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Canadian Junior Leagues -  19 years old Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins) decided to report to the Tri-City Americans of the WHL, according to allhockey.ru. There wasn't room for him after his KHL team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, signed veteran goalie Vasily Koshechkin (Tampa Bay Lightning) from Lada Togliatti and he lost his backup role. Pechursky will play for Russia in the upcoming WJC.

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U20 World Junior Championships -  As Alexander Zalivin got a serious arm injury during a training session at the WJC preparation camp in Novogorsk, coach Vladimir Plyuschev called to the camp 19 years old Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins). He's expected to join the team on friday. Let's remember that the other goalkeepers taken into considerations for the tournament are Ramis Sadikov , Igor Bobkov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) and Alexei Trifonov.

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U20 Four Nations Tournament (Finland) -  Under 20 national team's coach Vladimir Plyuschev just released the list of the 28 players who will be brought to the September four nations tournament scheduled in Finland from September 4th to 6th. The same team will face team Poland on September 10th on a gala match.

Goalies Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins) (Metallurg Mg), Daniil Alistratov (Traktor), Alexander Zalivin (Dynamo).

Defensemen: Maxim Chudinov (Severstal), Dmitri Vishnevsky (Spartak), Stepan Krivov, Kirill Yuriev (both - Lada), Dmitri Orlov (Washington Capitals) (Metallurg Nk), Georgi Berdyukov (SKA), Ion Kostev (Neftehimik), Pavel Lukin (Lokomotiv), Nikita Pivtsakin (Avangard), Alexander Tarasov (HK MVD).

Forwards Sergei Ostapchuk (Lokomotiv), Pavel Chernov , Oleg Yashin (both - Atlant), Vladimir Tarasenko (Sibir), Vyacheslav Kulemin , Georgiy Gurianov (both - CSKA), Maxim Trunev (Montreal Canadiens) (Severstal), Maxim Kitsyn (Metallurg Nk), Evgeny Timkin (Avangard), Artem Tomilin, Oleg Li (both - PHK Krylya Sovetov), Evgeny Kuznetsov , Anton Burdasov (both - Traktor), Petr Khokhryakov (Neftehimik), Andrei Ankudinov (Salavat Yulaev).

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Canadian Junior Leagues -  A total of 20 players from the former Soviet Union has been drafted in the annual CHL Import Draft. Here follows the list:

1. St. John's Sea Dogs - Stanislav Galiev
7. Moncton Wildcats - Kirill Kabanov
12. Barrie Colts - Alexander Burmistrov
15. Owen Sound Attack - Roman Berdnikov
31. Montreal Juniors - Evgeny Solomonov (Belarus)
35. Seattle Thunderbirds - Mikhail Senturin
36. Erie Otters - Ramis Sadikov
39. Sudbury Wolves - Stefan Stepanov
42. Saginaw Spirit - Ivan Telegin
43. Quebec Remparts - Alexander Avtsin (Montreal Canadiens)
49. Shawinigan Cataractes - Nikita Pivtsakin
51. Brampton Battalions - Valeri Knizev
54. Sudbury Wolves - Edijs Leitans (Latvia)
55. Tri-City Americans - Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins)
58. London Knights - Anton Klementyev (New York Islanders)
66. Acadie-Bathurst Titan - Ilya Mashentsov
67. Tri-City Americans - Sergei Drozd (Belarus)
70. Barrie Colts - Denis Gladkov
72. Erie Otters - Viktor Perezhogin
73. Guelph Storm - Vadim Guskov

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U20 Tyumen Region Cup -  With a 3-2 win over Finland, Russia gets the pass for the Sunday's game, that will be againts Slovakia, who concluded the tournament as second seed. Our opponents got an early 2-1 lead in the first period, scoring with Tiuminen and Pitkanen after a goal by Kirill Petrov (New York Islanders). Midwyay through the match Petr Khokhryakov tied the game at two. In the third period Dmitri Radchuk spoiled assists from Stanislav Tunkhuzin and Maxim Chudinov to score the game winning goal. Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins) played another decent match stopping 23 out of 25 shots.

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Sr. IIHF Winter Olympics -  In the round robin's last game Team Russia defeated Team Czech Republic 4-2 and got a bye to the quarterfinals as they finished the Group B on the top of the standings with seven points against Czech Republic's six, Slovakia's five and Latvia's zero. Team Russia's first game of the medal round is scheduled for wednesday. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) scored twice for Russia, which also got goals from Viktor Kozlov and Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings). (RussianHockeyFans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

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National Hockey League (NHL) -  Russian goalie Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins) played his first NHL game on Saturday and he was named 3rd star of the match thanks to his 12 saves in 35 minutes. In an interview with Russian website allhockey.ru he talked about his eventful weekend and his NHL experience. (RussianHockeyFans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

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National Hockey League (NHL) -  Only one month after Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins) was signed by the Tri-City Americans of the WHL he stopped his first NHL shots as the Pens needed to quickly sign a backup goaltender after the injury that plagued their lineup. Pechursky has been iced midway through the second period and stopped 12 shots out of 13, allowing just one goal. "Today Pechursky played fantastically", told head coach Dan Blysma to TSN after the match. As he was signed only to a 1-game tryout contract he's going back to Tri-City where he will keep on playing this season.

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U20 World Junior Championships -  Team Russia will hit the stage at the WJC tonight in a match against team Austria. Team's head coach Vladimir Plyuschev opted to waive Dmitry Kugryshev (Washington Capitals), Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins), Kirill Yuriev and Mikhail Fisenko. (roster information) READ MORE

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U20 Four Nations Tournament (Russia) -  U20 National team head coach Vladimir Plyuschev released the roster that will compete in the 2009 Four Nations Tournament to be played in St. Petersburg, Russia, in November's first week. NHL drafted players included are Alexander Pechursky (Pittsburgh Penguins), Dmitri Orlov (Washington Capitals) and Maxim Trunev (Montreal Canadiens). The list features also 2010 eligible Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Kuznetsov. READ MORE

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U20 4 Nations Tournament (Russia) - 

RUSSIA U18 vs CANADA U18 - 4:2 (0:0, 2:2, 2:0)
GOALS:
- 1:0 - 23:21 Kugryshev Dmitry (Kulemin Vyacheslav, Chernov Pavel)
- 1:1 - 31:36 Ellis Rayan (Khodzhson Kodi, Khall Taylor), bolsh. (5x3)
- 1:2 - 33:44 Dyushene Mýttyu (Robak Kolbi)
- 2:2 - 39:10 Loktionov Andrey (Petrov Kirill), pp.
- 3:2 - 47:43 Grachev Evgeniy (Kulemin Vyacheslav)
- 4:2 - 55:35 Chernov Pavel (Raisov Aslan)
GOALIES: Alexander Pechursky – Jake Allen
Next Game: Russia vs. Denmark (April 18th)

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Super League -  Ak Bars overpowered Avangard in a battle of the wealthiest Super League clubs, largely behind first line of Alexei Morozov (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Co. Viktor Alexandrov (St. Louis Blues) led HC Metallurg (Novokuznetsk) to 3:2 victory with his 13th tally of the season. Young 1990 born goalie Alistratov back stopped HC Traktor over the top club in the Super League, HC Salavat Yulayev with an impressive performance. HC Dynamo lost once again, this time to HC Khimik, which got two goals from former NHLer Echman, as well as a late tally from Ilya Krikunov (Vancouver Canucks), who is having an off season, scoring just his fifth goal thus far. It appears that Andrei Kovalenko ’s time with HC Severstal is coming to an end. The veteran forward skated most of the time on the third and fourth lines and did not stand out despite his team’s 2:1 victory over strong CSKA club. READ MORE

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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

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Super League -  Alexei Yashin has arrived in the Super League, scoring his first goal and assisting on two others for HC Lokomotiv. Grigori Shafigullin (Nashville Predators) scored his second of the season after replacing injured Sergei Zinovjev (Boston Bruins) on Ak Bars top line, skating with Alexei Morozov (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Danis Zaripov . Sergei Gaiduchenko (Florida Panthers) was impressive in Metallurg (Novokuznetsk)’s OT loss, saving his team on many occasions, but still not being able to stop the deciding shootout attempt from resurging Ruslan Zainullin (Calgary Flames), who earned his third tally of the season. READ MORE

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

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

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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 ;

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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)

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