The Super Series comes to an end, as Canada takes the finale 6-1

The series never quite reached the hype that the organizers tried to build for it over the summer, the Super Series was more of a tutorial of Brent Sutter style hockey than any kind of showdown, but for fans of junior hockey that's just fine.

The curtain closed on the eight game series on Sunday night in Vancouver, game eight much like many of the other contests, a rather one sided affair that had the Canadians taking the play to a rather unfocused group of Russians for most of the game. After the sixty minutes and occasional burst of bad blood was finished, Canada claimed the 6-1 victory in the eighth and final game.

Uncharacteristic penalties ruled the day for Russia, as their once famed discipline all but abandoned them on the ice in Vancouver, Canada scored five of its six goals on the power play a trend that was repeated many times in the eight game series.

Over all Canada out scored their Russian rivals by a total of 39-13, a ratio of three goals to every on by the Russians. Goal tending at times proved to be a problem for Russia, as was the play in their end where defensively many shortcomings were highlighted in their play.

The once crisp passing and laser like shots were few and far between and for much of the series the Russians simply couldn't find the answers to the Canadian play, Canada ruled the neutral zone and was solid in both their own end and in the Russian end of the rink.

The series will provide much in the way of study material for the Russian program, which no doubt will review the video of the games, make their changes and re tool for their next match up with their rivals.

The victory marked Brent Sutter's farewell to junior hockey, the Team Canada coach now moves on from his home at the helm of the Red Deer Rebels to the challenges of the New Jersey Devils. His team wraps up the tournament with a near perfect record, 7 wins and one tie, that one tie a game that will probably haunt his players more than the coach, as they tried as much as they could to pull it out of the fire in the latter stages of game seven.

His players provided him with a make up and farewell present of sorts on Sunday with a final solid effort, showcasing the skills and desire they have immersed themselves in under his tutelage in the national program.

Streak stopper

In Brent Sutter's own barn, Canada's remarkable success run came to an end, sort of.

Try as they did, Team Canada after battling back from a one goal deficit going into the third period couldn't find a go ahead goal to secure win number seven in the eight game series and keep Brent Sutter's consecutive win streak alive.

The record books will show that Sutter's record winning streak ended at number 18, as Canada and Russia played to a four all tie in front of a very energetic home side in Red Deer's En Max Centrium which was expanded to 7,000 seats for Sutter's farewell performance.

The Team Canada coach who up until this year was coach of the Red Deer Rebels, now moves on to the NHL again with the New Jersey Devils. Friday night was the last chance for the locals to applaud his efforts not only with the home town team but with Team Canada and his remarkable success with the national junior program.

As for the action on the ice, it was by far one of Russia's better games in recent history and probably one that the Canadians would like to have back, they fell behind 2-0 at one time and seemed to take forever to get back into a groove to take on the Russian attack. Canada was sloppy in its own end and seemed to get away from the program a bit in this one, allowing the Russians to possess the puck more than they had in the first six games, the first two Canadian periods were unlike what we have become used to in the series, a slightly lethargic pace and featuring lack of attention on the penalty kill which came back to haunt them.

But once they scored the tying goal, the intensity of play went up another notch as both teams went from end to end with numerous chances. Canada seemed to be on the cusp of taking the lead and another victory but some remarkable saves by Vadim Zhelobnyuk, who faced 36 shots over the three periods turning aside all but four.

Canadian goaltenders faced only 19 shots in total, as Sutter rotated Steve Mason and Jonathan Bernier, Mason allowed two goals on five shots while Bernier stopped 12 of 14 Russian shots.

As the final minutes wound down, the Canadian side seemed to be giving its best to give the coach another notch on the record belt, but the Russians seemed determined to deny them.

While they have yet to lose a game in the Super series, Canada will no doubt regret losing the momentum that they were carrying into Red Deer. Game eight, the final match of the eight game series is set for Sunday night in Vancouver, where only 400 seats remain on sale.

Six down, two to go

The Canadians didn't bring their best game to Saskatoon, but as has become apparent in this Super Series, (such as it has been) you suddenly don't need your best to topple the Russians.

In a game which saw the Canadians out shoot the Russians by a huge margin (42-17) the story could have been the missed scoring opportunities by Team Canada. Playing just a little too cute at times, the Canadians mishandled the puck at key times in the Russian end of the rink. If they had been a little sharper in their passing game they may have put a few more shots behind Semen Varlamov who played a pretty amazing game for the Russians.

All but abandoned by his defence, Varlamov tried valiantly to keep his team in the game denying many Canadian shots time and time again. Frustration led to a parade of penalties for the Russians which surprisingly didn't cost them as much as it could have. Canada had a number of 5 on 3 opportunities at key times in the game but could not capitalize on them.

As the game moved into the third period with the two teams tied at 1-1, Canada finally found the chink in Varlamov and put the game away with three goals on the way to the 4-1 victory.

Canada was quite sloppy at times getting away from the attack plan that Brent Sutter has put together for his team. The regained their play in the third and began to shut down any hope that the Russians might have had about a come back.

The play of the Russians has left many scratching their heads, as this team is certainly unlike most of the machines that have come to Canada in the past. They play far too tentative, make uncharacteristic mistakes and leave their their goaltenders on their own to fend for themselves far too much.

If they have any hope of avoiding a sweep, they need to get a plan together and stick with it for the sixty minutes. The final two games in Red Deer and Vancouver will be their last chance to try and regain a bit of the mystique they once had. But you just don't get the feeling that they'll be able to do that on this tour.

It would seem that the best they can hope for is to try and make games seven and eight close.

Warming up the brooms

Perhaps it’s fitting that the final four games of the Super Series take place in Western Canada where curling is such a popular activity, after all there should be no shortage of brooms around as Team Canada continues on along its dominating path.

Russia can claim a moral victory of sorts having out shot the Canadians 33-30 and having put up a strenuous effort through twenty minutes of play, but once those floodgates opened Canadian goals came as fast as the water on the Red And Assiniboine rivers during a heavy spring melt.

The Canadians began the deluge early in the second period and never looked back on the way to their convincing and statement making victory of 8-1 at Winnipeg's MTS Centre in front of 13,563 very patriotic citizens. Flags were flying and the crowd were singing as Canada came at the over matched Russians in wave after wave of attacks.

By six minutes of play of the second period Canada was two goals up on their Russian opposition, a margin that was cut by 1 when Alexander Vasyunov picked up a power play goal at the eight minute mark, but Canada quickly responded with a short handed goal to go ahead 3-1 and they never looked back after that, scoring five more over the next thirty minutes to put the exclamation point on game five.

Claude Giroux paced the Canadians with two goals, while single markers came from Logan Pyett, David Perron, Sam Gagner, Zac Boychuk, Zach Hamill and Kyle Turris.

Jonathan Bernier of the Lewiston Maineiacs, held his ground in the Canadian nets deflecting away all but 1 of the 33 Russian shots, he suffered a few bumps and crashes in the first period of play as the Russians provided a rather enthusiastic and physical element to their attack, but in the end Bernier had their number, much to the frustration of the Russian juniors.

Vadim Zhelobnyuk was left to face the Canadians and all eight of their goals, frequently staring down breakaways or two on ones as the Russian defence seemed to collapse into confusion as the Canadians crossed the blue line.

The Russians have not provided much of the trademark play that past teams have featured, their passing is anything but crisp and they are having some serious malfunctions in the scoring and playmaking department, as mentioned defensively they are having troubles adjusting to the Canadian transition game and with the exception of that first period tonight they have also shied away from a physical approach to the play.

Canada has outscored their opposition 25- 7 in five games thus far and look as though they could possibly double that number by the time the teams bid their adieus in Vancouver at the end of the week.

Next up for the series is tomorrow nights match in Saskatoon, where it’s expected that once again a large and boisterous crowd will greet the players, many of whom are regular visitors during the WHL season.

So far it’s been a clinic by Canada on how the game should be played, all that seems left for the Russians is to take some more notes, grab the film and head for home to work on their play and develop a new approach for this years’ World Junior Tournament over Christmas and New Year’s in the Czech Republic.

Siberian Sweep

Game four provided a forum for the Russian squad to showcase some of the skill and intensity that many had hoped to see from them in this Super Series. Despite falling behind three to nothing heading into the third period of play, the Russians had what was most likely their best game of the series so far on Saturday. With many opportunities to regain some of the momentum in this eight game series.

It was the goal tending of Steve Mason that early on in game frustrated the Russian attack, denying them rewards for the many chances that they had in the first period of play.

Canada chipped away at that attack and took advantage of opportunities to build a 3-0 lead, but a dedicated Russian team bounced back with two quick goals in the early moments of period number three to pull within one goal of the Canadians. In the early stages of the third period, it seemed that the Russians were prepared to give the hometown crowd of Omsk something to celebrate. The energy in the building quickly picked up as the Russians swarmed the Canadian end, their two goals sparking the crowd back to life after having been silenced in frustration for two periods.

With the Russians applying some extra pressure in the third, Canada answered back quickly picking up a goal minutes after the two Russian markers, doubling the score at 4-2 by the four minute mark of the third, a score that would hold until the end of the game. That insurance marker seemed to settle the Canadians down and allowed them to regain some of the flow of a game that for the most part they had controlled.

The hectic pace continued in the first half of the third period, with the teams racing from end to end, the Russians to try and close the gap, the Canadians to attempt to put the game away.

As the tempo picked up, so did the physical play as bodies went flying and crashing in every direction. Canada managed to turn back the Russian resurrection, denying them the opportunity to pull even or to go ahead. By the mid point of the third period the game had returned to a more familiar pattern for Canada of puck control and the ability to force the turnovers in the Russian end that slowed down their attack.

With the final minutes ticking down on the clock, Canada once again called on Mason to make one or two key saves to shut the door on the Russian’s comeback bid.

The game was by far the best effort of the series so far for the Russians, who showed that despite falling behind on both the scoreboard in game four and four games to none in the series so far, that there is still a bit of life left for them. For Canadian head coach Brent Sutter, his team showed more glimpses of character in an ability to regroup and turn back the Russians as they increased the pressure.

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Canadian goal scorers in the game were Brad Marchand with two including the all important fourth goal of the game, while Sam Gagner and John Tavares picked up markers in the first two periods of play.
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At the midway point of the tournament, Canada has been full value for their four games to none lead, having outscored their Russian hosts 17-6 and controlling much of the play of the 240 minutes of hockey played so far.

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The two teams now make the long journey from Siberia to Moscow and then on to Winnipeg for game five on Tuesday night. Canada already having traveled half the way around the world, now finds themselves half the way to their goal of dominating the series.

Runaway train?

Game three of the Super Series was along the lines of a freight train running the tracks without brakes. Team Canada just seemed to launch their play into another gear and took control of the game every time that Russian’s showed any intention of getting close.

While the Russian squad was only one goal down through the first and second periods of play, the third proved to be their undoing as Canada rattled off three unanswered goals on the way to their 6-2 victory, taking firm control of the Russian leg of the eight game super series and setting the stage for a potential sweep of the Russian end of the tournament when game four gets underway on Saturday.

And as if the Russian’s scoring chances weren’t bad enough, they now have to make do without star forward Alexei Cherepanov who suffered a concussion in a collision with Brandon Sutter in the first period of Game 2 in Ufa. Without a key player such as Cherepanov, the Russian attack seems to struggle to get moving and once it does the forward momentum seems to drift off as they enter the Canadian end of the rink.

Special teams once again proved to be the Canadian advantage in the game, as it has in all three games of the series thus far. The Canadians scored four power-play goals on Friday and a featured a penalty kill that has now held Russia scoreless on 25 chances over three games, including a number of five-on-threes. Considering the physical nature of the Canadian play, shorthanded play is going to be constant in the series, so far the Canadians have not suffered to terribly for their penalties and that trend continued through game three.

There is little time for the Russian’s to regroup and work out a new approach, Game Four takes place Saturday, an early morning wake up again for Canadian fans, as the puck drops at 6 am in the Eastern time zone, 7 Atlantic and out west folks will have to decide whether to make it an early Saturday or a very late Friday night, game time on TSN in the West is 3 am.

Russian's look lost in the fog

It's not so much the humidity, it's the heat of the Canadian attack! The Canadian side of the Super series competition got their legs back in full motion for game number two and that proved to be a bad thing for their Russian hosts.

With some solid goal tending from Jonathan Bernier of the Lewiston Mainiacs the Canadians secured a 3-0 shutout on the fog shrouded ice of Ufa, the brand new rink which perhaps might wish to invest in a faster working ventilation system.

With a Canadian referee overseeing the match, the parade to the penalty box seemed to be a little less frequent as Canada faced only five short handed situations compared to the fourteen from game one.

The Russian squad seemed to have problems coping with the Canadian game plan, unable to secure the neutral zone and losing far too many battles in their own end and far too many face offs to motivate any kind of attack.

Frustration seemed to get the better of the Russians as they became more chippy as the game wore on, taking bad penalties of their own and getting away with a few blatant fouls that should have been called.

David Perron of the Lewiston Maineiacs, Kyle Turris of the Burnaby Express and Stefan Legein of the Niagara Falls IceDogs notched the goals for the Canadian side, which seemed to be in sync completely as early as the first period of play.

As the Canadians began to control the play, the famed discipline of the Russian's seemed to fall to the side as they got away from any sense of an organized attack and instead seemed to be confused as to how they should handle the Canadian game plan. The fog was rather symbolic for the Russian play on the day, for at times they seemed to be lost on the ice unsure of what their next move should be.

It's farewell to Ufa and on to Omsk for games three and four, where hopefully the air circulation will provide for a clearer view of the ice for players, fans and the television audience.

Super Series 2007 Archive

We'll stash all of our Super Series stories here for easy access.

August 27- Coming from behind to go out in front
August 27- Calling Paul Watson!
August 27- Canada overcomes two goal deficit to take game one
August 27- Super Series 2007 Results
August 27- Super Series Schedule
August 27- Super series set for puck drop

Coming from behind to go out in front

Team Canada made their first statement of the Super Series on Monday, no game is over until the final whistle and patience will pay off over sixty minutes.
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The Canadians fell behind in the first period by a score of 2-0 and then turned the game around completely in the following forty minutes. Despite a number of short handed situations through the game, the Canadians managed to not only stay in the first game of the eight game series, but reclaim it and take the 4-2 victory away from the Russians in front of their boitsterous home crowd in Ufa.

It's a solid start for the Canadians, who managed to get over any nerves after twenty minutes and knuckled down to the job at hand.

Game Summary from Hockey Canada.

Some of the reviews of the day's action from Ufa.

Globe and Mail- Canada edges Russia 4-2 to open Super Series
CBC- Canada wins Super Series opener
Canada.com- Canada scores four straight to take Super Series opener
Canoe.com- Super start for Canada

Calling Paul Watson!

If the famed environmentalist Paul Watson is looking for a new cause, there are apparently a number of furry animals somewhere in the Russian heartland looking for someone to take up their cause.

The Super Series between the Junior teams of Canada and Russia got underway on Monday, and with the completion of game one, a successful one for Team Canada came the obligatory most valuable player of the game awards.

Team Canada's Karl Alzner was the debut recipient of the award for achievement in game one, and as can be seen in the hat modelled above, there will be no doubt several animals in the Russian wilderness feeling a little bit colder these days.

It's a stylish not so little thing that the Russians are handing out to the deserving, a chapeau that surely knocks the ole Daniel Boone coonskin cap or Beaver tail chapeau of the Canadian trappers down by more than a few hat sizes!

Canada overcomes two goal deficit to take game one

Penalty killing will clearly be an important part of Canada’s game in the Super Series.

The Canadian team had to play through eleven short handed situations, including a couple of five on three situations in game one of their eight game series against Russia.

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As seems to be the case in Internationally officiated games, any form of contact can suddenly send you to the box, particularly anything to do with the hockey stick. Canada played almost one third of the game down a man on the ice, but still managed to not only weather the storm, but to turn the flow of the game around and move the game into the Russian end of the ice.

Game one saw Canada fall behind two to nothing before storming back to score four unanswered goals on the way to a 4-2 opening night victory. Ilya Kablukov and Alexander Ryabev paced the Russians to the early lead before Canada could mount its comeback and eventual victory.

Steve Mason loomed large in the Canadian net, bouncing back after a goal which he no doubt wish he could have back. From that point on, Mason shut the door to the Russians who thanks to those man advantage situations had no shortage of opportunities to work the puck in the Canadian end.

Strong Canadian fore checking would however counter the Russian attack, frustrating the Russians and slowing down their movement of the puck out of their end of the rink. Goaltending once again seems to be a troublesome aspect for Russian hockey, while the bulk of the blame can’t be laid at the skates of the Russian goaltender, when the Russians needed a key save to slow down Canada’s momentum it wasn’t there. However, the simple fact is that once Canada came back from the early Russian goals, they increased the pressure on the Russians, who couldn’t answer back despite the many man advantage situations presented.

Brent Sutter’s squad showed a fair amount of character in this opening game, shaking off any first game jitters and regrouping after falling behind by two goals, they managed to overcome the wide gulf in penalties (only five Russian penalties were called) and were able to stay to their game plan. Despite the frequent visits to the penalty box, the Canadians kept up their physical play, especially in the Russian end of the rink, which served to interrupt the Russians before they could carry the puck deep.

Canadian goal scorers included Stefan Legein, Kyle Turis, Brad Marchand and Sam Gagner.

Tonights game will be re-played on TSN and on the networks broadband connection at midnight.

Game number two takes place on Wednesday from UFA with another early broadcast call for Canadians of 9 am ET and 6 am on the west coast.

Super Series 2007 Results

Results from the eight game super series between the Canadian and Russian Junior Hockey teams.

Aug. 27- Canada 4 @ Russia 2 from Ufa
Aug. 29- Canada 3 @ Russia 0 from Ufa
Aug. 31- Canada 6 @ Russia 2 from Omsk
Sept. 1- Canada 4 @ Russia 2 from Omsk

Sept. 4- Russia 1 @ Canada 8 from Winnipeg
Sept. 5- Russia 1 @ Canada 4 from Saskatoon
Sept. 7- Russia 4 @ Canada 4 from Red Deer
Sept. 9- Russia 1 @ Canada 6 from Vancouver

Super Series Schedule

Eight games to rekindle the passions of hockey fans in Canada and Russia.

From Russia:

Monday, August 27- Canada at Russia-Ufa (9 am ET, 6 am PT) TSN

Wednesday, August 29- Canada at Russia-Ufa (9 am ET, 6 am PT) Sportsnet

Friday, August 31- Canada at Russia-Omsk ( 8 am ET, 5 am PT) Sportsnet

Saturday, September 1- Canada at Russia-Omsk ( 6 am ET, 3 am PT) TSN

From Canada:

Tuesday, September 4- Russia at Canada-Winnipeg (8 pm ET, 5 pm PT) TSN

Wednesday, September 5- Russia at Canada-Saskatoon (8 pm ET, 5 pm PT) TSN

Friday, September 7- Russia at Canada-Red Deer ( 10 pt ET, 7 pm PT) Sportsnet

Sunday, September 9- Russia at Canada-Vancouver (8 pm ET, 5 pm PT) Sportsnet

TSN website

Sportsnet website

Hockey Canada website

Super series set for puck drop

They're trying with all their might to recreate the same kind of "Us against Them" theme to the Super Series 2007.

But it's just not catching on in the same way.

Back in 72 it was a different era, the names weren't familiar, the styles quite alien.

Now Russian players make up any number of positions on NHL or Junior A teams, we've marvelled at some of their skills and berated those that dogged it as their contracts came up for renewal.

Still any time Canada plays Russia the thoughts turn to hopefully exciting, end to end hockey, a combination of the Russian flash with the physical Canadian play. Lately however, the skill sets of the players from both nations is such, that the style of play is almost identical whichever uniform you may be watching.

For Canadian fans the start of the Super Series comes with an early morning wake up call Monday, Game one opens up the eight game series at 6 am pacific 9 am in Eastern Canada. The first of four matches from Russia.

The series is being split between the two main English sports networks in Canada, TSN will carry the first, fourth, fifth and sixth games; Sportsnet will have the second, third, seventh and eighth. French Canada will have all games broadcast over RDS.

The TV schedule for all eight games can be found here.

Below some of the preview material we've been reading about the series.

Globe and Mail- High expectations for Canada-Russia junior series
Globe and Mail- Series 'wasn't always an easy sell'
Globe and Mail- Mason gets start for Canada
Globe and Mail- Lucic looks to be a giant for Canada
Globe and Mail- Juniors take their knocks early
Globe and Mail- Canada heats up in muggy Moscow
Globe and Mail- One more junior hockey milestone for Brent Sutter
Globe and Mail- Esposito out of Canadian lineup for Super Series
Globe and Mail- Super Series set to begin
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Canoe- Russia salutes Summit Series
Canoe- TV teamwork for Canada-Russia
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Canada.com- Sutter names Lucic Team Canada captain
Canada.com- Defenceman Doughty puts new spin on old move
Canada.com- Sutter gets tough with Canada’s Super Series players
Canada.com- Junior summit series likely to rekindle memories of 1972
Canada.com- Summit Series snub motivates OHL star
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CBC Sports- Mason tabbed as starting goalie for Super Series
CBC Sports- Canada names Lucic captain for Super Series
CBC Sports- Esposito out of Canadian lineup for Super Series
CBC Sports- Hockey Canada unveils Super Series sites
CBC Sports- Super Series
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TSN- TSN main website
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ROGERS SPORTSNET- Sportsnet Hockey Page