Russia wins marathon game over Canada Red

A power outage delayed World Under-17 Hockey Challenge action on Saturday at the Qplex, but Russia would hold on for the 4-2 victory over Canada Red when the game finally resumed on Sunday.

Canada couldn't have asked for much worse of a start in the opening period. Russia managed to score twice just over 30 seconds apart, with a nice passing play between Yan Kuznetsov and Ignat Kokhanin allowing Vasili Ponomaryov to get in position to score off of a line change. Ponomaryov would receive the puck in the slot and sent it over Dylan Garand's glove, giving Russia a 1-0 lead.

On the next shift, Russia doubled their lead. Pavel Tyutnev caught the Canadians sleeping and failing to put much pressure on their opponents and sent a weak one past Garand, who found himself searching for the right moves early in the game as Russia would go on to take the 2-0 lead.

Russian goalie Yaroslavl Askarov was on top of his game, first making a huge glove save near the end of the first and then a diving pad save early in the second. Canada would force many chances early in the middle frame, but Askarov kept his team in the hunt with a nice shutout effort through the halfway point of the game.

His team helped him out by extending their lead to three goals. Iliya Rychkov scored at 30:44 in the game after knocking in the rebound off of a chance by Marat Khusnutdinov, capitalizing on a play that saw Alexandr Pashin make his way through the zone with some nice moves carrying the puck.

Finally, the Canadians gave the local fans in New Brunswick something to cheer for. Seth Jarvis had been Canada's best forward most of the game and he was rewarded by knocking in a rebound off of a Jake Murray shot. It took a few tries, but Jarvis was able to break Askarov's perfect game to make it 3-1 late in the second.

Canada was easily the best team in the second half of the game, and at 6:16, they brought themselves within one. Jarvis was, once again, a big part of the play, fighting off a Russian defender before finding Payton Mount all alone in the slot. Mount may not have scored in the WHL before representing Canada, but he would score a big one on Saturday when his wrist shot beat Askarov at 46:16.

With only a few minutes left in the game, a local storm knocked out power in the rink, causing the game to be delayed. The power was not restored in time to finish the game on Saturday, with the remainder of the contest played at noon on Sunday. The Russians would get an empty net goal, holding off thee Canadian charge to win the battle 4-2.

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