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Sr. World Championships - Many prospects made the roster for the two friendly matches Team Russia will play in Italy on April 23rd and 24th. Vasily Koshechkin (Tampa Bay Lightning), Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) and Sergei Bobrovsky are the goalies, with Khudobin most likely as starter. On the blue line Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers) will make his first appearence, and will be joined by Vitaly Atyushov, Konstantin Korneev (Montreal Canadiens), Denis Kulyash (Nashville Predators), Evgeny Biryukov, Denis Denisov (Buffalo Sabres), Dmitri Vorobiev (Toronto Maple Leafs), Evgeny Ryasensky and Nikolai Belov. The forwards corps will be led by NHLers Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres), Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers), Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers) and Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs). First call for Vladimir Tarasenko and Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets). Other players are Konstantin Gorovikov, Denis Parshin (Colorado Avalanche), Maxim Rybin , Evgeny Skachkov (St. Louis Blues), Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes), Mikhail Varnakov , Alexander Svitov (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Oleg Saprykin (Ottawa Senators).

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - As reported by TSN, Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets) has been loaned back to his home club CSKA Moscow. The young dangler hasn't had any significative chance in the NHL and scored only two goals this season, but had little ice time. Filatov will soon play his first game with the Red Army. He has been loaned by the Blue Jackets until the end of the current season and this might boost team Russia for the next WJC.

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - As expected Andrei Plekhanov (Columbus Blue Jackets) returned in Russia after refusing to report to the AHL. Dynamo Moscow organized a trade with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk - the team who held his KHL rights - that sent forward Maxim Pestushko to Neftekhimik and Plekhanov to Moscow, in a similar way to the old Pavel Valentenko (New York Rangers)'s trade. Plekhanov's debut date isn't set yet.

National Hockey League (NHL) - The speculation around Andrei Plekhanov (Columbus Blue Jackets) goes on as now the popular Russian magazine Sport Express reports, quoting North American sources, that the 23-years old defenseman has been loaned to Dynamo Moscow after being demoted to the AHL, literally without having the chance to play in the NHL with the Jackets.

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - Russianprospects.com followed the recent regular season match between Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow, where played a good number of prospects, in particular Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets), Sergei Andronov (St. Louis Blues) and Ilya Kablukov (Vancouver Canucks). (Exclusive russianprospects.com scout evaluation by Evgeny Belousov) READ MORE

U20 World Junior Championships - Team Russia's sixth place at the last WJC in Saskatchewan, Canada, was nothing short of a failure. It was the worst result of the team since 2001, when the team lead by Petr Vorobiev couldn't get any better than the seventh place on the home soil. That team, just like this one, wasn't short of talent, considering that the team's front men were the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Thrashers), Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa Senators) and Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton Oilers). This year's roster included many talented players as well, like Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets), Vladimir Tarasenko , Dmitri Orlov (Washington Capitals) and others, but the tournament didn't really finish like expected and team Russia was left out of the medal round after five straight apparitions. (RussianHockeyFans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

U20 World Junior Championships - Thanks to a great performance by goalie Igor Bobkov (Anaheim Ducks) and a couple of moments from Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets), Plyuschev's Team Russia got the best of the Finns with a minimal effort. In spite of a 46-saves shut out Bobkov hasn't been named player of the match, honors that instead went to Filatov. After this 2-0 victory Russia is now on the top of the standings staying perfect, with Sweden, who has got 6 points too. The teams are going to meet tonight. (Exclusive RussianProspects.com game report by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

U20 World Junior Championships - It wasn't Russia's best possible display, but nevertheless the first win arrived. Plyuschev's team concentrated most of its performance in the first period as they scored four goals, just to control the pace of the game in the remaining two periods, finished with one goal each. Goalkeeper Igor Bobkov (Anaheim Ducks) hasn't had too much work, he ended the game with fourteen saves. Evgeny Kuznetsov was the best player on ice as he scored two goals. Kirill Petrov (New York Islanders), Vladimir Tarasenko, Maxim Chudinov and Maxim Trunev (Montreal Canadiens) each added one goal, while Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets) has been left out of the scoresheet (Russianprospects.com exclusive game report by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - Solitude can have its advantages. Syracuse Crunch forward Maxim Mayorov (Columbus Blue Jackets) rubbed his hand over his smooth face earlier this week and pointed out one of them.
Mayorov recently cut his hair short and shaved off his dark beard, making him look way younger than his 20 years. In a seemingly unrelated matter, he also broke up with his girlfriend over the summer. The point is, he said, is that now he has no one to answer to on grooming issues.(Syracuse.com article by Lindsay Kramer) READ MORE

Alexander Drozdetsky (Philadelphia Flyers) has been doing quite well with his new club, HC Spartak, recording his fifth goal of the season against HC Amur and getting the top star of the game honors. Sergei Mozyakin (Columbus Blue Jackets) scored his lead leading 30th goal of the season for HC Khimik in a losing effort against HC CSKA. Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) put forth a stellar effort for Lokomotiv in the club�s victory against Avangard. READ MORE

U18 5 Nations Tournament - Team Russia announced U18 roster for the 4 Nations Tournament to be held in Finland.

Goalies 1 Danila Alistratov (Traktor), 20 Alexander Pechurski (Metallurg Mg.)
Defenders 2 Igor Golovkov (Dynamo Moscow), 5 Dmitri Kostromitin (Traktor), 7 Anton Klementjev (Lokomotiv), 11 Dmitri Kulikov (HC Rus Moscow), 12 Pavel Lukin (Lokomotiv), 24 Vjacheslav Voinov (Traktor), 27 Maxim Chudinov (Severstal), 29 Eduard Orlov (CSKA)
Forwards 8 Pavel Chernov (Khimik Moscow), 9 Anton Lazarev (Khimik Moscow), 10 Vjacheslav Kulemin (CSKA), 13 Dmitri Kugryshev (CSKA), 14 Michail Fisenko (Dynamo Moscow), 17 Andrei Loktjonov (Lokomotiv), 19 Evgeni Grachev (Lokomotiv), 21 Kirill Petrov (Ak Bars), 23 Sergei Ostapchuk (Lokomotiv), 25 Igor Birjukov (CSKA), 26 Antoli Nikontsev (Traktor), 28 Nikita Filatov (CSKA)

Super League - Ak Bars (Kazan) appears to be back on the hunt after a convincing victory against HC Traktor. Once struggling HC Metallurg found a new scoring line with newcomer Albert Vishnyakov (Tampa Bay Lightning) on one of the wings. The young prospect assisted on both goals, making it three points for him in last two games (all assists). Alexander Korolyuk delivered his best game of the season, scoring no goals�but assisting on four of his team�s five! Igor Volkov (New York Islanders) added his lucky #13 goal of the season, while Alexei Tereschenko (Dallas Stars) struck in overtime to lead Salavat Yulayev past SKA. Ivan Tkachenko (Columbus Blue Jackets) seems to have reawakened recently, scoring two goals in this contest, making it three in last two games for a player who had just 4 tallies in first 33 games of the season. READ MORE

U20 ADT Canada Russia Challenge - Vladislav Evseev has continued his renaissance, scoring a pair of goals against his former club HC Dynamo. HC Khimik destroyed HC CSKA behind a strong performance by Sergei Mozyakin (Columbus Blue Jackets). Maxim Kondratiev (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) collected his first goal since returning from North America. Anton Babchuk (Carolina Hurricanes) collected his 8th goal of the season. Lokomotiv lost despite getting goals from Alexei Yashin and Alexei Mikhnov (Edmonton Oilers). Oleg Piganovich collected two assists, continuing his Rookie of the Year caliber season and was a big reason why Traktor one. READ MORE

Super League - HC Ak Bars finally earned a resounding victory over HC Sibir with its top unit ( Alexei Morozov � Sergei Zinovjev (Boston Bruins) � Danis Zaripov ) having a hadn in five of the club�s six tallies. Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs) potted two tallies and added an assist in Metallurg�s loss to Salavat Yulayev. Lada won its 6th game in a row behind a hattrick by Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes). Yuri Alexandrov (Boston Bruins) scored his first tally of the season for Severstal, but it was Trubachev who put in a beauty of a goal in overtime to lead the Cherepovets based club to victory. Sergei Mozyakin (Columbus Blue Jackets) tied for the Super League scoring lead, scoring his 11th goal in a losing overtime effort against HC Vityaz. READ MORE