Canada W - Russia W - 8:1

The second match of the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championship took place for Russia today, and it was against tournament hosts Canada.

This was always going to be a huge test for our girls against the Olympic champions, and as expected, the Canadians were doing all of the pressing. The puck didn’t leave our zone for long periods, and only some amazing Anna Prugova saves were keeping them off the scoresheet. Nevertheless, our players were hanging on in, and took a shock lead on a counterattack. The puck popped back to Iya Gavrilova at the point, and her deflected wrister fooled the goaltender. Canada piled forward after that, and our goalkeeper pulled off minor miracles to keep them off the scoreboard.

There was plenty of hope among our ranks after the first period, however it proved to be shortlived. Canada came storming out of the blocks, and scored three goals within as many minutes. Rebecca Johnston scored shorthanded from the right faceoff circle, Halli Krzyzaniak caught the goalkeeper cold from distance, and Jennifer Wakefield made use of a one on one. Mikhail Chekanov pulled Anna Prugova for Maria Sorokina after that, but even that didn’t make a difference. The hosts kept on coming, and Maria was soon picking the puck out of the net after she was knocked out of position. Our players looked shellshocked by the onslaught, and on a couple of powerplays Canada scored two more. It could have been worse too, as Maria Sorokina made a huge right pad save off a Canadian penalty shot.

Having scored six in an unbelievable second stanza, the Canadians took their foot off the gas in the third. They took a number of penalties in a row, and we had plenty of opportunities by Canada’s net. Angelina Goncharenko came the closest, as her thumping slap shot rang off the left post. The hosts’ penalty kill was working well, and shorthanded they netted a seventh: Marie-Philip Poulin found herself clean through, and she beat Maria Sorokina cleanly. They weren’t finished their either, as on a broken play Emily Clark hooked the puck in for 1:8. That completed the scoring, and Russia drop their second game at the World Championship in Kamloops.

Match protocol:

Canada – Russia 8:1 (0:1, 6:0, 2:0)

Goals:

0:1 Gavrilova (Vafina, Smolentseva), 13.29

1:1 Johnston (Jenner, Rougeau), 20.40

2:1 Krzyzaniak (Jenner, Johnston), 23.07

3:1 Wakefield (Johnston), 23.42

4:1 Mikkelson (Sauliner, Wickenheiser), 24.42

5:1 Mikkelson (Watchorn, Johnston), 25.20

6:1 Krzyzaniak (Wakefield, Jenner), 37.05

7:1 Poulin (Jenner), 53.19

8:1 Clark (Sauliner, Turnbull), 57.52

Goalkeepers: Labonte – Prugova/Sorokina

Shots on target: 33 – 14

Penalty minutes: 16 – 10

29.03.2016. Kamloops, Canada. 

Russian Ice Hockey Federation