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Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) - For long time tied with a CHL move, one of the top Russians available for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Evgeny Kuznetsov, signed a new 2 years contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk. "I'm very happy now, all the contracts' conditions satisfy me" - said Kuznetsov through Tratkor's official site. "Leaving Chelyabinsk makes no sense to me. I'm under contract with Traktor for further two seasons and I'll leave the team only if the management would release me. I don't want to have bad relationships with my home club. I will go to America later this month, to have the Draft Combine. Then I will further practice. I'll take part to the Draft in Los Angeles. Then I want to skate in the training camp of the team that will pick me up. I really want to see the practices and the preparation for the new season. Then I will get back to Traktor."

U18 World Junior Championships - After the defeat against Team Sweden in the 2010 U18 WJC semifinals, Team Russia lost the third place to Finland losing the bronze medal game 5-1.
2010 eligible Evgeny Kuznetsov has been included into the tournament's All-Star team. Team Finland got the lead only during the second period with a goal by Teemu Pulkkinen, then in the third period they scored four unanswered goals (with Pulkkinen getting the hat trick) to get a five goals lead. (Russianhockeyfans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

U18 World Junior Championships - Team Russia finished the round robin at the second place and that means that they will have to face Team Switzerland in the quarterfinals, just the same opponent as the WJC fiasco earlier this season. Team Russia defeated Slovakia, Czech Republic and Latvia and lost only to Finland. The team's top scorer so far has been the captain Evgeny Kuznetsov . The 2010 eligible scored four goals and four assists in as many games. The same amount of points has been scored by Sergei Barbashev , who amassed two goals and six assists. Sergei Kostenko has been solid on net, and 94-born Andrei Vasilievski played very well too. Team's top goalscorer has been Vladislav Namestnikov , while team's top scoring defensemen were Efim Gurkin and Zakhar Arzamastsev , with three points each. The game against Switzeland will be played on Tuesday, the winner will face Team Sweden on Wednesday.

National Hockey League (NHL) - 20 years old Dmitry Kugryshev (Washington Capitals) has been signed to an ELC by Washington. The right winger is now playing with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, where he scored 23 goals and 81 points this year, improving from the 74 points he recorded during the 08/09 season.
The Red Army hockey school product has a WJC U18 gold medal under his belt, as well as a silver and a bronze from the U20 WJC. He has been picked up by the Caps as 58th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

U20 World Junior Championships - A monstruous 57-save performance by goalie Andrei Makarov wasn't enough for Russia as the forwards simply didn't manage to put the puck on the net and Sweden deservedly grabbed the Gold Medal with a 1-0, OT win over Team Russia thanks to a goal by Islanders top prospect Mika Zabinejad. "It would have been not honest if we won the game", admitted after the game Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals), who was awarded with MVP, Best Forward and Tournament's All-Star Team honors. In spite of Sweden's dominance during the whole game, the game's top chance was probably a late third period rush by Team Russia: Kuznetsov danced through the rink with the puck on his blade just to feed the rushing Nikita Gusev with a great pass, but the Red Army players' one-timer was stopped by goalie Johan Gustafsson with a monumental save. Team Russia will have a chance to get revenge at home next year, as 2013 WJC will be held in Ufa, Russia.

U20 World Junior Championships - CALGARY � Russian captain Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) dazzled with three goals and six assists as Russia pulverized Latvia 14-0 for its third straight win. The defending champions tightened their grip on first place in Group A, while the Latvians head for the Relegation Round. (IIHF.com article by Lucas Aykroyd) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - nder the direction of general manager George McPhee the Capitals have been among the most Russian-friendly teams in the NHL. And there�s no sign of that ending soon, with two of the Capitals� top prospects hailing from Russia. One of them, 20-year-old rookie defenseman Dmitry Orlov, appears to have landed a permanent home on the Capitals� blue line. The other, 19-year-old right wing Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals), recently told Sovietsky Sport that his agent plans on talking to the Capitals during the World Junior Championships later this month in Edmonton and Calgary. (cnnwashington.com article by Chuck Gormley ) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - In this sports.ru interview, the young prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) (Washington Capitals) talks about the rehab after his shoulder surgery, about his plans for the next season and explained that he�s more worthy than Ovechkin in Playstation hockey. (sports.ru interview by Andrei Osadchenko translated by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

U18 World Junior Championships - In the unique test match planned in the USA prior the WJC Under 18, Plyuschev's team Russia beaten Switzerland 7-3. The team led by Kirill Kabanov did fairly well, being up 7-1 until the first five minutes of the match. A couple of late goals by the opponents set the final result at 7-3. Kabanov finished the match with three points (1+2), but also Kirill Yuriev , Alexander Burmistrov , Evgeny Kuznetsov , Vladimir Tarasenko and Dmitri Orlov had a multipoints performance. Igor Bobkov 's play has been okay till the last few minutes, finishing with sixteen saves in nineteen shots faced. (Game's boxscore) READ MORE

Super League - HC Dynamo lost again, struggling to find its way even under the Czech head coach Vladimir Vujtek. Interestingly, Igor Ignatuchkin (Washington Capitals) appears to be coming up strong for HC Amur, playing a strong role in that club�s victory over Dynamo. The Washington Capitals prospect is in his first full fledged Super League season. Ilya Kablukov (Vancouver Canucks) delivered a very strong performance for HC CSKA, scoring two tallies in the club�s victory over HC Avangard. Vitali Anikienko (Ottawa Senators) has been enjoying significant success since his recall back to HC Lokomotiv from HC Metallurg (Nk). The young blue liner has been skating on Loko�s second defensive pairing and notching his 3rd goal of the season in the club�s victory over Severstal. READ MORE

Super League - Artem Ternavsky (Washington Capitals) scored the game winning goal with less than 10 minutes to play, upsetting HC Ak Bars. Sergei Gaiduchenko (Florida Panthers) was very strong in net, stopping 22 of the 24 shots he faced. Konstantin Volkov (Toronto Maple Leafs) scored his first goal of the season for HC Vityaz. Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) collected another shutout, stopping all 25 shots he faced against HC Spartak. READ MORE

World Championships - Team Russia coaching staff has announced the final roster that will compete at the World Championships in Moscow:

GOALIES: Alexander Eremenko , Vasily Koshechkin (Tampa Bay Lightning)

DEFENSEMEN: Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh Penguins), Andrei Markov (Montreal Canadiens), Vitaliy Atyushov (Ottawa Senators), Denis Grebeshkov (New York Islanders), Alexei Emelin (Montreal Canadiens), Maxim Kondratiev (Anaheim Mighty Ducks), Ilya Nikulin (Atlanta Thrashers), Vitali Proshkin ;

FORWARDS: Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Thrashers), Alexander Radulov (Nashville Predators), Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles Kings), Alexander Kharitonov , Danis Zaripov , Sergei Zinovjev (Boston Bruins), Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs), Alexei Morozov (Pittsburgh Penguins), Ivan Nepriayev (Washington Capitals), Petr Schastlivy (Phoenix Coyotes)