2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge

BIG FIRST PERIOD HELPS RUSSIANS TO FIRST WSHC WIN

DAVID BRIEN

BRIDGEWATER, N.S. – Ilia Volkov scored twice, including the game-winning goal, to help Russia top Korea 5-1 on Wednesday for its first win at the 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge.

The victory gives the Russians third place in the preliminary round; they’ll face the loser of the Canada-U.S. round-robin finale in the semifinals on Thursday, trying to advance to their second-straight gold medal game.

Sergey Panfilov, Ivan Berdnik, and Aleksei Amosov had the other goals for the Russians, which pulled away early with a three-goal first period.

Panfilov got the scoring started at 8:39, cutting in off the wing and beating Korean netminder Man-Gyun Yu.

The lead became two when Dmitriy Lisov found Volkov from behind the net at 12:13, and Berdnik made it a 3-0 game with just four seconds left in the opening frame, getting his shot past Yu from the slot.

Yu was replaced by Jae-Woong Lee to start the second period after allowing three goals on eight shots.

Held without a shot in the first period, the Koreans didn’t direct their first puck on Evgenii Plotnikov until a late-period power play in the second, and they got on the board moments after that when Min-Su Han snapped a shot past the Russian netminder with the man advantage.

Any momentum Korea had from the second period evaporated in the third, thanks in large part to three penalties, one of which the Russians capitalized on.

Volkov’s second goal of the game restored the three-goal lead at 11:37, and Amosov converted on the power play at 13:58 to round out the scoring.

The Russians finished with a 20-5 advantage in shots on goal.

Korea finished winless in the preliminary round for the third consecutive year, and will face the winner of the Canada-U.S. game in Thursday’s other semifinal.