Tournament action underway in Astana

Wednesday saw the first summer tournament start in Astana, where two local teams had varying fortunes. In other action, there were victories for Kunlun, Dinamo Minsk and Admiral.

President of Kazakhstan Cup

Lada Togliatti 7 Team Kazakhstan 1 (3-1, 2-0, 2-0)

The Kazakh national team is taking part in this year’s tournament as part of its preparations for the final round of Olympic qualification at the end of the month. However, it is by no means a full-strength roster for the Kazakhs, and the young team that faced Lada endured a tough time in its opening game.

By contrast, Lada looked impressive: predatory in front of goal and solid in defense on the way to an emphatic victory.

The action started early: a clash in the third minute gave Kazakhstan a power play, and those two minutes brought goals at each end. Ostap Safin’s shorty put Lada up, but veteran Roman Starchenko converted the PP to tie it up. Barely a minute later, and back at equal strength, Arkhip Nekolenko restored Lada’s lead and this time the Motormen would not relinquish the advantage.

Not long before the intermission Nikita Boyarkin was beaten for a third time as Nikolai Vladimirov scored. Then, at the start of the second, Arseny Koromyslov made it 4-1. By now, Kazakh confidence was ebbing away and not even a five-on-three power play could clear a path back into the game. Instead, Nikita Mikhailov added a fifth for Lada late in the middle frame.

Boyarkin’s unhappy afternoon continued in the third with Gleb Semyonov and Evgeny Groshev extending the lead to 7-1. Finally the Kazakh goalie was replaced by Maxim Pavlenko, who played out the remaining 14 minutes without allowing any further score.

Barys Astana 2 Amur Khabarovsk 1 (0-0,0-1, 2-0)

For a time, it looked as though both Kazakh teams in action would suffer on the opening day in Astana. However, Barys managed to recover with two goals in the third period to start the competition with a win.

Head coach David Nemirovsky admitted before the game that he was working with restrictions. Several potential players were involved with the Team Kazakhstan set-up, and he was also checking out some new signings in a game situation for the first time. Amur had something closer to a full-strength roster, including imports Cam Lee, Jan Drozg, Alex Broadhurst, Arnaud Durandeau and Devin Brosseau. The latter of those three, Brosseau, got the opening goal of the game early in the second period.

For a long time, that tally was the only difference between the teams. However, midway through the third, Barys turned things around. It started with a goal from Damir Zhafyarov to tie it up. Zhafyarov previously flourished when playing for Nemirovsky at Torpedo and his talent suggests that he could be a real difference-maker in Kazakhstan if he can maintain consistency. A goal in his first game of the summer certainly gives grounds for optimism on that score.

Barely a minute later, there was more for the host to cheer. Will Butcher, another summer recruit, opened his account for Barys off a Daniil Apalkov assist. That proved to be the winning goal as Johan Mattsson kept the Tigers at bay to secure the ‘W’ on his Barys debut.

Warm-up games

Spartak Moscow 1 Kunlun Red Star 4 (0-1, 0-2, 1-1)

KRS got its first win of pre-season, while Spartak’s youngsters struggled in their opening engagement of the summer. Alexei Zhamnov went with an unfamiliar line-up, dominated by players looking to stake a claim for a regular role with the Red-and-Whites. By contrast, Mikhail Kravets was able to select from almost a complete roster and handed a debut to Nail Yakupov, signed earlier this week.

Yakupov marked his reunion with a coach who previously had him at Avangard by collecting an assist on his first appearance. He wasn’t the only player to record a ‘first’ for Kunlun. Defenseman Adam Clendenning got his first goal for the club, forward Tomas Jurco converted Rourke Chartier feed to pot his first goal since rejoining Red Star. Martin Lefebvre collected his first helper for his new team, setting up long-serving captain Brandon Yip for a goal in his first appearance of pre-season. The old guard also combined for a first-period opener with Colin Campbell setting up Spencer Foo.

Spartak showed some promise early in the game. However, three power play failures put the pressure on the Red-and-Whites and after Foo opened the scoring, the Muscovites were always in trouble. Two goals in 14 seconds in the middle frame put the game out of reach and German Rubtsov’s consolation effort was quickly eclipsed by Yip to make the final score 4-1.

Avangard Omsk 1 Admiral Vladivostok 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)

The Sailors gave Ilya Konovalov his debut for the club after his arrival from Dynamo Moscow. And the former Lokomotiv man made a good start, backstopping a third successive Admiral victory.

Avangard, victorious against Dinamo Minsk in its summer opener, had to contend with the loss of Reid Boucher to injury. With Vladimir Tkachyov also out, this is a big concern for Sergei Zvyagin’s team as he looks to generate offense.

Today, it was relatively plain sailing for Admiral at this match-up in Minsk. An early power play enabled Pavel Shen to open the scoring, then Alexander Shevchenko doubled the advantage late in the second. Stepan Starkov added a third seconds into the final frame, putting the game out of the Hawks’ reach. Pavel Koledov pulled one back with 11 minutes to play, but that was all Avangard could find.

Dinamo Minsk 6 HC Norilsk 3 (4-2, 1-0, 1-1)

After defeats in its opening pair of warm-up games, this was third time lucky for Dinamo Minsk. The Bison got it right against VHL outfit Norilsk thanks to a hat-trick from Roman Gorbunov.

The experienced 27-year-old played a big part as Dinamo jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first period. He scored two of the goals, with Timofei Kovgorenya and Nikolai Salgo also finding the net.

However, Norilsk showed some spirit to recover than that slow start and battle back to within a couple of goals before the intermission. Earlier this summer, Dinamo allowed 10 goals against another VHL opponent, so it was understandable that there would be some nerves after Norilsk’s attempted fightback. Gorbunov’s third, scored on the power play in the 34th minute, eased those worries.

Norilsk kept plugging away and a second goal of the game from Alexei Leontiev kept things interesting with five minutes to play. However, Dinamo closed the game out to record its first win of the summer at the third attempt with Sergei Kuznetsov’s empty-netter completing the scoring.