corner. RUSSIA 4-1!
* Gotta love those low shots from the point especially when there’s a lot of bodies in front of the goalie.
* Marcoux appeared to not see that shot with all the players in front of him after the face-off.
3rd Period
* A couple big saves by Andrei Vasilevski in the first 5 minutes off identical plays off the face-off keep the game at 4-1!
* Nathan MacKinnon wins the face-off back to Jonathan Huberdeau for a quick wrister on back-to-back face-offs but Vasilevski is there to make the save on both.
* Huberdeau had moved off the wall for the face-off to behind right wing Anthony Mantha looking for MacKinnon to win the face-off back to him.
* MacKinnon actually won the face-off three consecutive times for a quick shot but the last one got past Anthony Mantha.
* PENALTY – James Melindy for Checking From Behind on Alexander Khoklachev at 7:28 of the 3rd period – Alexander Khoklachev takes the puck into the right of the Q zone but loses the puck as he gets to the half wall and James Melindy had already made up his mind to throw a body check and he ends up checking Khoklachev from behind.
* Melindy kind of leaped into the hit as well so he gets 2 and 10 for checking from behind and won’t get out of the box until there’s only 32 seconds left in regulation.
* Melindy reacted like he knew it was a bad hit after he made the hit so there wasn’t any intent to injure, just trying to make a physical play.
* GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Alexander Khoklachev from Nail Yakupov and at 9:11 of the 3rd period – Nail Yakupov brings the puck through the center of the neutral zone and takes a shot through Xavier Ouellet that rebounds off Etienne Marcoux, bounces over two QMJHL player’s sticks and Alexander Khoklachev drives the net and one-times a bullet over Etienne Marcoux’s glove for a 5-1 RUSSIAN LEAD!
* The shot was so hard it came out of the net like it went off the crossbar and the players kept playing but the goal judge and the official saw it go in.
* POPs!!! – Plays Off Pads!!! – A shot from Yakupov was probably meant to just create a rebound as it was shot low to create a bouncing puck.
* Low shots are harder to control for the goalie inducing rebounds and action in front of the net.
* The Q players couldn’t control the puck because it was bouncing which also gives the offense more time to get to it for another chance!
* Simple plays can make huge impacts in the game of hockey!
* Khoklachev fell forward after the shot which shows how much power he put into that shot!
* GREAT PLAY! BIG SAVE! – Andrei Vasilevski on Anthony Mantha at 9:28 of the 3rd period – A small 2-on-1 is created when Nathan MacKinnon comes through the center of the neutral zone and makes a pass to his left to Jonathan Huberdeau at the blue line. Pavel Koledov goes to defend Huberdeau and Huberdeau quickly passes it back to MacKinnon creating a small 2-on-1. Mikhail Naumenkov moves to defend MacKinnon and MacKinnon turns to his left and makes a turnaround pass to Anthony Mantha coming up the right center of the zone for a point-blank shot that Mantha tries to catch and shoot but Andrei Vasilevski is right where he needs to be to deflect the shot into the netting behind the net.
* Mantha might not have been able to one-time that pass but he didn’t have enough time to catch and shoot in that situation and Vasilevski had come out of his net enough to force a quick shot to beat him.
* It’s easy to see how much talent Nathan MacKinnon has for the game of hockey. Good vision, great skater, great skills! The whole package!
* PENALTY – Christopher Clapperton for High-Sticking on Nikita Nesterov at 11:06 of the 3rd period – Clapperton is forechecking and tries to lift Nesterov’s stick but misses and ends up hitting Nesterov in the face with his stick!
* The often seen high-sticking off a stick lift attempt!
* PENALTY – Andrei Sigarev for Roughing at 13:58 of the 3rd period – Andrei Sigarev makes a body check at the boards by the bench and makes a second effort to check Nikolas Brouillard into the bench and gets TWOOOOO Minutes for that effort!
* Why don’t you go sit for a couple minutes and think about what you did?
* GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Jean-Sebastien Dea from Jonathan Huberdeau & Xavier Ouellet at 14:41 of the 3rd period – Jean-Sebastien Dea tries to make a pass back to the left point but nobody is there so the puck goes back into the QMJHL zone. Xavier Ouellet retrieves the puck and seeing (or hearing) that the Russians are making a change, makes a quick turnaround pass to Jonathan Huberdeau at the right of the blue line. Huberdeau takes it into the zone and passes the puck to Dea coming up the center for a 1-on-1 with Andrei Vasilevski. Dea makes a move and let’s the puck go through the 5-hole of Vasilevski making the score 5-2!!!
* It appeared that Dea was trying to stickhandle around Vasilevski but mishandled the puck and it went through the goalie’s legs for the goal.
* Xavier Ouellet clearly took a quick look to see if the Russians would try to make a quick line change and then made a great pass to Huberdeau. GREAT PLAY!
* GOAL – Valentin Zykov from Evgeni Mozer at 17:22 of the 3rd period – A bad breakout pass turns into a scoring chance for Russia. Jonathan Racine makes a breakout pass to Nikolas Brouillard but it’s too far ahead of him and it bounces off the boards and Mikhail Naumenkov tries to dump the puck back in the zone but his stick is lifted. That leaves the puck for Evgeni Mozer to pick it up and head into the left center of the zone with speed. Mozer cuts to the middle and makes a short pass to Valentin Zykov , coming through the center of the zone and cutting behind Mozer, for the quick release shot through Etienne Marcoux’s 5-hole for a 6-2 RUSSIA Lead!!!
* One bad pass turns into a goal in 8 seconds! That’s how quick things can change when your passes aren’t precise.
* It didn’t look like Brouillard was expecting that pass.
* PENALTY – Kirill Kapustin for Interference Cross-Checking on Xavier Ouellet at 17:48 of the 3rd period – Not sure how they got a cross-check on that call. The official’s hand went up when Kirill Kapustin interfered with Xavier Ouellet as he pursued the puck. Whatever.
* PENALTY – Ilya Lyabushkin for Checking From Behind on Jean-Sebastien Dea at 19:03 of the 3rd period – Jean-Sebastien Dea gets the puck in the left corner and Ilya Lyabushkin pushes him low for a checking from behind penalty that will end his night with a 2 and 10!
* After the whistle, Anthony Mantha comes in to body check Lyabushkin and then Kirill Dyakov hits Mantha into the boards from behind which gets Jonathan Huberdeau to come in and hit Dyakov for the cheap hit on Mantha.
* A little cheap stuff to set up Wednesday night’s rematch? Maybe.
This one ends 6-2 in a game where it looked like the Russians were more ready for the game than the QMJHL All-Stars. That being said, it is only game one and I’m sure the Russian junior team have played together more than the All-Stars from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Game 2 is on Wednesday at Val-d’Or in Quebec and maybe the QMJHL will come out with a better game in this Super Series rematch.
If you want to see some highlights from the Canadian coverage of the game, go here!
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You’ve been ClutterPUCKED!!!
