World Junior Championship 2013

Host City: Ufa, Russia
December 26, 2012 – January 5, 2013
RESULT: BRONZE MEDAL

Expectations were very high for Russia’s team at this tournament. Not only was there extra pressure in the wake of the senior national team’s successes, but also these World Juniors were held on home soil in Ufa. New coach Mikhail Varnakov brought back nine players from the silver-medal 2012 squad, including captain Nail Yakupov, forwards Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Kucherov, Alexander Khokhlachev, and Yaroslav Kosov, defensive leaders Nikita Nesterov and Albert Yarullin, and the goaltending tandem of Andrei Vasilevski and Andrei Makarov. This year’s team did not dominate opponents like in 2011 or 2012. Russia was outshot in all but one game and all of its victory were only by one goal, other than a 7-0 routing of Germany. A 4-1 loss to Canada in a highly anticipated match on New Year’s Eve meant that Russia finished second in its round-robin group and faced the Swiss team in the quarterfinal. Russia was on the verge of a catastrophic finish to the tournament, losing 3-2 to Switzerland, before Kucherov tied the game 3-3 in the dying minutes of the third period. Russia then won the shootout tie-breaker. The semifinal against Sweden also went to a shootout, with Russia losing this time. Russia usually saves its best hockey for elimination games against Canada and this year was no exception. Although the stakes were bronze medals rather than gold, both teams were offensively charged and were unwilling to let the other team dominate. After opening with a 3-1 lead, Russian penalties allowed Canada to catch up. Every subsequent Russian goal was answered by Canada’s attacks. After a 5-5 finish in regulation, the game was sealed early in the second minute of overtime as 17-year old Valeri Nichushkin rushed from Russia’s end to Canada’s and buried the puck in the net to earn Russia a third-place finish. With either of Canada or Russia failing to advance to the final, and with Canada’s 15-year medal streak coming to an end, this tournament has indicated that there are no longer just two favourites at the World Juniors.

Game 1: Russia 3 (OT) – Slovakia 2
Goals: Kucherov (Grigorenko), Khokhlachev (Sigarev, Yakupov), Yarullin (Nesterov) – Matis (Mikus, Dano), Mraz R (Bires, Mraz B)
Shots: Russia 27 – Slovakia 34
Saves: Vasilevski 32 – Nagy 24
PIM: Russia 10 – Slovakia 10

Game 2: Russia 2 – United States 1
Goals: Yarullin (Nesterov, Yakupov), Tkachev (Nichushkin, Sergeev) – Trouba (Galchenyuk)
Shots: Russia 30 – United States 42
Saves: Makarov 41 – Gibson 28
PIM: Russia 18 – United States 8

Game 3: Russia 7 – Germany 0
Goals: Kucherov (Grigorenko, Slepyshev), Yakupov (Khokhlachev), Zharkov (Khokhlachev, Yakupov), Yarullin (Grigorenko, Kucherov), Kosov (Mironov), Kosov, Kosov (Shalunov)
Shots: Russia 43 – Germany 41
Saves: Vasilevski 41 – Cupper 36
PIM: Russia 6 – Germany 8

Game 4: Canada 4 – Russia 1
Goals: Hamilton (Nugent-Hopkins), Scheifele (Huberdeau, Nugent-Hopkins), Drouin (Nugent-Hopkins), Huberdeau – Kucherov
Shots: Canada 48 – Russia 22
Saves: Subban 21 – Makarov 44
PIM: Canada 4 – Russia 29

Quarterfinal: Russia 4 – Switzerland 3 (SO)
Goals: Khokhlachev (Yakupov, Nesterov), Grigorenko (Kucherov), Kucherov (Dyakov, Grigorenko) – Bertschy, Ness (Guerra, Simion), Andrighetto (Guerra)
Shots: Russia 37– Switzerland 44
Saves: Vasilevski 41– Nyffeler 33
PIM: Russia 16 – Switzerland 18

Semifinal: Sweden 3 (SO) – Russia 2
Goals: Lindholm (Rask, Molin), Forsberg (Bengtsson, Hagg) – Mironov (Yakupov, Kapustin), Grigorenko (Kucherov, Kosov)
Shots: Sweden 41 – Russia 29
Saves: Lundstrom 27 – Vasilevski 38
PIM: Sweden 2 – Russia 4

Bronze final: Russia 6 (OT) – Canada 5
Goals: Khokhlachev (Dyakov, Yarullin), Yakupov (Yarullin, Nesterov), Dyakov (Tkachev), Mozer (Shalunov), Yakupov (Kapustin), Nichushkin (Tkachev, Sergeev) – Nugent-Hopkins (Scheifele), Huberdeau (Nugent-Hopkins, Murphy), Scheifele (Nugent-Hopkins, Murphy), Murphy (Nugent-Hopkins, Huberdeau), Ritchie (Harrington)
Shots: Russia 25 – Canada 45
Saves: Makarov 40 – Binnington 2/5, Subban 17/20
PIM: Russia 10 – Canada 10

Team Stats:

Player	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
D #5 Albert Yarullin (A)	7	3	2	5	0	4
D #7 Artem Sergeev	7	0	2	2	+3	0
D #9 Nikita Nesterov (A)	7	0	4	4	+1	2
D #22 Andrei Mironov	7	1	1	2	+3	2
D #27 Kirill Dyakov	7	1	0	1	+5	4
D #28 Yaroslav Dyblenko	7	0	0	0	+5	0
D #29 Pavel Koledov	7	0	0	0	+1	6
F #8 Maxim Shalunov	6	0	2	2	+2	6
F #10 Nail Yakupov (C)	7	3	5	8	+2	0
F #11 Evgeni Mozer	7	1	0	0	0	4
F #12 Andrei Sigarev	5	0	1	1	-1	2
F #14 Vladimir Tkachev	7	1	2	3	+2	0
F #15 Valeri Nichushkin	6	1	1	2	+5	25
F #16 Nikita Kucherov	7	5	3	8	+4	4
F #17 Anton Slepyshev	7	0	1	1	+4	4
F #18 Yaroslav Kosov	7	3	1	4	+3	2
F #19 Alexander Khokhlachev	7	3	2	5	+3	4
F #21 Kirill Kapustin	7	0	2	2	-2	14
F #25 Mikhail Grigorenko	7	2	4	6	+4	2
F #26 Daniil Zharkov	7	1	0	1	-1	6

Goaltender	GP	W	L	GAA	Save %	SO
G #1 Igor Ustinski	0	0	0	0	0	0
G #20 Andrei Makarov	3	2	1	2.99	93.3	0
G #30 Andrei Vasilevski	4	2	2	1.81	95.0	1