2003 World Junior Championship

Host cities: Halifax and Sydney, Canada
December 26, 2002 – January 5, 2003
RESULT: GOLD MEDAL

In one of the most exciting world junior final games in years, Canada met arguably Russia’s strongest team ever at the juniors. Despite being behind 2-1 through two periods and with the entire crowd against them, Russia pulled off a sweet victory. It was the rematch of the 2002 final and there was no revenge for Canada. This was the third time in five years that Russia beat Canada for the gold, the previous times being in 1999 (also on Canadian soil) and in 2002 in Czech Republic. When the game started Russia immediately began to dominate the play. Canadian goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a few spectacular saves to help his team, but was beaten by Andrei Taratukhin. Canada quickly tied the game less than a minute later. The exciting first period was followed by a relatively dull second period. Both teams looked tired at times, but Canada scored and took the lead. Early into the third period, Igor Grigorenko scored on Fleury to tie the game. A couple of minutes later, Yuri Trubachev put the puck high into the net. During the remaining ten minutes of the game both teams had quality opportunities to score, but Russia’s defense held the fort to the end. At the final buzzer, the whole team mobbed goalie Andrei Medvedev, who made 22 saves. This was Russia’s fifteenth gold medal at the juniors (including Soviet Union’s gold medals). Following the game, Grigorenko was named the tournament’s best forward. When Grigorenko received his award he skated to Medvedev and shouted to the crowd in Russian “The best – is him!” The key to victory was a mix of four stable forward lines, a strong defensive game, and Medvedev’s size and agility. Coach Rafail Ishmatov trained the players to be as disciplined as they can be against the Canadians. Nine members of this Russian team, including superstar Alexander Ovechkin (who had two hat-tricks at this tournament), have since made it to the NHL and many others became stars in the Russian league.

Game 1: United States 1, Russia 5
Goals: O’Sullivan (Whitney) – Ovechkin (Trubachev, Grebeshkov), Ovechkin (Tyutin, Trubachev), Ovechkin (Trubachev, Polushin), Koltsov (Grigorenko, Perezhogin), Trubachev (Polushin, Fakhrutdinov)
Shots: United States 16 – Russia 31
Saves: Howard/Goepfert 26 – Medvedev 15
PIM: United States 32 – Russia 20

Game 2: Russia 4 – Slovakia 0
Goals: Grigorenko (Koltsov, Taratukhin), Anshakov (Kaigorodov, Lyubushin), Polushin (Grebeshkov, Trubachev), Perezhogin (Taratukhin)
Shots: Russia 33 – Slovakia 16
Saves: Medvedev 16 – Sevela 29
PIM: Russia 20 – Slovakia 8

Game 3: Belarus 1 – Russia 5
Goals: Kostitsyn (Volkau) – Perezhogin (Grigorenko, Taratukhin), Kaigarodov (Zherdev, Lyubushin), Taratukhin (Korneev), Grigorenko (Koltsov, Perezhogin), Polushin (Tyutin, Ovechkin)
Shots: Belarus 30 – Russia 45
Saves: Kamovich 40 – Barulin 29
PIM: Belarus 12 – Russia 16

Game 4: Russia 7 – Switzerland 5
Goals: Grigorenko (Taratukhin, Korneev), Koltsov (Taratukhin, Perezhogin), Ovechkin (Trubachev, Polushin), Shishkanov (Kondratiev, Anshakov), Ovechkin (Trubachev, Polushin), Grigorenko (Taratukhin, Perezhogin), Ovechkin (Polushin, Trubachev) – Christen (Baumgartner, Bartschi), Neuenschwander (Stancescu, Romy), Bartschi (Blindenbacher, Ambuhl), Neuenschwander (Ramholt, Romy), Bartschi (Blindenbacher, Christen)
Shots: Russia 29 – Switzerland 27
Saves: Medvedev 22 – Stephan 22

Semifinal: Russia 4 – Finland 1
Goals: Artyukhin, Grigorenko, Perezhogin (Grigorenko), Trubachev) – Niinimaki (Bergenheim, Ruutu)
Shots: Russia 20 – Finland 9
Saves: Medvedev 8 – Lehtonen 16
PIM: Russia 16 – Finland 6

Final: Canada 2 – Russia 3
Goals: Parenteau (Bouchard, White), Upshall – Taratukhin (Grigorenko, Perezhogin), Grigorenko (Taratukhin, Perezhogin), Trubachev (Polushin, Tyutin)
Shots: Canada 24 – Russia 31
Saves: Fleury 28 – Medvedev 22
PIM: Canada 6 – Russia 10

Roster:

Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
D #3 Konstantin Korneev	6	0	2	2	4
D #4 Denis Ezhov	6	0	0	0	6
D #5 Denis Grebeshkov	6	0	2	2	6
D #7 Fedor Tyutin	6	0	3	3	12
D #17 Kirill Koltsov	6	2	3	5	6
D #22 Dmitry Fakhrutdinov	6	0	1	1	2
D #24 Maxim Kondratiev	6	0	1	1	14
D #25 Mikhail Lyubushin	6	0	2	2	0
F #6 Dmitry Pestunov	6	0	0	0	6
F #8 Alexander Ovechkin	6	6	1	7	4
F #9 Alexei Kaigorodov	6	1	2	3	4
F #11 Timofei Shishkanov	6	1	0	1	2
F #13 Nikolai Zherdev	6	0	1	1	2
F #15 Yuri Trubachev	6	3	7	10	2
F #16 Andrei Taratukhin	6	2	6	8	8
F #18 Alexander Polushin	6	2	6	8	4
F #21 Igor Grigorenko	6	6	4	10	4
F #23 Evgeni Artyukhin	6	1	0	1	10
F #26 Alexander Perezhogin	6	3	6	9	4
F #29 Sergei Anshakov	6	1	1	2	0
Goaltender	GP	W	L	GAA	Save %	SO
G #20 Konstantin Barulin	1	1	0	1.00	96.7	0
G #30 Andrei Medvedev	5	5	0	1.80	91.7	1