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	TEAM LINE UPS
	EVENT SUMMARY

Niagara University, NY – Russia finally picked up their first win of the tournament tonight, dominating Norway by a score of 8-2.  The team was led by Dmitri Orlov (0G, 3A) and Nikita Dvurechenski (1G, 2A), who each finished with 3 points.  A total of 14 different skaters finished the night with at least one point for the highly talented squad, 7 picking up 2 or more.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game winning goal, snapping a 2-2 tie with a powerplay goal just over 4 minutes into the second period.  The sniper beat goaltender Lars Volden with a twisted wrister from the left circle for his first goal of the tournament.   Tarasenko, the 16th overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, completed the night with a goal and an assist.

The Russian offense finally broke out as they were up 3-2 heading into the third and potted 5 goals in the final 20 minutes.  This included tallies from Danil Sobchenko, Maxim Kitsyn , Andrei Sergeyev , Yevgeni Kuznetsov, and Artyom Voronin. 

When asked about the team’s outburst, Sobchenko remarked, “We started to play as our coach said.  He told us to be smart, get more shots, and use our teammates.”

The second period was a dominant one for the Russians as they fired 30 shots on Volden.  The netminder was up to the challenge, keeping his team in the game by surrendering just one goal during the period.  His stellar play included a big stop on a point-blank shot from Orlov as well as a flurry of saves in the closing minutes of the period with Russia on the powerplay.  Volden finished with 47 saves overall.

The lobsided second period came after an evenly played first, with the team’s trading goals and Russia outshooting Norway 10-9.  Dvurechenski and Sobchenko scored for the Russians, while Nicholas Weberg and Jonas Oppoyen lit the lamp for Norway.

The Norwegians completed their final game of the preliminary round, finishing with a record of 0-4.  Despite doubling their offensive output in a 4 minute span during the first period, they were unable to keep pace with the speedy and crafty Russian lineup for the last half of the game.

“We have been playing good first periods mostly in this tournament, but going down in the second and third”, commented Captain Andreas Stene, “We can’t be happy with one good period, we have to play 60 minutes.”

Norway is now headed to the relegation round, in which they will look to avoid a demotion to the Division 1 level for next year’s championship.  The team’s next game takes place at Dwyer Arena on January 2nd at 3:30 PM against Slovakia, the fourth seed of Group A. 

Russia faces-off in their final game of the preliminary round against the Czech Republic tomorrow night, with the winner advancing to the Quarterfinals, and the loser headed to the relegation round.   Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM at Dwyer Arena.