2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

RUSSIANS BLANK SWEDEN TO CLOSE PRELIMS AT U17 CHALLENGE

JASON LA ROSE

QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Yaroslav Askarov turned away all 22 shots he faced, backstopping Russia to a 3-0 win over Sweden in the preliminary-round finale for both Tuesday at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

The Russians scored once in each period to temporarily take over first place in Group B. They will wait for the result of the Canada Red-Finland game later in the day to find out who and when they will play in the quarter-finals.

It took less than three minutes for Russia to net the eventual winner; Ivan Didkovski raced down the right wing and cut to the net before chipping a shot back against the grain and past Swedish goaltender Calle Clang.

Askarov was at his busiest in the first period, making 14 saves to keep the Russians up one after 20 minutes.

Pavel Tyutnev doubled the lead wish an unassisted effort just past the 12-minute mark of the second period, knocking down a pass at the Swedish blue-line and beating Clang over the shoulder, and Daniil Gushchin finished a Vasili Ponomaryov set-up midway through the third to finish the scoring.

The loss means the Swedes could finish anywhere from second to fourth in the group, depending on the Red-Finland outcome.