Latvia – USA 3:5 (1:0; 2:3; 0:2)
Cologne // Americans are having a hard time
17.936 visitors came to the LANXESS arena on Saturday afternoon (12:15) in beautiful weather and they shouldn't regret their visit.
With a 'tip in' goal, Latvia took the lead somewhat surprisingly in the 8th minute. What happened: Maris Bicevskis got through on the right wing and shot in front of the American goal. Teodor Blugers came rushing up, held out his racket and the disc wobbled in the net. No chance for the well-disposed “Jet” Connor Hellebuyck in the USA box. It was a game of equals, which was also reflected in the shooting statistics: 8:8 shots, but 0:1 for 'Latvia' - halftime tea!
Seven seconds had been played when the score was 0:2. The opening face-off was won, a short pass to Kaspars Daugavins and the Eastern Europeans were already two goals ahead. Team USA seemed shocked and the men in the burgundy jerseys temporarily took the initiative. The next goal came completely unexpectedly from JT Compher from Colorado. Anders Lee (Islanders) had crossed and the American striker gave the puck a different direction and the USA had scored their first goal of the game - 1:2. The fun shooting continued: First it was the Latvians' turn again - 1:3 through Oskars Cibulskis with his first World Cup goal. Then it was the NHL pros' turn again: twice! First Nick Bjugstad (Florida Panthers) managed to get back into the game and five minutes later it was Johnny Gaudreau from the Calgary Flames who equalised.
In the last part of the game, very little happened - both sides tried to stay away from the penalty box. Latvia had just survived an unnecessary penalty (too many players) when the US boys struck - Andrew Copp from the Winnipeg Jets had taken the shot. Elvis Merzlikins in goal could only touch the puck and it rolled over him and into the goal. Now Latvia had to risk everything. The goalie went to the bench in favor of a sixth field player. Dylan Larkin fought for the puck and as he fell, he shoveled his last effort towards the goal and the score was 5:3. He now has eight scorer points (1 goal/7 assists), which puts him in second place on the scorer list - but everything is a snapshot.
US player Connor Murphy, defender of the Arizona Coyotes, spoke about the current situation after the match: “In the first half of the game it seemed like they had a greater will to win than we did. They played harder than us, got pucks and won little fights - but then we knew how to fight back. It is true that we have a large number of NHL players, but we are still a very young team that needs to gain experience first!”
Tore: 1:0 (11:23) Blugers; 2:0 (20:53) Daugavin; 2:1 (29:00) Compher; 3:1 (31:37) Cibulskis; 3:2 (33:44) Bjugstad; 3:3 (38:37) Gaudreau; 3:4 (56:38) Copp; 3:5 (58:58) Larkin
Punish: 6 (LAT), 8 (USA)
spectator: 17.936
Russia – Slovakia 6:0 (3:0; 2:0; 1:0)
Cologne // Russia in a class of its own
The hall was sold out, white, red and blue dominated the scene - no wonder, since both nations have these three colors in their banner. The atmosphere was great and it quickly became clear that the... FansThe number of the Russian national team was much larger: “Russia, Russia!” was heard throughout the surrounding area.
Sbornaja needed just 72 seconds until the balance of power was clear - without much effort they combined in front of the goal of Slovakian Julius Hudacek (Örebro HK, SWE) and didn't give him the slightest chance. Yevgeni Dadonov (SKA St. Petersburg) pushed the puck into the empty box - 1:0. Dadonov completed the first Russian power play again with his second goal of the day - 2:0. 40 seconds before the final whistle of the first third, Andrei Mironov ( Dynamo Moscow) was there and it was 3-0. The superiority of the Russians was really striking. This was also reflected in the shots on goal: 17 (RUS) – 6 (SVK).
After the ice cream had to be prepared a second time - you could see the grooves in the ice cream from above - the Russians continued where they left off. Goal scorer Nikita Kucherov from the NHL Lightning increased the score to 23-4 in the 0rd minute of the game. Whenever a puck got through, Andrei Vasilevski (Tampa Bay Lightning), a true master of his craft, was the last resort in front of the line. Ivan Telegin (CSKA Moscow) made the score 5-0 with his first goal here in Cologne.
The last part of the game gave the impression that some were trying to limit the damage and that the Russian bear had already satisfied its hunger. They began to work magic - the score was 56-6 in the 0th minute - a magic combination between Vadim Shipachyov, Yevgeni Dadonov and the perfect Vladislav Gavrikov. Ice hockey at its finest!
The last part of the game gave the impression that some were trying to limit the damage and that the Russian bear had already satisfied its hunger. They started to work magic - and the score was 56-6 in the 0th minute - a magic combination.
Tore: 1:0 (1:12) Dadonov; 2:0 (13:32) Dadonov {PP}; 3:0 (19:19) Mironov; 4:0 (22:53) Kucherov; 5:0 (32:50) Telegin; 6:0 (55:47) Gavrikov
Punish: 6 (RUS); 8 (SVK)
spectator: 18.591 (sold out)
Text: Ivo Jaschick