Czech Republic 3, Russia 2

Pavel Lysenkov (SovSport.ru, May 8, 2011) interviewed Alexander Ovechkin after the game:

Alex Ovechkin: It was hard for me in the first period, too many penalties take you out of the rhythm. But then I started skating better and felt fine.

Can you rate Eugene Artyukhin?
He was awesome. No comments, you've seen it yourself.

Did Barulin's game pleasantly surprise you?
Yes, he made several excellent saves. And played well overall.

How comfortable do you feel on the third line with Kaygorodov and Afinogenov?
We only started to get used to each other. We were thrown into battle immediately and we had a few moments. But then again, penalties crumpled game.

Was the fact that Russia has already advanced to the quarterfinals too relaxing?
It's hard to say. We went out to play and win. But somewhere we were out of luck.

So what Artyukhin did? He played very physical and rough and Czech's head coach Alois Gadamchik was mad at him afterwards...
AP:

Two Czech players -- forward Milan Michalek and defender Karel Rachunek -- left the game and didn't return after taking big hits from Russian forward Yevgeni Artyukhin in the second period.



Rachunek was bleeding from his head but Artyukhin escaped without a penalty for that check.

"It wasn't a pretty game," Jagr said. "There were a lot of penalties and power plays."

Jakub Voracek, Jaromir Jagr and Tomas Plekanec scored for the Czech Republic as Ovechkin couldn't help Russia avenge a 2-1 loss to the Czechs in the final of last year's worlds.

Alexei Tereshenko and Danis Zaripov scored for Russia.

To me the hit was clean, no elbow or anything illegal, Artyukhin is just too big (height: 6'4", weight: 255). Even Zdeno Chara would probably feel it.



Ovi's first morning skate with the team right off the plane. Artyukhin is saying that Ovechkin's arrival definitely raised the team's mood. "Of course it's hard for him because of the jet lag and no time acclimate..."

---

Share |

Link to the latest post