MHL. Deja vu

Snezhnye Barsy is quite a comfortable opponent for our junior team. They managed to win only once in overtime in ten games against Medvedi. It happened on November 17, 2011 in Chelyabinsk, after which the black-and-white have never left the ice without points. The goal differential also shows the difference in class of teams – 43 vs. 14. It is worth noting that at the start of the current season Belye Medvedi defeated visitors from Astana on home ice (6:0).

Compared with the game against Sibirskiye Snaypery, only two players born in 1998 remained in the lineup; they are Vitali Abramov, who took place in fourth line, and D-man Dmitri Alekseyev who became Stanislav Lukin’s partner in the fourth D pair. Ivan Bezrukov took place in the first line while Maksim Korinevsky was moved to the second line. Yegor Nazarov took place in the nets.

In the first period, the teams attacked carefully and focused on defending their own goal. In the middle of the period hosts had two opportunities to punish our team, but four penalty minutes has passed for Medvedi without much trouble. Before the first break, Belye Medvedi had an opportunity to score during the power play, but the score did not change.

Things turned upside down in the second period as Snezhnye Barsy began to make defensive mistakes over and over again, which led to four goals in Astana team’s net. Aleksandr Sharov scored twice, and Ivan Bezrukov and Vladimir Ionin each added a goal in team’s ‘basket’.

It soon became clear that the third period would be academic, which is exactly what happened. Artyom Melikhov and Nikita Mosharov each scored a goal, setting the final score of this game – 0:6. Interestingly, the result of this match was absolutely identical to what the teams played to in the beginning of the season in Chelyabinsk. Also worthy of mention is Yegor Nazarov’s excellent play; Yegor blocked 28 shots and claimed the fourth shootout in the regular season.

Thus, Belye Medvedi solidified their lead in the overall league leaderboards.

Game details

SNEZHNYE BARSY vs. BELYE MEDVEDI – 0:6 (0:0, 0:4, 0:2)
Goals: Sharov (Zabavin), 21 (0:1); Bezrukov (Abramov, Mosharov), 27 (0:2); Ionin, 35 (0:3); Sharov (Korinevsky), 38 (0:4); Melikhov, 42 (0:5), Mosharov (Abramov), 58 (0:6).

SNEZHNYE BARSY
Volosenko;
Kayirov – Zinchenko, Asetov – Bogatyrenko – Kormakov;
Ibraybekov – Stepanenko, Kabiyev – Grents – Pushkarsky;
Kalinin – Kursakbayev, Baranov – Kolpakov – Kinstler;
Medvedev – Lazarev, Belov – Abramov – Volsky.

BELYE MEDVEDI
Nazarov;
Zabavin – Nazarkin, Bezrukov – Sharov – Zakarlyukin;
Voynov – Isayev, Korinevsky – Tridchikov – Ionin;
Petrikov – Zhuldikov, Afonasyevsky – Melikhov – Zinovyev;
Lukin – Alekseyev, Abramov – Mosharov – Kulikov.

Shots: 28 (11+8+9) – 25 (10+9+6).
Faceoffs won: 34 (11+10+9) – 29 (10+6+11).
PIM: 10 (2+2+8) – 12 (4+2+6).
PP goals: 0-0.

Senior official: Mikhail Surdyayev (Perm).

February 16, 2015. Kazakhstan Ice Palace, Astana, Kazakhstan.