The St. Petersburg CSK team defeated the Minnesota Gophers last night 4-2 in
Mariucci Arena. The game was much closer than the score indicates! It was a
good game that got better and better. The end of the third period had the
approximately 4-5,000 fans on the edges of their seats. (The attendance is an
estimate as they announce the PAID attendance which has been considerably less
than the actual attendance lately.)
 
The following article appeared in the Star Tribune this morning. I will quote
parts of it for you. Written by John Gilbert, Staff Writer.
 
GOPHERS GIVE RUSSIANS TOUGH GAME IN LOSS
 
Facing an NHL-caliber opponent from Russia on Tuesday night didn't seem to be
the ideal way for the Gophers to come back from the holiday break, but they
gave the St. Petersburg CSK team all it could handle in the opener of the
Russians' five-game tour against WCHA teams.
 
Alexander Vinogradov's rebound goal after a shorthanded rush with 6:18
remaining in the third period, broke a 2-2 tie, and CSK claimed a 4-2 victory
on an empty net goal with 9 seconds left. The Gophers had impressed 8,713
<PAID attendance> fans at Mariucci Arena by coming back from a 2-0 deficit to
gain a 2-2 deadlock in the second period.
 
The CSK team plays at Minnesota-Duluth tonight, at St Cloud State on Thursday,
at North Dakota on Friday and at Wisconsin on Sunday, and coach Boris
Mikhailov expects his team to improve. "This was our first game," he said.
"Next game, we should be much better. Not all our players impressed me
tonight. Some didn't show what they can do."
 
The only goal of the first period came from Nicolai Maslov, who moved to the
slot to beat starting goaltender Jeff Callinan with a slapshot just after the
Gophers had killed off the only penalty of the period. Tony Bianchi came back
for the Gophers' three best chances of the period, but was stopped by
goaltender Valery Ivannikov on a rebound try, then on a one-timer from the
slot, and later when he had another strong shot from the slot. <note: Bianchi
is one of our smallest Gophers, standing only about 5'4">
 
CSK made it 2-0 on a power play early in the second period, when Vladimir
Alexsushin cranked up from the left point to score through a screen at 6:15.
But 14 seconds later, a CSK penalty gave the Gophers a chance to generate some
confidence, which led to two goals and a 2-2 tie.
 
On the power play, the Gophers stormed the goal and Brian Bonin shoveled in a
rebound at the crease to score at 6:38. Less than two minutes later, the
Gophers brought the crowd fully to life when Jed Fiebelkorn rushed up the
right side and blasted a slapshot over Ivannikov's shoulder and into the upper
left corner of the net.
 
By design, Gophers coach Doug Woog sent Jeff Moen in for Callinan midway
through the second period.
 
"We've been off for a week, so everything we planned was on the blackboard,"
Woog said. "I asked our players what they thought the score would be if we
traded 20 rushes each way with this team. you don't beat these teams doing
that. We knew what they'd try to do, and I thought we executed very
efficiently to keep their quality shots to a minimum."
 
In the final minute Moen was pulled for a sixth attacker. But Pavel
Klemantovich stripped the puck from Dan Trebil at center ice and passed ahead
to Alexei Ephimov, who hit the open net.
 
<end quoted material>
 
The Russian team saluted what little of the crowd was left, before they skated
off the ice and got a very nice round of applause from those of us left. They
also had some real bargains on sale in the arena. Russian pins and jerseys at
VERY reasonable prices. The jerseys were going for only $20. (as compared to
the Gopher ones for $75 and $125!!)
 
-Carol
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
Office of the Registrar
(612) 625-8517                                    GO Gophers!!!