News from January 1989

Czechs hand the Soviets first loss of tournament
- - The Vancouver Sun
3rd January 1989

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Soviet Union had to cancel its planned victory celebration Monday night at the world junior hockey championship when its top line came up flat against Czechoslovakia.

The forward unit of Alexandr Mogilny, Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure is considered the best at the tournament and had combined to score 15 goals before meeting Czechoslovakia.

But the Soviets lost 5-3 - their top line was held in check with only one assist - and the crowning of the 1989 world junior champion will have to wait until Wednesday night.

"Lady luck played a cruel trick on us tonight," said Soviet coach Robert Cherenkov. "Our struggle will continue to the last game."

In an earlier game last night, the U.S. hammered Norway 12-4.

The final game of the eight-country, round-robin tournament pits the Soviets, 5-1, against Canada, 3-1-1.

The Soviets could have clinched the title, won by Canada a year ago in Moscow, with a win over Czechoslovakia, now 3-2-1. The Czechoslovakians were not in a generous mood as they forechecked tenaciously.

Petr Hrbek scored the go-ahead goal for Czechoslovakia at 1:17 of the third period on a turnover in the Soviet zone and goals by Radek Gardon and Milan Tichy, the latter into an empty net, iced the victory.

After the game, Czechoslovokia coach Josef Vimmer thanked his players for a "well-played, well-disciplined and very clean game.

"We play the Russians often and know their weaknesses," said Vimmer. "We capitalized on them tonight when there were no breakdowns in our discipline."

Czechoslovakia's victory provided a flicker of hope for a Canadian gold medal. For Canada to win again, the Canadians must defeat Finland tonight and the Soviets on Wednesday, while Sweden, 4-1, must lose Wednesday to the United States. Sweden plays winless West Germany, 0-5, today.

The Soviets top the standings with 10 points, followed by Sweden with eight and Canada, the United States and Czechoslovakia with five each.

The Soviets had appeared invincible until Monday night. But when Mogilny suffered a leg injury late in the second period, the Russian attack slowed.

Cherenkov said Mogilny's status will not be determined until just before the game against Canada.

Many scouts at the tournament agree that the Soviet unit will be the next great line in Russian hockey, eventually taking over from the KLM unit of Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larianov and Sergei Makarov.

Mogilny already has played for the national senior team and took home a gold medal from the Winter Olympics in Calgary last February.

His play has not been top shelf at the world junior championship, however, as Mogilny has been overshadowed by the speedy Bure, who plays with the quickness and determination of the late Valery Kharlamov, perhaps the greatest of Soviet skaters.

"It has been difficult for Mogilny here because of his injury," added Cherenkov, adding that Mogilny had suffered an injury before the tournament. "He has played several games since his injury on one leg."

Left winger Bure leads the Soviets with eight goals, while Mogilny has four from his right wing position. Federov, the team captain, has scored three times and is the Soviets' strongest centre on faceoffs.

"This is a good Soviet team, but not as strong as the one which won in Hamilton three years ago," said Dennis McDonald, vice-president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association's technical program. "The big line has good potential and it will be interesting to see if they keep those three together when they move up to the national team."

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Soviet pounding leaves Canada empty-handed
- - The Windsor Star
5th January 1989

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CP) - Alexander Mogilny answered even his harshest critics when he directed the Soviet Union to the world junior hockey championship.

The talented but often lethargic right winger scored three spectacular goals in a five-goal second period that carried the Soviets past overwhelmed Canada 7-2 in the final game of the tournament Wednesday night.

The loss dropped the defending champion Canadians out of the medals with a 4-2-1 record, good enough for fourth place in the annual eight-country event.

"All along we thought we were a little stronger than the Canadian team," said Soviet coach Robert Chernekov. "Mogilny had a very good game."

The 19-year-old team captain added the championship pennant to the gold medal he earned last February in Calgary when he played for the unbeaten Soviet national team in the Winter Olympics.

The Soviets and Sweden finished with 6-1 records and the Soviets were awarded first place on the basis of a 3-2 victory over Sweden.

THE LONE SOVIET loss was a 5-2 setback against Czechoslovakia. Sweden took the silver medal and Czechoslovkia got the bronze. Czechoslovakia had the same record as Canada and was placed third with a better goals differential, 17 to eight.

"We didn't help ourselves in the second period with penalties and mistakes," said Canadian coach Tom Webster from the Windsor Spitfires. "But you've got to give a lot of credit to Mogilny for getting the Soviet team fired up.

"He played his best hockey against us."

Webster was critical of the Soviets for calling a timeout with less than three minutes to play. He also said Mogilny was a "lazy player at times" and is "surrounded by a lot of good players."

Mogilny finished the tournament with seven goals and five assists, although he was often overshadowed by linemates Pavel Bure and Sergei Federov.

Federov, Dmitry Khristich, Andrei Sidorov and Roman Oksuta completed the Soviet scoring. Mogilny added an assist in a four-point, final-game salvo.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, but Mogilny scored 20 seconds into the second period to start the Russian onslaught. He slapped a low shot into the net off the stick of handcuffed goaltender Stephane Fiset of the Victoriaville Tigers.

The Canadian marksmen were Andrew Cassels of the Ottawa 67s and Mike Ricci of the Peterborough Petes.

Webster pulled Fiset at 8:52 of the second period with the Soviets leading 6-1. He was replaced by Gus Morschauser of the Kitchener Rangers.

"WE PLAYED WELL in most of the games," said defenceman Corey Foster of Peterborough. "We just seemed to have a bad period here and there. It cost us.

Most of the Canadian players agreed that the game which cost them the most was the 5-4 loss to Sweden when they surrendered two late goals, the last with 28 seconds to play.

Sweden took the silver by defeating the United States 3-1 on the final day. Czechoslovakia got past Finland 7-2 and Norway staved off relegation by beating West Germany 4-2, dropping the Germans into the B Pool next year.

Two Soviets and two Swedes were named to the first all-star team by the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The first team consisted of left winger Bure and goaltender Aleksey Ivashkin of Russia, defenceman Ricard Persson and centre Niklas Eriksson of Sweden, forward Jeremy Roenick of the U.S. (from the Hull Olympiques) and defenceman Milan Tichy of Czechoslovakia.

Canadians named to the second all-star team were Fiset, defenceman Eric Desjardins of the Montreal Canadiens and forward Rod Brind'Amour of the Michigan State Spartans. Mogilny and Federov also were second-team picks.

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