2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

RUSSIA DEFEATS ONTARIO IN SHOOTOUT THRILLER

by Wendy Graves

SYDNEY, N.S. – Mitchell Marner’s (Thornhill, Ont./London, OHL) second hat trick of the tournament wasn’t enough, as Russia defeated Ontario in a gripping 6-5 shootout Wednesday night at the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Ivan Kashtanov was mobbed by his teammates after scoring the only goal of the shootout.

Ontario rebounded from a poor second period to outscore Russia 4-1 in the third and send the game to overtime – and beyond.­

Dylan Strome (Mississauga, Ont./Erie, OHL) and Kyle Capobianco (Mississauga, Ont./Sudbury, OHL) also scored for Ontario. Graham Knott (Holland Landing, Ont./Niagara, OHL) added two assists.

Ontario set a high-paced tempo out of the gate. They fired 11 shots on net before Russia registered one.

But that one got Russia on the board first; Dmitry Zhukenov picked Marner’s pocket in front of the Ontario net and Ivan Emets fired home the loose puck.

Strome scored the equalizer by picking up a loose puck in front of the Russian net, spinning around and firing top shelf, blocker side.

Russia took control with three goals in the middle frame. Artur Tyanulin launched a missile into the far corner for his team-leading fourth goal. Kashtanov and Danila Kvartalnov both were on the receiving end of passes from behind the net to put Russia up 4-1 going into the second intermission

The third period started better than the second one ended for Ontario. The ice was still wet when Marner atoned for his earlier blunder and finished off a pretty passing play from Knott and Strome to make it 4-2. Forty-three seconds later the lead was down to one when Capobianco scored off the face-off.

Less than a minute after Denis Gurianov restored Russia’s two-goal lead, Marner scored on a delayed penalty to cut the deficit back to one. And with just over a minute and a half left in the third, the comeback was complete, with Marner netting his tournament-leading sixth goal, forcing extra time.

The win leaves Russia two points behind Ontario for second in Group B, but keeps alive its hope for a semifinal spot and a third straight trip to the gold medal game.

Russia and Ontario both close out their preliminary round schedules Thursday in Sydney. Russia takes on Atlantic in the early game (2 p.m. AT), and Ontario plays the United States in the evening (7 p.m. AT).