GRANADA, Spain (CIS) – Canada’s hopes of successfully defending its men’s hockey title at the Winter Universiade were derailed on Friday as Russia scored twice in a shootout to defeat the team of Canada West conference all-stars 3-2 in the first semifinal of the biennial tournament, in the Granada Sports Palace.
 
Timur Shingareev and Sergey Barbashev both scored on Canadian goalie Kris Lazaruk (Edmonton), while Team Canada forwards Chris Collins (Calgary) of the University of Calgary Dinos and TJ Foster (Slave Lake, Alta.) from the University of Alberta Golden Bears were both denied by Russian puck-stopper Sergey Belov, who was brilliant all game and made 37 saves in regulation and in the five-minute overtime, including 15 in the second period and 13 in the third.
 
The loss sends the Red and White to the bronze medal game Saturday at 6 a.m. EST (noon local), where they will meet either the Czech Republic or Kazakhstan, the team a group of AUS conference standouts beat for FISU gold in 2013 in Trentino, Italy. The third-place match will be streamed live at www.fisu.tv.
 
Canada (4-1) was searching for its fifth gold medal showing in men’s hockey at the Universiade, but instead will have to battle for its 14th podium in 15 appearances at the competition.
 
Russia (4-1), which boasts a roster featuring 10 players with KHL experience, will be in the hunt for their sixth Universiade triumph since 1993. The USSR had previously captured five titles.
 
The shootout win on Friday avenges Russia’s 5-3 loss at the hands of the Canadians in preliminary play, and also makes-up for the 2-1 loss they suffered to Canada in the 2013 semifinals. The archrivals were meeting in the semis or final for the fifth straight Universiade.
 
“We just didn’t bury enough pucks today,” said Canadian and University of Saskatchewan head coach Dave Adolph. “We had a bit of a slow start, but I thought we gave a fantastic effort for the rest of the game and played really well. And it’s just so hard to give the effort we gave, and lose in a shootout. But, the boys should be proud of their effort today.”
 
Russia carried the play for the bulk of the opening period, outshooting Canada 12-7 in the first 20 minutes and earning a 1-0 lead when Ivan Petrakov scooped a Canadian turnover near the face-off circle to Lazaruk’s left, and then beat the University of Calgary goalie with a screened shot at 3:40.
 
Canada pulled level when Golden Bears forward Levko Koper (Edmonton) buried a rebound past Belov while Canada was on the power play. It was Koper’s third goal of the tournament, and it happened when Cody Cartier’s (Sylvan Lake, Alta.) wrist shot squeezed through Belov’s equipment and was sitting in the blue paint for Koper to bang home.
 
The Canucks took their first lead of the game just 1:25 into the third period, as Collins converted a slap-pass from UBC defenceman Neil Manning (Nanaimo, B.C.) past Belov while Canada was on a 5-on-3 power play.
 
Russia tied the game up just under seven minutes later after Canada iced the puck and the Russians won the draw, allowing Shingareev to tee-up a howitzer that ricocheted off a couple of bodies and past Lazaruk at the 8:11 mark.
 
The Canada West all-stars then had back-to-back power-play opportunities in the final 10 minutes, but couldn’t convert, sending the game to overtime.
 
In the extra session, Canada outshot Russia 2-0, but again couldn’t find the game-winner.
 
Barbashev, who has played over 100 games in the KHL, scored Russia’s first shootout goal, beating Lazaruk with a low wristshot over the pad, and below the glove, after Collin’s shot was stopped by Belov. Foster, this season’s Canada West scoring champion, was also stopped by Belov, and moments later Shingareev scored the second shootout goal for Russia, on a shot almost identical to Barbashev’s.
 
“It’ll take some time digest this one,” noted Adolph. “But we need to refocus because we came here to get a medal, so we might as well go get one.”
 
NOTES: In 14 previous appearances at the FISU tourney, Canada has reached the podium 13 times, including four gold medals, three silver and six bronze... Its four triumphs came in 2013 and 2007, when represented by AUS standouts, as well as in 1991 (senior national team) and 1981 (Alberta Golden Bears).
 
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter/2015/index 
Granada 2015 website: http://www.granada2015.org/en/ 
                                                                                                                                   
TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local / 6 hours ahead of EST)
 
Tuesday, Feb. 3 (17:00): Canada 11 South Korea 1
Thursday, Feb. 5 (17:00): Canada 7 Sweden 0
Saturday, Feb. 7 (17:00): Canada 5 Russia 3
Wednesday, Feb. 11 (20:30): Canada 4, USA 0 (quarter-final)
Friday, Feb. 13 (17:00): Russia 3, Canada 2 SO (semifinal)
Saturday, Feb. 14 (12:00): Canada vs. KAZ or CZE (bronze / www.fisu.tv)
Saturday, Feb. 14 (16:00): Russia vs. KAZ or CZE (final / www.fisu.tv)
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
Official boxscore
 
Russia 3, Canada 2 (shootout)
 
FIRST PERIOD
 
SCORING:
 
1. RUS Ivan Petrakov (3), 3:40
 
PENALTIES:
 
Jordan Rowley (CAN), tripping, 5:53;
Cody Cartier (CAN), holding, 13:28;
Ivan Petrakov (RUS), cross-checking, 18:24.
 
SECOND PERIOD
 
SCORING:
 
2. CAN Levko Koper (3) (Cody Cartier, Neil Manning), 3:01 PP
 
PENALTIES:
 
Ivan Petrakov (RUS), hooking, 0:56;
Evgeny Viksna (RUS), high sticking, 1:17
Mitch Maxwell (CAN), slashing, 4:30;
Kendall McFaull (CAN), double minor high sticking, 14:59;
Jordan Rowley (CAN), high sticking, 18:14;
Artem Gordeev (RUS), hooking, 19:35.
THIRD PERIOD
 
SCORING:
 
3. CAN Chris Collins (3) (Neil Manning, Kodie Curran), 1:25 PP2
4. RUS Timur Shingareev (2) (Mikhail Klimchuk), 8:11
 
PENALTIES:
 
Dmitri Akishin (RUS), delay of game, 0:44;
Tyler Fidder (CAN), slashing, 3:26;
Nikita Cherepanov (RUS), delay of game, 10:31;
Mikhail Klimchuk (RUS), hooking, 12:57.
 
OVERTIME (5 minutes)
 
(no scoring)
 
SHOOTOUT
 
CAN Chris Collins, missed (saved by Sergey Belov)
RUS Sergey Barbashev, goal (against Kris Lazaruk)
CAN TJ Foster, missed (saved by Sergey Belov)
RUS Timur Shingareev, goal (against Kris Lazaruk)
 
GOALS (by period)
CAN: 0-1-1-0: 2
RUS: 1-0-1-0: 2 (2-0 in shootout)
 
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 7-16-14-2: 39
RUS: 12-15-6-0: 34
 
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 2-7
RUS: 0-7
 
GOALTENDERS
CAN – Kris Lazaruk (L, 1-1, 34 shots, 32 saves, 2 GA, 65:00)
RUS – Sergey Belov (W, 3-0, 39 shots, 37 saves, 2 GA, 65:00)
 
REFEREES: Patric Bjalkander (SWE), Lassi Heikkinen (FIN)
 
LINESMEN: Timo Heinonen (FIN), Anders Nyqvist (SWE)
 
ATTENDANCE: 2,400
 
START: 17:00
END: 19:27
LENGTH: 2:27
 
FINAL POOL STANDINGS
 
Pool A
                      GP       W         OTW    OTL       L          GF       GA       PTS
1. CZE             3          3          0          0          0          20        5          9
1. SVK             3          2          0          0          1          21        9          6
1. ESP              3          1          0          0          2          12        10        3
1. CHN             3          0          0          0          3          1          30        0
 
Pool B
1. CAN             3          3          0          0          0          23        4          9
2. RUS             3          2          0          0          1          21        6          6
2. SWE             3          0          1          0          2          6          16        2
4. KOR             3          0          0          1          2          5          29        1
 
Pool C
1. KAZ             2          1          0          1          0          5          5          4
2. USA             2          1          0          0          1          5          5          3
3. JPN              2          0          1          0          1          5          5          2
 
Scoring system:
3 points for a win in regulation
2 points for a win in overtime or shootout
1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout
 
Legend: W (win), OTW (OT win), OTL (OT loss), L (loss)
 
About the Winter Universiade

The Winter Universiade is a biennial international multi-sport event open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.
 
The Granada Universiade will feature nine compulsory sports and one optional sport. Compulsory sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, curling, nordic skiing, short track speed skating, figure skating, synchronized skating, snowboarding. Optional sport: freestyle skiing.
 
NOTE: Biathlon and nordic skiing will take place in Strbske Pleso and Osrblie, Slovakia from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1, prior to the start of the Games in Granada.
 
Official website: www.granada2015.org
 
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
 
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
 
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