GDT: Quarter-final • Jan. 2 • Russia 2, Czech Republic 1 (OT)

[Systemfel]

2012 IIHF U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | QUARTER-FINAL
JANUARY 2, 2012
7:00 PM MT • 9:00 PM ET
03:00 CET (JAN. 3) • 05:00 MSD (JAN. 3)

SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME, CALGARY
(CAPACITY: 19,289)

Russia
Unconfirmed lineup.

Left Wing | Center | Right Wing

8 Nikita Gusev​

|

17 Mikhail Grigorenko​

|

9 Nikita Kucherov​

|-

18 Yaroslav Kosov​

|

14 Denis Apalkov (A)​

|

25 Yevgeniy Kuznetsov (C)​

|-

23 Ivan Telegin​

|

19 Alexander Khokhlachev​

|

10 Nail Yakupov​

|-

16 Ignat Zemchenko​

|

15 Pavel Kulikov​

|

22 Sergei Barbashev​

|-

Left Defense | Right Defense

3 Artyom Sergeyev​

|

24 Zakhar Arzamastsev (A)​

|

7 Igor Ozhiganov​

|

4 Viktor Antipin​

|

-​

|

29 Nikita Nesterov​

|

12 Grigoriy Zheldakov​

|

-​

|

26 Ildar Isangulov​

|

6 Mikhail Naumenkov​

|

-​

|

Starting Goalie | Backup Goalie

30 Andrei Vasilevskiy​

|

20 Andrei Makarov​

|

-​

Scratches | Reason
G 1 Sergei Kostenko|

Healthy​

|-

Czech Republic
Unconfirmed lineup.

Left Wing | Center | Right Wing

26 Jiří Sekáč​

|

17 Petr Holík (A)​

|

20 Dmitrij JaÅ¡kin​

|-

18 Tomáš Nosek (C)​

|

22 Tomáš Filippi​

|

23 Dominik Uher (A)​

|-

15 Daniel Přibyl​

|

19 Tomáš Hertl​

|

21 Petr Straka​

|-

16 Radek Faksa​

|

29 Lukáš Sedlák​

|

27 Tomáš Hyka​

|-

Left Defense | Right Defense

4 Jiří Říha​

|

12 Daniel Krejčí​

|-

28 Bohumil Jank​

|

8 Vojtěch Mozík​

|-

13 Marek Hrbas​

|

7 Petr Zámorský​

|-

Starting Goalie | Backup Goalie

2 Petr Mrázek​

|

1 Libor Kašík​

|

-​

Scratches | Reason
G 30 Tomáš Král|

Healthy​

|-
D 6 David Musil|

Injury​

|-
L 14 Jakub Culek|

Injury​

|-

Officials

- | -

|Daniel Piechaczek

|Derek Zalaski

|Chris Carlson

|André Schrader

Click to read more...

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

I am predicting an upset...

Czechs win because their goalie stands on his head and the Russian "miracle" worked against them on NYE.

 

[Systemfel]

Let's go Mrázek!

 

[BLBarmada]

I am predicting an upset...

Czechs win because their goalie stands on his head and the Russian "miracle" worked against them on NYE.

Dam you beat me to the punch !

I agree, Mrazek can steal the game, but the Russian fowards will be determined.


If Musil and Culek play, and I think they will, then the Czechs will have a good shot at an upset.

 

[Cam98]

Dam you beat me to the punch !

I agree, Mrazek can steal the game, but the Russian fowards will be determined.


If Musil and Culek play, and I think they will, then the Czechs will have a good shot at an upset.

if czech learn to stay out of the box. i can see czech giving russia good run for money with possible win if Mrazek is playing very good like against USA

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

Dam you beat me to the punch !

Happy New Year buddy.

if czech learn to stay out of the box. i can see czech giving russia good run for money with possible win if Mrazek is playing very good like against USA

Good point. I think the Czechs can win but ONLY if they stay out of the box. Otherwise the Russians will be too much.

 

[New User Name]

As much as I'd like to see an upset (Czechs win) there is no way in hell Russia loses this game.

NOT A CHANCE IN HELL

and yes I know KevyD I said the Americans would be good...but they should have been.


Edit: Just noticed one of the Refs is Canadian. Maybe he'll call the game a bit more Canadian as opposed to European......There is a difference....maybe the Czechs won't get as many penalties.

 

[sajmae]

If, and that's a big IF, we won't have 8 penalties as usual I can see a chance. We had good games against USA and Finland, especially 5 on 5.

 

[Rob]

Russia is just too skilled for them.

 

[Mara]

I'm predicting multiple PP goals for Russia in this game. CZE spends way too much time in the penalty box. Most likely Russia takes the cake.

 

[zorz]

Czech team played quite a few games against the Russians this season and they were all tight games (lost though). I thing they could be a little shaky after their last 3rd period fail vs. Sweden. We need to play forecheck and physical, stay out of the box and then there is a solid chance of beating them.

 

[MOGiLNY]

The game can definitely go both ways and games between the two countries are indeed very close most of the time. If Czechs are to win here, Mrazek will have to stand on his head and I fear it may backfire on me, but I'm just no impressed with the guy. I absolutely loved his spirit against the States, but aside from that, I just don't think he's a good goaltender. His rebound control is not the greatest, he gets caught out of position a lot and flops around far too much for my liking. He seems to also make some risky plays in situations that don't warrant this risk.

I'm not sure what his stats are at this tournament, but between Canada and Finland he allowed 9 goals and USA was really the only game where he was good. Is one game really enough to predict that he is going to be great?

To me though, the Czechs seemed to be a very hard working team playing with a lot of spirit and I think that will be their key. If they can take the game to Russia, they may get something out of it.

That said, Russia obviously is a heavy outmatch for the Czechs skillwise and I think the guys are extremely unhappy at having to play this game. That doesn't mean that they are going to mail it in though and I think or hope that they will come out to prove a point that they should never have played this. Giving up a 3 goal lead is obviously tough, but they were criticized for their play against Switzerland and came out absolutely flying vs Slovakia in the next game (granted the scoreboard didn't show that). I think/hope that they are going to be strong enough to overcome adversity over the loss to Sweden and come up with a solid effort here.

This team is gunning for gold, and so far I haven't seen any character issues with players where they may think that they are better than this tournament or anything like that. Everyone's been working hard and everyone wants to help their team.

Go Russia Go!

 

[Jesus Christ Horburn]

It's all about Mr. Azek.

 

[MOGiLNY]

Sami Aittokallio 2gp 0.50 GAA .986 SAV%
Andrei Vasilevski 3gp 1.31 GAA .968 SAV%
Scott Wedgewood 2gp 1.00 GAA .965 SAV%
Mark Visentin 2gp 1.50 GAA .941 SAV%
Petr Mrazek 4gp 2.75 GAA .916 SAV%

 

[bruleurdeloups]

Refs:
CAN Derek Zalaski
CAN Chris Carlson

So Canada can choose the team they will be playing with in the semis. Interesting what team will be more penalized : Russia with 54 PIM in four games or Czech Republique with 81 PIM.

 

[Kenobody]

I'm not sure what his stats are at this tournament, but between Canada and Finland he allowed 9 goals and USA was really the only game where he was good. Is one game really enough to predict that he is going to be great?

FINALLY someone else sees this.

I predict a close Russian win.

 

[Dynamo81]

Russia By 2. Hopefully the Czechs give up a lot of penalties.

 

[Dynamo81]

I'm not sure what his stats are at this tournament, but between Canada and Finland he allowed 9 goals and USA was really the only game where he was good. Is one game really enough to predict that he is going to be great?

Here comes the shutout

 

[Grabovski]

Russia will win. I predict that the Russians take 50 shots on Mrazek but only able to pot around 4 or 5 in but still winning.

 

[pouskin74*]

5-2 or 3-1...win for Russia.

 

[MOGiLNY]

to continue my potentially jinxing ways here, Czechs' only wins came against USA and Denmark - the two teams that will be playing in the relegation round. everybody's upset thoughts are based on the lonely game vs the States.... the team that has disappointed everyone and lost to everyone except Denmark

Russia on the other hand won 3 out of 4 games and had just one terrible period vs Sweden.

I believe we can win tomorrow. Let's go Russia!!

 

[MOGiLNY]

Czechs have scored 12 goals so far at this tournament. Goals coming from 6 people: Filippi (3), Hertl (3), Holik (3), Jaskin (1), Faksa (1), Riha (1).

Russia has scored 23 goals with 14 goal scorers at this tournament so far. Of course the game vs Latvia helped inflate some of the players' stats, Czechs also scored 7 goals vs Denmark so their stats are also inflated although not to the same extent.

Clearly a lion's share of Czech offense has come from Filippi, Hertl and Holik and shutting down three players, essentially a line, is much more difficult than three or four lines as pretty much all of Russia's lines can be danerous.

Also, Grigorenko, who did not have the statistical benefit of playing vs Latvia (he did get a goal, but was injured after) has more points in this tournament than any Czech player. Russia has 6 other players who have the same amount of points or more than him. Looks like he will be in the lineup as well.

-----
ok I'm done jinxing my team... I promise

 

[DanrikCarter]

I think the Czechs will eke out a 3-2 win with 50 saves by Mrazek.

 

[sajmae]

Czechs have scored 12 goals so far at this tournament. Goals coming from 6 people: Filippi (3), Hertl (3), Holik (3), Jaskin (1), Faksa (1), Riha (1).

Russia has 14 goal scorers at this tournament so far. Of course the game vs Latvia helped inflate some of the players' stats, Czechs also scored 7 goals vs Denmark so their stats are also inflated although not to the same extent.

Yeah, our offense sucks, very few guys are offensive threat. And our PP is awful. That is thing that worries me a lot.

 

[MOGiLNY]

Yeah, our offense sucks, very few guys are offensive threat. And our PP is awful. That is thing that worries me a lot.

Not going to look very deep into the numbers on this, but the Czechs are only ahead of Latvia in terms of powerplay efficiency. Russia, statswise, is first, but that is largely because of the game against Latvia. Outside of that, we were also bad at this.

That said, both teams have had poor discipline and one of the teams likely will eventually capitalize on the extra man advantage.

edit: actually **** it, i just checked the stats and all of 5 of Russia's PP goals came vs Latvia. No disrespect to Latvia, but if Russia's entire PP production came vs. a team that they beat 14-0, that's very bad.