A bench clearance in Russia has brought huge attention once again to the KHL. That’s right folks, over 600 penalty minutes in one game in the KHL this afternoon. The two culprits were Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov, who decided to drop the mitts and raise the fists in what became an all out war in Chekhov! Almost half the players in the game received game misconducts. The game has drawn comparisons to a similar incident in a game between rivals AK Bars Kazan and Traktor Chelyabinsk over 2 years ago now. Fighting is still hugely criticized in Russia, as both offending players receive game misconducts for any fighting.
Big news out of Russia is also the failure of their junior team to gain a medal at the World Junior Championships and Regina and Saskatchewan. The Russians bowed out of the competition at the quarter final stage, losing to the surprise package of the tournament, Switzerland, who mainly thanks to the performances in net of Benjamin Conz and star forward Nino Neiderreiter drew comparisons with the Slovakian team of 2009. There has been considerable tension in the Russian team, as head coach Vladimir Plyuschev’s decision to strip underachieving Nikita Filatov of the captaincy raised the sense of disgruntlement in the Russian camp. The spat has turned public, as both parties have been slinging pelters at each other in the media. Not healthy for the Russian squad, who will once again see their number of players drafted to the NHL dwindle, despite top tier talent such as Vladimir Tarasenko.
The news out of the Czech Republic this week is head coach of HC Slavia Praha, Vladimir Ruzicka decided to turn down the offer of head coach at KHL table topping side, SKA St. Petersburg. SKA wanted Ruzicka to replace Barry Smith, who although his team tops the table, the board and fans aren’t happy with the job he is doing in terms of product on the ice. Ruzi as he is affectionately known is a Slavia legend, and said that he could not leave his club, despite the money from Russia. The news of this seemed to spur Slavia on, as they managed to pick up their first win in 7 games on Thursday, beating PSG Zlin 4-3 in overtime. Slavia have also been boosted by the return of star forward Roman Cervenka. If there ever was a definition of a one man team, it has to be Slavia Praha. Cervenka has double the points than anyone else on Slavia. Other notes from that game was that it was defenceman Petr Kadlec’s 800th professional game.
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