🇨🇦 Canada 6-1 Russia 🇷🇺
Canada / Russia Super Series, Game 8
General Motors Place, Vancouver 🇨🇦
Sunday, 09 September 2007

It didn’t have the last-minute drama of Paul Henderson’s winner in Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series, but Game 8 of the 2007 Canada / Russia Super Series sent fans home happy from Vancouver’s GM Place.

With five power play goals, including a pair from local boy Kyle Turris, Canada trounced Russia 6-1 to conclude an odyssey that began 27 August in Ufa, Russia.

Canada convincingly wrapped up the series with a 7-0-1 record, outscoring Russia by a 3-to-1 margin (39-13 overall).

“The kids were prepared to play today,” said head coach Brent Sutter. “They came to the rink excited about this game. To go 7-0-1 is remarkable, when you consider all the travel and everything involved. I think our preparation and how the kids committed over the summer to get ready was what separated us from the opposition.”

Karl Alzner and Zach Boychuk added a goal and an assist apiece, and Brandon Sutter and Colton Gillies also scored for Canada.

“The crowd was awesome,” said Alzner. “It was great to play in front of my family and friends. As for the team, I expected coming in that we would have a really solid team that would win the majority of the games, and we got everything we expected and more.”

Zach Hamill and Sam Gagner each recorded two assists. That brought Gagner’s series-leading points total to 15, and the nifty centre was honoured as the series MVP.

Goalie Leland Irving was nearly perfect between the pipes, although Russia’s Yevgeni Dadonov scored with 2:40 left to spoil his shutout bid.

Canada had early opportunities on the power play after Alexei Grishin was called for high-sticking at 2:13. Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovski was forced to make a nice save off a Turris one-timer set up by Drew Doughty.

Russia generated some pressure in the Canadian zone toward the end of the first period, but Canada controlled the opening 20 minutes overall.

Canada got off to a quick start in the second when Claude Giroux burst to the net and nearly re-directed a Brandon Sutter feed past Bobrovski.

No sooner had Russia killed off the ensuing man advantage then Canada got another one. At 3:43, an Alzner blast from the centre point beat Bobrovski high blocker side, giving Canada a 1-0 lead.

Canada jumped into a two-goal lead at 11:13 with a two-man advantage, when Sutter collected the rebound from a Gagner shot and flipped it high into the net.

It was 3-0 Canada three minutes later on the power play after Boychuk lost his footing at the bottom of the faceoff circle but still zinged a beautiful shot over the goalie’s glove from his knees.

In the third period, tempers began to flare, as Team Canada captain Milan Lucic and Vyacheslav Voinov were sent off after scuffling in the Russian end.

Canada stretched its lead to 4-0 with just over 10 minutes to go when Turris backhanded a rebound past a sprawling Bobrovski, much to the delight of his hometown fans.

With 8:50 left, a melee erupted behind the Russian net after Maxim Chudinov threw a high hit after the whistle on Giroux. Roughing minors and misconducts were handed out, but that was as nasty as it got.

“Obviously, the Canadian mentality is that we don’t like to get cheap-shotted like that, so I think our guys did the right job stepping up for one another,” said Lucic.

Turris scored again with a great backhand deke on the power play at 15:46, making it 5-0. Just 22 seconds later, Colton Gillies grabbed a rebound on the doorstep and put it home to round out Canada’s scoring.

Yevgeni Dadonov spoiled Irving’s shutout bid with less than three minutes to go, deflecting in a pass from Alexander Ryabev on the doorstep.

Final shots favoured Canada 45-26. Turris was Canada’s Player of the Game, and Bobrovski was selected for Russia.

“We didn’t take our foot off the gas,” said Lucic. “We wanted to end off this tournament with a boom, because everyone always remembers the last game that’s played.”

BOXSCORE
1st Period
02:13 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Grishin, high sticking
07:38 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Gagner, hooking
11:43 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Alexandrov, tripping
14:40 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Ellerby, roughing
19:06 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Schenn, tripping

2nd Period
21:03 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Chudinov, hooking
23:11 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Doronin, hooking
23:43 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Alzner (Giroux, Gagner)
29:58 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Kulikov, slashing
30:10 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Doronin, high sticking double minor
31:13 – 🇨🇦 PP2 GOAL – Sutter (Gagner, Alzner)
33:08 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Boychuk (Hamill)
34:17 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Boychuk, roughing
34:17 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Voinov, roughing
34:17 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Legein, roughing
35:18 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Chudinov, high sticking
39:00 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Tavares, checking from behind minor + 10 min. misconduct
39:58 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Chudinov, high sticking

3rd Period
45:37 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Lucic, roughing / slashing double minor
45:37 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Voinov, roughing
48:43 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Glukhov, roughing
49:57 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Turris (Boychuk, Hamill)
51:10 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Chudinov, roughing / cross checking double minor + 10 min. misconduct
51:10 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Giroux, roughing double minor + 10 min. misconduct
51:10 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Alexandrov, roughing minor + 10 min. misconduct
51:10 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Ellerby, 10 min. misconduct
51:10 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Tikhonov, 10 min. misconduct
51:10 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Schenn, 10 min. misconduct
54:39 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Zubov, hooking
55:46 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Turris (Tavares, Godfrey)
56:08 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Gillies (Pyett, Lucic)
57:20 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Dadonov (Ryabev)
59:03 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Tavares, hooking / tripping double minor

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇦 Irving (25-26)
L: 🇷🇺 Bobrovski (39-45)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 14+18+13 = 45
🇷🇺 11+9+6 = 26

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Jonathan Bernier, Leland Irving, Steve Mason. Defence: Karl Alzner (A), Drew Doughty, Keaton Ellerby, Josh Godfrey, Thomas Hickey, Logan Pyett, Luke Schenn, Ty Wishart. Forwards: Zach Boychuk, Cory Emmerton, Sam Gagner (A), Colton Gillies, Claude Giroux, Zach Hamill, Stefan Legein, Milan Lucic (C), Brad Marchand, David Perron, Brandon Sutter (A), John Tavares, Kyle Turris, Dana Tyrell.
🇷🇺 Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovski, Semyon Varlamov, Vadim Zhelobnyuk. Defence: Yuri Alexandrov (C), Maxim Chudinov, Pavel Doronin, Alexei Grishin, Yevgeni Kurbatov, Kirill Tulupov, Ivan Vishnevski, Vyacheslav Voinov, Yegor Zubov. Forwards: Artyom Anisimov, Ruslan Bashkirov, Yevgeni Bodrov, Yevgeni Dadonov, Anton Glovatski, Mikhail Glukhov, Ilya Kablukov, Konstantin Kulikov, Maxim Mamin, Maxim Mayorov, Alexander Ryabev, Vyacheslav Solodukhin, Viktor Tikhonov, Alexander Vasyunov.

Article Credit: Hockey Canada