Russia and Canada take first games
Russia and Canada have won their first games on the opening day of the 2009 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
Russia defeated Germany on Friday afternoon with a score of 5-0. Canada overcame Belarus by a score of 6-1.
Oleg Saprykin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sergei Zinoviev, Anton Kuryanov, and Danis Zaripov scored for Russia.
The team finished the game with 40 shots on goal while goalie Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 20 attempts at the PostFinance Arena in Bern.
Announced attendance was 10,577.
Over in Zurich, Canada’s Steven Stamkos scored two goals in the first period against Belarus’s Vitali Koval. The second period saw no goals but seven penalties: four against Canada and three against Belarus.
Canada turned up the heat in the third period with three straight goals by Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher and German-born Dany Heatley.
Mikhail Grabovski of Belarus managed to score at almost 13 minutes into the third period. Canada’s Heatley answered a bit over a minute later.
Russia will play France on Sunday and Germany will play Switzerland in Bern. Canada face off against Hungary and Belarus play Slovakia in Zurich.
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