Pavel Dorofeyev scored the game-winning shootout goal to ensure Russia an emotional 6-5 win. To get there, the hosts had to come back from three goals down.

Maxim Cajkovic, Marcel Lugos , Martin Bucko, Daniel Tkac and Michal Mrazik all scored once for Slovakia. Kirill Marchenko, Danil Misyul, Alexander Romanov, Vasili Podkolzin and Ruslan Iskhakov had

a goal each for Russia, as both teams spread the scoring around.

Despite heavily hinting that he would let goalie Amir Miftakhov rest in the last preliminary game, and indeed not dressing him for the previous night's practice, head coach Alexander Zybin decided

to stick with his starter. It was a decision he would come to second-guess quickly. For Slovakia, Samuel Vyletelka had a big night between the pipes with 40 stops, several of them of highlight

variety.

As the "trophy" to the victor of this contest would be a date with Americans, the winners of seven of the last eight U18 Worlds, and the loser's consolation prize slated to be either Canada or

Sweden, it might have seem like a "pick your poison" scenario in terms of the preferable result. Except, of course, for Russia, losing is never really an acceptable outcome and losing at home is

never really an option to be contemplated.

Sure enough, the home team threw all it had at the Slovaks from the opening faceoff, effectively spending the first dozen or so shifts entirely in the opposing zone. Russians led 10-1 in shots on

goal through the first 10 minutes, with our very unofficial Corsi score standing at, rounded to the nearest hundredth, approximately Everything to Very
Little.

One had the right to wonder whether Chelyabinsk would ever get to hear Nech Boze Da, Slovakia's amazingly cool goal song, ever again. Never worry, the Slavic masterpiece, a soulful yet upbeat plea

to persevere against the pain and the odds, was duly blasted through the Traktor Ice Arena loudspeakers not once or even twice, but three times in the space of one minute and 55 seconds.

It was Russia itself that ended the period of Russian dominance, with two straight tripping penalties, giving the Slovaks 52 seconds of five-on-three advantage. They only used 20 of them, as

Cajkovic padded his credentials as the tourney's top scorer with a blast from the left circle that flew past Miftakhov's glove into the far corner.

And so it was "Nech boze da, nech boze da, ved' my na to mame", meaning "God willing, God willing, as we are worthy of this", sounding in Chelyabinsk with 13:27 gone. A minute and 23 seconds later,

with the Slovaks still on the power play, Michal Mrazek semi-whiffed on the puck from point-blank range, but, as Miftakhov kicked it away, Lugos crashed the crease to shovel it past the line for a

2-0 lead

And so it was "Nech boze da, nech boze da, ten vit'azny gol" ("God willing, God
willing, score the winning goal") all over again for Chelyabinsk. It didn't turn out to be one, but did it ever

contribute to the excitement.

To cap it all off, only 22 ticks later, Kucko's slap shot from the blue line found its way between Miftakhov's pads. This was a goal the Russian goalie wished he could have had back. He wouldn't,

though, as the coach finally admitted his error, and Danil Isayev got his first
action of the game. Miftakhov wound up allowing three goals on nine shots.

And, oh, yeah, there it was again: "Nech boze da, nech boze da, ved' dobre to hramy" ("God willing, God willing, for we are playing well"), which was absolutely true, by the way.

While the Russians took a time-out, the venue producer responded with the soldier-themed "Kombat-batyana" ("Daddy Captain") for the stunned crowd's benefit. It was indeed the time for Russia's

leaders to assert their will on their reeling crew.

Having calmed their nerves a bit, the Russians immediately got a goal back, at 17:00. A blue-line wrister by Nikita Okhotyuk was tipped by Marchenko, sending the puck bar-down on the left-handed

Vyletelka's stick side.

The second period was thoroughly dominated by the Russians. In the fourth minute, Vyletelka was forced to make a legendary save, lunging with his right skate to stop Semyon Kizimov after the latter

threw a masterful deke on the goalie. A minute and a half later, that same right skate was at the end of Vyletelka's splits again, as it denied Alexander Zhabreyev's wrap-around attempt.

As it sometimes happens in hockey, missed opportunities on one end led to a goal on the other. The Slovaks flew away on a quick three-on-one, and Tkac connected on Adam Pauliny's pass. For those of

you keeping the score at home, it was "Aby viac na nás nik nezabudol" ("So that nobody forgets us") for the fourth time.

But Russia was unrelenting. Later in the period, they engineered their own three-goals-in-under-two-minutes explosion, taking all of 119 seconds to tie the game. First, Misyul pounced on a rebound

off the backboard at 32:01. Then, on an odd-man rush, Kizimov set up Romanov with a backhanded pass at 33:32. And at 34:00, Vyletelka finally broke down and
allowed a soft goal as Podkolzin's shot

found a gap between his pads.

So, yes, it was the time for repeat performances of the famed romance By the Long Road, the equally pleasant Russian goal song. The Slovaks, meanwhile, slipped into the panic mode and barely

survived until the siren, taking a still-acceptable 4-4 tie into the dressing room, considering the Russians' 16-5 shot advantage in the period.

However Slovaks must have felt, they were not scared. Also, according to their song, not drunk with pride ("pychou nie sme nikdy opit"), either. The underdogs
came out swinging early in the third,

forcing Russia into mental errors often associated with this team's having to play defense. With Yegor Spiridonov off for tripping, Mrazik slammed one past Isayev from the left circle at 47:50.

In case you are interested, there are also words in the Slovak song about "having them on their knees", but the Chelyabinsk loudspeakers rarely get to this point. Good thing, too, because on its

knees is not how Russians roll. Soon enough, they once again had Slovakia on its heels, and, at 52:36, Iskhakov got a pass from Spiridonov to blast it home through traffic and even the score again.

At this point, the sellout crowd forgot musical entertainment and simply broke into the time-tested "Shay-bu, shay-bu" to spur the home lads on.

This was going to be a heart-stopping ending one way or another, and 60 minutes
would not be enough to settle it. The five-minute sudden-death overtime, with each team down to three players, had

Slovakia as the more active team, as Isayev foiled Cajkovic on a point-blank shot with a minute left. But this was destined to be decided in the "skills competition."

Marchenko shot first for Russia and hit the goalpost. Cajkovic took his turn but sent it right into Isayev's pads. In the second round, Dmitri Zavgorodni tried a deke, but the goalie sprawled to

deny him with a pad save. Oliver Okuliar was equally unsuccessful trying a delay move on Isayev. In the third go-round, Iskhakov tried a shot and missed wide left. Then, Slovakia's Niclolas Ferenyi

couldn't beat the goalie on the backhand. Kizimov shot next and sent it through
the five-hole to give Russia a cushion. After Kristian Kovacik couldn't solve Isayev with a low shot, Dorofeyev put

Vyletelka down with a great move and shot over the glove to win second place for Russia.

The hosts will be facing USA in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Slovakia's next opponent is Sweden.

SLAVA MALAMUD

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