Don’t know if youve had the pleasure of watching the Canada/Russia super series, but its been a pleasure to finally see live hockey once again. So lets get to it. First, the overall play was actually quite poor. The refs were calling everything, and I mean everything, including things that didn’t even happen. It was a powerplay fest out there littered with mental breakdowns by both clubs in both zones. Definitely a see-saw period with Russia carrying the play to start, and Canada carrying it at the end.
The goaltending was horrific out there, 3 of the 4 goals were soft, and the 4th goal was on a penalty shot, so really no “true” goals yet.
Onto the players youre interested in, Alexei Cherepanov and Artem Anisimov.
First lets start with Anisimov, hes been noticeable only because of his size (so far). Hes huge out there, and you see him because of that, but he hasn’t been particularly noticeable because of his actual game play. Then there is Cherepanov, who is noticeable because the second he touches the puck, the stadium starts to buzz. He made one beautiful centering pass from behind the net, but it looks like his game has really been hurt by the poor ice. A guy known for his ability to control the puck and make good plays, hes been hampered with a bouncing puck.
Terrible ice there, not really benefiting either team, but definitely hurting the play for us fans.
-Inferno
