In other AHL news, Pack leading scorer Artem Anisimov was a nominee for CCM/AHL Player of the Month honors for the month of December. Milwaukee Admirals center Mike Santorelli won the award with eight goals and 15 assists in 14 games. Anisimov put up far more modest seven goals and seven assists in 13 games in December and was twice nominated for the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week Award. His first player of the week nomination came for the week ending December 7, 2008, when his four goals in three games fell short of the achievements of San Antonio goaltender Josh Tordjman, who went 3-0-0 with two shutouts, officially claiming the starting job for the Rampage from former Pack goaltender Al Montoya. The second nomination came in the final full week of the month, when his three goals and two assists in three games fell short of a nine point week by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin and brief Ranger property Jeff Taffe.

The Bears were buoyed by the recent return of a number of call-ups to their parent club, the Washington Capitals.  Most important among them was former Ranger property and Wolf Pack player Alexandre Giroux, who returned to the Bears on Saturday afternoon and set up three Hershey goals before putting one of his own home to complete the scoring in third period.

The Wolf Pack fell behind early, spotting the Bears a 2-0 lead in the first 6:35 of play.  Hershey’s first goal came just 1:25 into the game when a weird bounce off the neutral zone boards got past Hartford rookie Bobby Sanguinetti, sending Giroux into the Hartford zone on a 2-on-1 with Keith Aucoin.  Giroux fed Aucoin, who put the puck in the open side of starter Miika Wiikman’s net from just off the right post.

Giroux got his second helper just over five minutes later when Sanguinetti lost his stick and the Pack got caught running around in their own zone.  Giroux controlled the puck behind the net and sent a pass out to the low slot, where Graham Mink was left alone and shoveled the puck past Wiikman.

The Wolf Pack got into its first penalty trouble at the thirteen minute mark when P.A. Parenteau was issued a 5-minute major penalty and game misconduct for spearing Hershey defenseman Dean Arsene behind the play.  Referee Jamie Koharski missed the spear, but awarded the major after consultation with his linesman.  Things got worse for the Pack when Mike Ouellette was whistled for interference two minutes into the major penalty, setting up a full two minutes of 5-on-3 time for the Bears.  Impressively, the Hartford penalty kill — the lone highlight of the game — was able to kill off both penalties and escape the first period just two goals down, after being outshot by an 18-7 margin.

Once again the Pack gave up two quick goals in the first 6:20 of the period to start the second frame.  The first came just 36 seconds in, when Hershey center Steve Pinizzotto skated across the top of the circles and beat Wiikman with an weak wrist shot.  Kyle Wilson put the Bears up by four at 6:20 when he fired home the rebound of defenseman Chris Bourque’s (yes, Ray’s son) shot from the left point.

Hershey got it’s next 5-minute power play at 8:10 of the period.  Pinizzatto rocked Brian Fahey — playing only his second game since being knocked out of the line up with a concussion the last time these two teams met — behind the net, and teammate Devin DiDiomete immediately came to Fahey’s aid, pumelling Pinizzatto before the second-year center even knew what hit him.  DiDiomete was handed the 2-minute instigator penalty, which cancelled out the original charging call on Pinizzatto, plus five minutes for fighting, and both a ten minute and game misconduct.

Once again Hartford gave the Bears a full two minute, two-man advantage when Fahey was called for high-sticking two minutes later.  And once again the Pack penalty kill came up big, holding Hershey off the board.

Hartford then got two power play opportunities of their own — their first of the game.  They cashed in on the second, with just .8 seconds remaining in the period when Artem Anisimov feathered a cross-ice pass from the right face-off dot to Greg Moore at the left face-off dot.  Moore fired the one-timer past Hershey goaltender Simeon Varlamov for his 11th of the season to make the score 4-1 going into the third period.

Patrick Rissmiller made it seem like the Pack might make a game of it at 1:44 of the third period when a Hershey clearing attempt took an odd carom off the boards and found its way on to Rissmiller’s stick right in front of Varlamov.  Rissmiller backhanded a quick chip shot over the Russian rookie for the unassisted goal, his fourth of the season.

That was as close as the Wolf Pack would get.  At 3:55 Brodie Dupont was whistled for boarding, and the Bears were finally able to solve the Pack penalty kill.  Mink got his second of the game, off Giroux’s third primary assist, at 4:15.  Dupont, unhappy with the call, and likely with numerous others, including an early play when he was whistled for the lone roughing penalty when he stepped in to defend Anisimov when he was being mugged in front of the net, let Koharski know what he thought of the job he was doing as he emerged from the penalty box after the goal.  Koharski apparently didn’t like what Dupont had to say, and handed the second-year winger another two for unsportsmanlike conduct, and eventually a game misconduct when Dupont kept at it.

Giroux would cap off the scoring at 14:26 with his 19th of the season after Fahey turned the puck over in the neutral zone.  Pinizzotto fed Hershey’s leading goal scorer as he skated into the high slot, deking forehand to backhand to put the puck through the legs of goaltender Matt Zaba, who’d come in in relief of Wiikman in the second period.

Hershey outshot the Pack 38-34 in the game.  Wiikman was credited with the loss, stopping 19 of 23 shots against, while Zaba stopped 13 of 15 shots he faced.   With the loss, Hartford fell the fourt place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 17-15-1-3.  In the crowded Atlantic standings, they’re just one point ahead of 5th place Manchester, but only one behind 3rd place Worcester and six behind division-leading Providence.  The Pack travel to Winnepeg on Tuesday to play back-to-back games against the Manitoba Moose on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Highlights (cough) from the game are available at AHL Live.

Scoring:
1. Aucoin (12) (Giroux, Helmer) 1:25
1. Mink (14) (Giroux, Sloan) 6:35
2. Pinizzotto (3) (Laing, Joudrey) 0:36
2. Wilson (15) (Bourque, Arsene) 6:20
2. Moore (11) (Anisimov, Rissmiller) 19:59 (PP)
3. Rissmiller (4) 1:44
3. Mink (15) (Giroux, Aucoin) 4:15 (PP)
3. Giroux (19) (Pinizzotto, Aucoin) 14:26

Lines:
Pyatt  - Ouellette - Owens
Dupont - Anisimov - Parenteau
Soryal - Rissmiller - Weise
DiDiomete - Moore - Sugden

Nightengale - Potter
Fahey - Sanguinetti
Urquhart - Sauer

Wiikman / Zaba

Three Stars:
1. Alexandre Giroux
2. Graham Mink
3. Keith Aucoin

Evgeni Grachev scores on Czech goalie Dominik Furch on a third period shorthanded breakaway. Photo: Reuters

A World Junior Championship isn’t complete until perennial foes Russia and Canada face off in a winner-takes-all elimination match, and that’s exactly what will happen tonight, after the Russia dispatched the Czech Republic in the tournament quarterfinal on Friday.

Ranger 2008 third round draft picks Evgeny Grachev and Tomas Kundratek saw a lot of each other in the quarterfinal, and while Kundratek entered the game having played better and turned more heads in the round-robin portion of the tournament, it was Grachev who finally showed some of the skill, speed and strength that first got him noticed in the U-18 World Championship in Kazan in 2008 and had him leading all rookies in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in scoring before he left for Ottawa two weeks ago.

Grachev, who’s playing center in the tournament after spending much of this season on the left wing for the Brampton Battallion, set up the eventually game-winner by Nikita Filatov with a perfect pass to the right faceoff dot from behind the goal early in the third period.   But what caught most observers eyes was the 3-on-5 shorthanded goal that gave Russia the 3-0 lead six minutes later.  With two players in the box for Team Russia, Grachev won the defensive zone faceoff, which was controlled by defenseman Dmitri Kulikov and cleared to center ice through Czech defender David Stich, where Grachev raced fellow prospect Kundratek for the puck.  Grachev used his long reach to poke the puck beyond Kundratek’s reach, and turned on the jets to pick it up and carry into the Czech zone alone, beating the Czech goaltender through the five-hole with a backhander.  It was Grachev’s first goal of the tournament and the first time Kundratek had been on the ice for a goal against in the entire tournament.

Now Kundratek and the Czechs will face-off against a disappointing Team USA, who fell to Slovakia in the other quarterfinal match, for fifth place in the tournament, while the Russian squad plays Canada for a berth in the gold medal game tonight.  Russia hasn’t beaten Canada in a World Junior Championship medal round game since 2003, and have dropped their last three medal round meetings. It’ll also be an opportunity for Grachev to face off against his Brampton Battalion teammate, Cody Hodgson, who is currently tied for the tournament lead in points with Canadian teammate John Tavares with 3 goals and 9 assists for 12 points.

Miika Wiikman turned in his best performance in at least a month, stopping 31 of 32 shots to earn first star honors.  Rookie goalie Daniel Larsson, winner of five straight for Detroit’s top farm club — including two shutouts — earned recognition as the game’s second star with 30 stops on 32 shots.

Neither team got on the board until the halfway point of the game.  The Griffins had the early edge in play, outshooting the Pack 12-9 in the first period, and both goalies made some good stops to keep the game scoreless through the first 30 minutes.

Hartford struck first, after a strong rush by Artem Anisimov lead to Brodie Dupont’s 7th goal of the season.  Anisimov carried the puck into the Griffins’ zone, through the middle and around a defender, firing a shot from the bottom of the left face off circle which just squeezed through Larsson’s pads.  Dupont was parked in the crease and able to get his stick on the loose puck first, tapping it over the goal line at 10:01 of the second period.

Grand Rapids answered back on the power play just 4:43 later.  After P.A. Parenteau and Greg Moore combined for a good shorthanded chance in the offensive zone, the Griffins countered 3-on-2.   Francis Lemeiux carried the puck down the left side boards, feeding a pass out in front from just off the left post to a wide-open Francis Pare, who put it in the open side of the net.

That’s how the second period finished, with the shots totaling 10-9 in favor of the baby Red Wings.

Hartford would take control in the third, and the hard-working line of Tommy Pyatt, Mike Ouellette and Jordan Owens — undeniably the Pack’s most consistent through the final month of 2008 — would be rewarded for their effort with the game-winner at 10:49 of the period.  Owens controlled the puck in the right corner and fed it to Pyatt, who delivered a blind backhand pass from the right post through the crease on to the tape of an unguarded Ouellette, who scored for the second consecutive game.

Pareanteau put the icing on the cake with just 29 seconds remaining when he gathered the puck in the Pack zone, poked it past the Griffin defender and dodged past him to pick it back up and fire it in the empty net from the Griffins blue line.

Wiikman came up big when he needed to throughout the game, doing a good job of controlling rebounds and looking confident in his return after two consecutive starts by backup Matt Zaba.  He was helped by the return of three of the Pack’s top defensemen.  Corey Potter played his first game back since being reassigned by the Rangers on Monday, Michael Sauer returned after missing the Pack’s last game after taking a puck to the face in the game before, and Brian Fahey returned from the concussion he suffered in a game in Hershey on December 3rd.

The Pack will look to build their first winning streak of the new year when the league-leading Hershey Bears visits the XL Center tomorrow night at 7:00pm.

Notes:

• Friday’s win was the 500th in Wolf Pack franchise history.
• Dupont looked to have been seriously injured when he crashed feet first into the boards after being nudged by a Griffin forward as the two players chased the puck in the third period. He was unable to make his way back to the bench without help and couldn’t put any weight on his right foot, but surprisingly managed to return after missing only a shift.
• Defenseman Vladimir Denisov missed his first game of the season.  No word on whether he was injured or simply a healthy scratch.
• With his empty net goal and an assist on Dupont’s goal, Parenteau overtook Anisimov for the team lead in goals with 15, and tied him for the team lead in points with 34.
• While Anisimov’s goal-scoring streak ended at 3 games, he extended his point-scoring streak to 5 games (3 goals, 5 assists).
• Bobby Sanguinetti earned an assist on Parenteau’s empty-netter, giving him points (4) in 3 straight games.
• With the return of Potter, Sauer and Fahey, Chris Murray and Ethan Graham have been assigned to Charlotte of the ECHL.
• In other ECHL news, the Rangers re-assigned forward Tomas Zaborsky from the Charlotte Checkers to the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL.

Scoring:
2. Dupont (7) (Anisimov, Parenteau) 10:01
2. Pare (10) (Lemieux, McGrath) 14:44 (PP)
3. Ouellette (4) (Pyatt, Owens) 10:49
3. Parenteau (15) (Sanguinetti) 19:31 (EN)

Lines:
Dupont - Anisimov - Parenteau
Pyatt - Ouellette - Owens
Soryal - Moore - Weise
DiDiomete - Rissmiller - Sugden

Nightengale - Potter
Fahey - Sanguinetti
Urquhart - Sauer

Wiikman / Zaba

Three Stars:
1. Miika Wiikman
2. Daniel Larsson
3. Mike Ouellette

On the other hand, Tomas Kundratek and the Czech squad won their final round-robin game, 10-2, over tournament whipping boys Kazakhstan. Kundratek added three more primary assists to his totals in the second period of Wednesday’s game, setting up teammate Jan Kana three separate times, twice on the power play. Only two defenseman have put up more points than Kundratek, who’s six points (all assists) currently tie him for third in points among defenseman in the tournament, and rank him third on the Czech team in scoring.

The battle of Ranger prospects kicks off Friday night at 7:30pm EST. The game is available on the NHL Network in the US and on TSN in Canada.

One bright spot in the 1-2-0 week was the continuing dynamic play of Artem Anisimov.

The big Russian had goals in all three games, and I’ve heard some league observers, both media and scouts, raving about how well he’s come along.

His overtime game-winner in Springfield [watch] was a thing of beauty, surpassed only by his goal celebration, which was one of the best I’ve ever seen. After beating the Falcons’ Devan Dubnyk with a great move, the 20-year-old slid across the ice on his rear end and did kind of a paddling pantomime with his stick, as if he were whitewater kayaking. Great stuff, and creative too!

Anisimov also scored a shorthanded breakaway goal [watch] Sunday in Lowell with a pretty deke to the backhand, and at 6-4, if he keeps using his skills like he has been lately, he’s going to be a real gem for the Rangers.

The second-year pro scored 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) in the week’s 3 games and currently leads the Wolf Pack in scoring with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 34 games. That puts him in at 13th over all in scoring in the AHL, while his 14 goals tie him with teammate P.A. Parenteau for 16th over all in league goal scoring.

“We played together on the team that won the under-18s in Tampere [in 2007] and he was the best player on the ice,” Filatov says. “We were a confident team and the confidence started with Alexei. He really helped me a lot with my game and my life. It was such a big honour for me to play with him on teams in international tournaments. He was such a good guy and such a good friend. Every aspect of his life … he always wanted to be the best at whatever he did and I think he was. A unique man.”

Filatov wouldn’t comment on allegations that a performance enhancing substance was found in Cherepanov’s blood, saying only “I don’t want to comment on these things.  Probably it can be true, probably it can’t be true. It doesn’t matter. There is no bringing him back. It’s just sad.”

At this year’s World Junior Championship, Filatov is paired with another Ranger prospect, Evgeni Grachev, on Russia’s top line.  Here’s what the Columbus Blue Jacket prospect had to say about his linemate:

“I played with Evgeni the last two years and I really liked it,” Filatov says. “We are a good fit together. We’ve got Andronov on the right wing–very tough, very powerful. Gratchev is a big guy with good hands and he’s good in both ends of the rink. The game is much better for me when I’m with the big guys because [the opponents' defence] have to pay attention to them and it gives me room. We’re a tough line to play against.”

Grachev has just one point in three games in the tournament thus far, but was on the ice for five of Russia’s eight goals against Slovakia on Tuesday.  He set up the Russians’ second goal by carrying the puck up ice and deep into the Slovakian zone before dishing it Maxim Chudinov, who fed Maxim Goncharov for the shot from the point.  And he drove the net hard all game, causing a distraction in the crease on two other Russian goals.

The full game is available online on demand from TSN for those who’d like to watch.

The Rangers only other prospect in this year’s tournament, defenseman Tomas Kundratek, has three assists in three games, playing on the Czech Republic’s top defense pairing.  He picked up two of those assists, and added five shots on goal, in Tuesday’s 6-0 victory over Germany.

From the report it is unambiguously evident that Alexei Cherepanov for at least a year suffered from chronic myocarditis. The disease in question precludes the possibility of employment in professional sports. In the blood of the hockey player was found cordiamin (nikethamide), a medication which is used for stimulation and treatment of cardiovascular systems and respiratory organs.

It was determined that the cordiamin was introduced into the hockey player’s body three hours prior to the start of the match between Vityaz and Avangard on October 13, 2008. The medication in question is included on the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The Disciplinary Committee of the KHL will meet on January 5th to review the prosecutor’s 1000+ page report and interview approximately 30 witnesses and specialists. The committee’s final verdict will be announced on January 15th.

In the meantime, the committee has rendered the decision that Avangard’s doctors be immediately removed from their posts. In addition, they have appealed to KHL President Alexander Medvedev to submit a request to Omsk regional governor and Avangard head Leonid Polezhaev that both team General Manager Anatoli Bardin and President Konstantin Potapov be asked to step aside until the conclusion of the committee’s investigation.

From their press release:

According to the conclusion of forensic doctors Alexei Cherepanov suffered from a disease of the heart — chronic myocarditis.  The duration of the disease could be dated back approximately one year. The disease in question precludes the possibility of employment in professional sports.  The direct cause of death is acute cardiovascular failure.  In blood and urine traces of alcohol and drugs were not found, but chemical analysis makes it possible to draw the conclusion that for several months Alexei Cherepanov took performance enhancing substances (doping).

During the investigatory inspection it was established that the crew rendering medical aid to A. Cherepanov had committed a number of flagrant violations: the first aid crew, having arrived at the call after 12 minutes, had with it a defibrillator with a discharged battery, and the squad doctor provided the incorrect diagnosis of “biological death”.

The results of their investigation regarding the competence of the Avangard medical staff have been forwarded to the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Omsk, while the materials concerning the medical crew that responded to the arena on October 13th have been send to the Public Prosecutor in Moscow.  No further information regarding possible criminal prosecution is available at this time, and neither the KHL or Avangard Omsk have commented yet.  The full report from the prosecutor’s office is expected after the new year.

Translation note: The term “doping” in Russian is used as both “doping” in the blood doping sense and as “performance enhancing substance”, so further clarification is required to understand exactly what they are alleging Cherepanov was involved in.  That should come when the full report is released in the new year.

It’s also worth noting that the Public Prosecutor’s conclusion is in conflict with what was reported in October by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency and International Olympic Committee.