World U17: Team Finland vs Team Russia Game Story

Midway through the first period Svechnikov displayed some great hands to rush the puck up the ice and beat defenders. Russia was putting on some great pressure on the fore-check and finishing their hits along the boards but it was Finland who opened the scoring as Atte Makinen drove the net hard and took a feed from Antti Kauppinen to score the game’s 1st goal. After this it was Pilipenko who showed some dazzling hands for Russia rushing the puck up the ice displaying some excellent moves off the rush to gain the offensive zone, and then a huge rebound opportunity for Lazarev as they were just pouring on the pressure in the Finnish zone. There were a few penalties towards the end of the period as each team took one within a minute of each other, Kapenen showing some great hands and puck distribution on the short Finnish power play and then Vovchenko made a great steal in the neutral zone putting some excellent pressure on the puck carrier to force the turnover and get a great chance on net with an excellent move on the goalie from in tight. Finally right at the end of the period with only 15 seconds left Svechnikov showed his incredible hands on the rush walking around the opposition finding lanes to rush the puck in to the offensive zone, taking the puck and made a great move on the goalie to tuck the puck five hole and tie the game up in the dying seconds of the period. [sociallocker]The second period started out with Vovchenko gaining the offensive zone and getting in deep with the puck to draw a penalty. On the power play Svechnikov made a gorgeous pass across to Lazarev to score on a one-timer early in to the period to give Russia the lead. Kapenen then tried to respond for Finland by driving the net hard with his stick down to take a pass and get a good chance from in tight but was stopped by Tretiak. The play started to open up a bit as Finland made a terrible pass up the middle in their own end to give Russia a great opportunity and then showed some nice passing themselves on a 3-on-2 rush to generate a good scoring chance going the other way.

On the power play Russia was able to get a man in the slot right in the middle of Finland’s box as Svechnikov took a pass from Lazarev and put a shot on goal to score Russia’s 3rd goal from an excellent scoring position. Only 20 seconds after that Dervuk made a great long pass to spring Yazkov at the far blue line to get a breakaway and he made a nice move to the fore-hand to score and give Russia their 4th goal of the game. Kraskovskly then took a pass very well to blow by the defender and use his big reach for a break on net and put a good shot on as it looked like Russia might be able to start to run away with this one. Nikolishin then made a really nice pass cross-ice finding a lane to get Ilya Zinoviev the puck for a great chance from in tight on the back-door. Finally though Finland was able to respond with something of their own as Kapanen made a great pass back-door to a teammate right at the side of the net and Kiviranta took the pass and made no mistakes about it as he snuck in behind the Russian defense to score Finland’s 2nd goal of the game. But Russia responded quickly just 40 seconds later to regain their 3 goal lead as Pilipenko was able to walk into the slot showing some incredible hands and put on a great shot to score Russia’s 5th goal of the game and hold the lead heading in to the 3rd period.

In the third period Finland was awarded a power play a few minutes in but was kept to mostly outside shots and did not have much traffic in the middle. There was one great chance for Mikko Rantanen as he got an excellent chance taking a pass from down low in tight to the net and beat the goaltender with a great move but hit the post on the opportunity. Russia got a power play a few minutes later and for the most part Finland was able to get in lanes to block passes and shots except for a pretty big scramble in front of the net near the end of the power play. They cleared the puck out short-handed and Hopponen did an excellent job winning the race to the puck and moving it out to the middle to Saarela who took the one-timer from in front of the net to score Finland’s 3rd goal of the game. Just 30 seconds after that Kapanen did an amazing job pressuring the puck carrier to steal the walk and walk in on net to score from in tight on a 2-on-1 rush to score Finland’s 4th goal of the game on a great shot where he really picked his spot. That ended up being as close as they would get to bring it between one and the only good chances for the rest of the game came from plays by Pilipenko who made a great cross-ice feed to a teammate for a one-timer opportunity then took the puck from behind the net to walk out front for some good chances in tight driving the net. Russia was able to hold on for the 5-4 victory in this one.

HockeyProspect.com 3 Stars of the game:

#24 – Kasperi Kapanen – Team Finland
This was a dynamic player who finished the game with a goal and an assist and was making things happen every shift he was on the ice. He displayed some great wheels as he was so fast and quick to get on pucks and can rush the puck up the ice very effectively. He pressured the puck carrier well to force turnovers and has some really high end offensive instincts and vision to see the play developing and the ability to make the right decisions to generate chances.

#7 – Yevgeni Svechnikov – Team Russia
Svechnikov finished this game with 2 goals and an assist and had his puck skills on display all night. There was one shift where this was most evident as he had some incredible hands and puck protection in deep in the offensive zone to avoid pressure and create some space for himself even under traffic. He has a great shot and that amazing ability to get to the slot and open up to take passes and put shots on from high scoring areas. He has some really elite skills and the sense of the game to go along with it.

#13 – Kirill Pillipenko – Team Russia
Pillipenko only had one goal in this game but it was a beauty. He made a great move to get himself out to the slot and finished off the play with an excellent shot to score what turned out to be the game winner of this one. He was pressuring the puck carrier all night long rushing him and trying to force turnovers and was making some great passes in the offensive zone to create chances, and driving to the net hard with his stick down as well.