NY Times: Russia Is Luring Back N.H.L. Stars

An interesting article in the New York Times that has, predictably, caused a firestorm of extremely negative comments on their blog. We could not resist, but to reply to some of them in our comment on NYT’s Slapshot.

RSL Game of the Week: Dinamo Moscow @ Salavat Yulayev Ufa 02.19.2008

The storied Russian franchise Dinamo Moscow, which has fallen on hard times recently under their new Czech coach Vladimír Vůjtek, faces a huge challenge away at the brand spanking new Bashneft Arena to take on this season’s undisputed king of the Russian Super League, Salavat Yulayev of Ufa. Salavat’s green monsters, thanks to Bashneft’s oil revenue, have a roster that is the envy of the rest of the league and are able to roll out four lines of pure skill.

You can watch the game in the streaming player or download the file to your computer by clicking the “Open Containing Folder” link below the player, right clicking the file and selecting the “download” option.

We recommend the free VLC media player for playing it.

RSL Game of the Week: CSKA Moscow @ Metallurg Magnitogorsk 02.18.2008

Another great game from the Russian Super League. Is this a nice stretch in the RSL schedule or what?! Last year’s champions’ next task after battling it out with Ak Bars Kazan, a team they faced in last year’s finals, is to take on the Central Sports Club of Army that is also flying high under the leadership of former NHLer, hard hitting Oleg Saprykin. Mr. Saprykin has also rediscovered his scoring touch aside from sticking his nose into every possible altercation this side of the Atlantic. This promises to be a real battle.

You can watch the game in the streaming player or download the file to your computer by clicking the “Open Containing Folder” link below the player, right clicking the file and selecting the “download” option.

We recommend the free VLC media player for playing it.

NHL Trading Deadline Deals

Since our blog is devoted to Russian hockey we’ll leave the marian hossas and brad richards of the world out of it and focus on the deals that involved only the players from the former Soviet Union.

One of the all time greats of Russian hockey, Sergei Fedorov, was acquired by the fast improving Washington Capitals in a deal that few saw coming. It’s quite obvious that Columbus has officially waived a white flag when it comes to their chances of making the playoffs and dumped a couple of big salaries by getting rid of Fedorov and Adam Foote. Fedorov is an idol of Washington’s two Russian superstars, Ovechkin and Syomin, and the move just might rejuvenate the former Hart trophy winner. Most importantly it fills the void for the Caps at second line center left by Michael Nylander’s season ending injury. Fedorov is not the offensive player he used to be, but is still an excellent checker with incredible skating ability. His experience and keen hockey sense will allow Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau to use him in any situation. He’s a great penalty killer and can play the point on the power play. And who knows? Playing on young, exciting team with the two Alex’s and his old buddy Viktor Kozlov just might get him to put up a few more points. Great deal for Washington.

The only other deal involving players from the former USSR, ironically, had one of them being dealt for another. Colorado shipped Latvian defenseman Kārlis Skrastiņš to Florida for hard hitting Belarussian blueliner Ruslan Salei. This seems to be a pretty equal exchange overall. If anything, Colorado might have gotten a bit more physical by getting Salei and Adam Foote from Columbus. Both teams are chasing a playoff spot.

RSL Game of the Week: Ak Bars Kazan @ Metallurg Magnitogorsk 02.15.2008

Super clash between last season’s finalists. We could just leave it at that, but we should add that both clubs are coming into this game red hot and zooming up the RSL standings. Ak Bars Kazan may very well be the most fun hockey team to watch in the world, at the moment. That is if you enjoy fast paced, skillful, old school Soviet style hockey laden with puck possession and weaving pretty patterns around the opposition until they scream for mercy.

You can watch the game in the streaming player or download the file to your computer by clicking the “Open Containing Folder” link below the player, right clicking the file and selecting the “download” option.

We recommend the free VLC media player for playing it.

RSL Game of the Week: Salavat Yulayev Ufa @ Avangard Omsk 02.13.2008

Same deal here. Just getting up as soon as possible. Will add more info later. This is your first chance to see the Russian version of the Detroit Red Wings (read “runaway league leaders”) Salavat Yulayev Ufa in action vs. another top club Avangard Omsk.

You can watch the game in the streaming player or download the file to your computer by clicking the “Open Containing Folder” link below the player, right clicking the file and selecting the “download” option.

We recommend the free VLC media player for playing it.

RSL Game of the Week: Lokomotiv Yaroslavl @ Dinamo Moscow 02.02.2008

Washington Capitals top prospect Semyon Varlamov is starting in goal for Lokomotiv in this game while Dinamo is mired in a 7 game losing streak, the longest in the storied franchise’s history. Their new Czech coach Vladimír Vůjtek is scratching his head and looking for answers. This is a must win for Dinamo or Vůjtek’s tenure maybe short lived indeed. However, don’t expect Lokomotiv to feel bad and just hand it to them. The Yaroslavl club is known for its uncompromising nature and is one of the more physical teams in the RSL.

You can watch the game in the streaming player or download the file to your computer by clicking the “Open Containing Folder” link below the player, right clicking the file and selecting the “download” option.

We recommend the free VLC media player for playing it.

We Ain’t Dead

For those who are wondering we have not gone to the edge of the Earth and dropped off the cliff. There were a few technical difficulties with the host of the games, which prevented us from posting the last RSL Game of the Week prior to the RSL going on a bit of a hiatus due to the international break for the European Hockey Tour. The technical issues have now been resolved.

To make up for our brief absence watch for 3 great RSL games to be posted later today. The first one will be the aforementioned game that was played just before the break (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl @ Dinamo Moscow). The other two will be games played in recent days since the RSL got back to business and will feature a couple of truly great match-ups: runaway league leaders Salavat Yulayev Ufa @ Avangard Omsk and a battle between last year’s finalists, Ak Bars Kazan @ Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

If there is interest we will also try to post the 2 games that the Russian national team played during the international break in the Euro Hockey Tour vs. Finland and the Czech Republic. Either comment or use the contact form to let us know if you’d like to see these games.

Alex the Great 4, Canadiens 4, Capitals Win

Well… if Alexander Ovechkin was the only man to show up to play tonight he still would have gotten a tie against the Canadiens. Alas, his teammates were on the ice as well and aside from scoring 4 goals for the 2nd time in his NHL career (and for the 2nd time this season) there was also the matter of setting up his fellow countryman Viktor Kozlov for a tap in.

The Capitals almost wasted an amazing performance by their incredible #8 letting the Canadiens come back from a 3-0 deficit with a pair of late goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Very late goals, as a matter of fact. Montreal got back to within 1 with just 0.4 seconds left in the 2nd (making the score 3-2), then scored the tying 4th goal with 32 seconds left in regulation.

As we watched in disbelief and wondered to ourselves what does Ovechkin have to do to win this one for the Caps (he had a hat-trick and a primary assist by then) we also thought… well, it is quite simple, is it not? He’ll just have to score another goal in overtime. That way the Capitals won’t be able to screw it up again (overtime being sudden death and all). And that is exactly what he did!

So here’s tonight’s tally for the Amazing One: 4 goals, including the game winner in overtime, a primary assist on the only goal he didn’t actually score himself and a small matter of 5 hits, 3 of which were highlight reel material. And by the way… This 5 point, 4 goal performance has moved Alex into the sole possession of the first place in the entire NHL for both, goals (43) and points (70).

Is there anything this man cannot do? Oh yeah, he wasn’t able to get on the starting roster of the All-Star game. Go figure. One more thing. Don Cherry is still pissed off that he’s not Canadian.

P.S. We ARE NOT worthy!!!