Will Russians get to top four again?
By Radoslav Vavřina, Lead Writer, The Czech List
Sometimes it seems like a Russian national team has a bad day or a bad week and they just don’t make things happen on the ice. Last year, the Red Army succeeded in getting things going and they managed to advance to semifinals where they were eliminated by Canada and subsequently beaten by Czech Republic in bronze-medal game.
This year in Břeclav, Czech Republic, the Russians will start out on Monday facing Finland, the team they beat to advance to semis year ago. On Tuesday, they meet Team USA, another old nemesis and Wednesday will wrap the group stage up with a rematch of the last year’s bronze-medal game.
Headlining the goalies of the Russian Under-18 national team is Nizhny Novgorod native Nikita Kolesnikov who did very well at last year’s Under-17 World Hockey Challenge. This big netminder will be backed up by Ilya Samsonov, his backup from the WHC, and Anton Krasotkin from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl MHL team.
In front of these three, Yegor Rykov is the leader of the defensive corps. Born in St. Petersburg and raised in Moscow, this young man had a great WHC with four assists in six games, supporting the offense effectively. Just as big a threat for the opposition will be Alexei Platonov who is huge and intimidating at 6’5” and useful offensively, too. One exception that hasn’t played at the U-17 WHC, but could become a key player at the Ivan Hlinka, is Roman Ivashov from Ekaterinburg.
Omsk native Dmitri Zhukenov was the star for Team Russia at the U-17 WHC, scoring three goals and adding seven assists in six games of the tourney. The top MHL player for the upcoming event is Kirill Kaprizov, an elite goal-scorer from Novokuznetsk. Pavel Karnaukhov, born in Minsk, Belarus, will be another closely-watched Russian forward in Břeclav as the Calgary Hitmen decided to pick him at the CHL Import Draft in early July.
Roster
Goaltenders
Nikita Kolesnikov (Nizhny Novgorod)
Anton Krasotkin (Yaroslavl)
Ilya Samsonov (Magnitogorsk)
Defensemen
Andrei Bannikov (Ekaterinburg)
Timor Fatkullin (Chelyabinsk)
Vladimir Kalugin (Cherepovets)
Alexander Kozyryev (Dinamo Minsk)
Andrei Nesterov (St. Petersburg)
Alexei Platonov (Atlant)
Yegor Rykov (St. Petersburg)
Mikhail Sidorov (Yaroslavl)
Forwards
Denis Alexeev (Yaroslavl)
Vladimir Barabanov (St. Petersburg)
Mikhail Byakin (CSKA Moscow)
Valeri Bokhkarev (Podolsk)
Artyom Ivanyuzhenkov (Podolsk)
Roman Ivashov (Ekaterinburg)
Ivan Yemets (Novokuznetsk)
Kirill Kaprizov (Novokuznetsk)
Pavel Karnaukhov (CSKA Moscow)
Pavel Podluboshnov (CSKA Moscow)
Alexander Volkov (St. Petersburg)
Alexander Zhebelev (Vladivostok)
Dmitri Zhukenov (Omsk)
Photo courtesy of Dominika Handzušová
