Russia are the WJC 2016 silver medalists

The 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship final between Russia and Finland took place today in Helsinki. Head coach Valery Bragin caused a minor surprise with the line-up, as Alexander Georgiev took back the goaltending spot ahead of semi-final winner Ilya Samsonov.

It was a sold out Hartwall Arena for the tournament’s showpiece event, and the Finns seemed to feel the pressure in front of their home crowd. Russia were the more threatening team during the opening stages, and opened up the scoring on the game’s first powerplay. Captain Vladislav Kamenev was found on the right faceoff circle, and his thunderous one timer crashed into the near corner. Our team were playing the puck around with real confidence, and had plenty of further chances to double the lead. Andrei Kuzmenko came close when alone by the right post, and Andrei Svetlakov came within an inch of a second. Racing away shorthanded he had the goaltender beaten, but the woodwork came to Finland’s rescue.

Finland upped their game in the second frame, and the vast majority of the period was spent in our zone. Alexander Georgiev was a very busy man, and the woodwork came to his aid as a wristed effort from the point rung off the goal frame. The pressure was getting more and more intense, and our players began to take a number of penalties. Finland’s first line of Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi was causing havoc, and the latter was denied by our goaltender’s chest up close. With the period coming to a close a Finnish forward then found himself one on one, but Alexander Georgiev shut the five hole to keep the Russians ahead.

Sadly, right away in the third Finland got back on terms. Patrik Laine powered into the zone, and unleashed an unstoppable shot high into the left corner. Nevertheless that only sparked Russia into life, and seconds later Andrei Svetlakov let a ripper go over the goaltender’s glove. Russia took back control of the game with that goal, and had a golden chance to extend the lead. Alexander Dergachyov fed Artur Lauta by the left post, but his point blank range effort was shut down. That miss proved costly, as Finland stuck twice to pull ahead. Sebastian Aho beat Alexander Georgiev on the doorstep, and then Mikko Rantanen deflected in a wristed shot to send the home fans into raptures. It looked all over, but with six seconds left Russia amazingly sent it into overtime. Ivan Provorov wristed from distance, and Andrei Svetlakov got a crucial touch.