2003
CHL Re/Max Canada-Russia Challenge
London,
Ontario - The Eagles Nest was there in full force for
the opening game of the Russia/Canada Re/Max Challenge,
and we expected the Russian's to have a somewhat solid
team which could compete with the OHL All-Stars. What
we expected and what we saw were entirely two different
things.
Right
from the get-go, it was obvious that this Russian Team
was not only a "B" Team as reports state, but
instead, they looked like an "F" or "G"
Team. It was truly a shame to see a touring Russian Team
such as this one. The Russians had absolutley no chemistry,
struggled to put together 2 passes, rarely got a shot
on goal and when they did, they were soft wrist shots
from the bluelines.
The
score was 3-0 in favour of the OHL club in a matter of
the first 5 minutes of the opening period, so we knew
that it would be a VERY long night. The sold out crowd
booed at times because the calibre of play was truly macabre.
Konstantin Barulin struggled to find his game and by the
time he found it, the team was already in Halifax for
the third tour game! The only player who showed some sign
of being a "B" player was number #29 Vladislav
Evseev and even he couldn't do very much with little or
no help.
The
Russian powerplay was disasterous needless to say, but
their penalty killing (if you can call it that) was dreadful
at best. During one point of the second period, Team OHL
had 2 players in the penalty box and the Russian Selects
had a 2 man advantage on the power play and could NOT
get it out of their own zone with Team OHL pressing them
and pinning the puck against the boards. Final score 7-1.
This game was the worst hockey game we've ever watched
the Russians participate in. It's not fair to the players
on the Russian team, because they were trying, but the
Ii'm sure that if they'd have brought over a club team
such as Lokomotiv or Red Army as in previous years, the
Russians would have fared much better!
Sarnia,
Ontario - Game 2 of the Canada/Russia Re/Max tour and
another sold out arena in Sarnia. The Russians actually
showed a little bit more spirit in this game and held
on for a 0-0 first period result. Still, shots were few
and far between with 95% of Russia's shots being very
poor. It seemed that the Russians were not familiar with
a slap shot as each shot was weak and wristed in from
the blueline. Very frustrating to watch the Russians play
dump and chase and just give the puck away at will each
and everytime.
The
Russians did have a little bit of a better showing in
Sarnia, but a 4-0 result in favour of OHL had left a sour
taste in our mouth. 11-1 aggregate over 2 games and the
Russians were on their way to Halifax for their first
and only win in this inaugural tournament.
