Miracle in Buffalo, defeat in Ostrava and action-packed semi-finals: how Russia played with Canada at the MFM hockey in the XXI century

The confrontation between the national teams of Russia and Canada is rightfully considered the most fundamental not only at the adult level, but also at the youth level.

The domestic team regularly meets at the world championships and with the United States, but games with them still cause less interest among viewers around the world than with the founders of hockey.

At the same time, the paths of the "Red Machine" and "Maple Leaves" intersect at almost every MFM.

And last year in the Czech Republic the principal rivals played twice at all.

At the group stage, Valery Bragin's wards inflicted the biggest defeat in the history of the confrontation (6: 0), but in the final they suffered an offensive defeat (3: 4), although in the 49th minute they were leading with a difference of two goals.

In total, in the 21st century, starting with the MFM-2001 in Moscow and Podolsk, the teams met 19 times.

A slight advantage still remains on the Maple Leaves side - ten wins and nine defeats.

Moreover, most often the teams converged precisely in the playoffs: a dozen matches against seven in the group stage.

And the overwhelming number of meetings is in the final - eight (2002 - 2003, 2005 - 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2020).

Two more times the rivals sorted out relations with each other in the semifinals (2009, 2012) and the game for third place (2013, 2014) and never once in the quarterfinals.

Thus, the meeting in the semifinals will be only the third for the opponents at the MFM in the XXI century and the first in the last nine years.

It is curious that the previous two also took place in Canada and became the most productive in the history of the confrontation.

In both, 11 goals were scored.

In 2009 the hosts of the tournament won the shootout - 6: 5.

They went ahead four times, but the guests won back four times.

And in the end of the match, Dmitry Klopov unexpectedly brought Russia ahead.

However, the Canadians managed to equalize the score five seconds before the final siren thanks to an accurate shot by Jordan Eberle, and then in a shootout to snatch victory thanks to his own accurate shot.

It is noteworthy that in 2015, the striker became the world champion at the senior level and in the final with Russia (6: 1) gave an assist to Sidney Crosby.

In 2012, Russia took revenge from the principal rival with a similar score, but in regulation time.

This time, the national team with Andrey Vasilevsky, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikita Nesterov, Nikita Kucherov and Nikita Gusev arranged a “cold shower” for the owners.

By the 48th minute, she was leading 6: 1, however, in the time remaining before the final siren, she managed to miss four unanswered goals and almost allowed the North Americans to make an impressive comeback.

In general, at the MFM in Canada, the teams' paths crossed seven times, and in four cases the victory remained with the founders of hockey.

And one of the most memorable matches in the history of the confrontation took place in the United States in 2011.

That tournament began extremely difficult for the Russian national team.

She started with defeats just from Maple Leaves (3: 6) and Sweden (0: 2) and barely got out of the group.

In the quarterfinals, Bragin's team, with great difficulty in overtime, beat Finland (4: 3) thanks to a brace by 18-year-old Kuznetsov.

And in the semifinals, already in the shootout, it turned out to be stronger than Sweden (4: 3) and took revenge from the Scandinavians.

Then came the turn of the decisive confrontation with Canada.

The North Americans approached him with a series of five victories in a row over their principal rival at the MFM, three of which were in the final.

Before the match, they were considered the clear favorites.

On their side was the overcrowded "Kibank Center", which booed every action of the domestic squad.

And the Russians did not cope with the pressure at first.

Already in the first period, Ryan Ellis and Carter Ashton distinguished themselves in the Maple Leaves, and at the beginning of the second goal, Dmitry Shikin was struck by Braden Shann.

It seemed that Bragin's wards would not be able to recoup after this.

However, in the final 20 minutes, they managed to turn the game upside down.

In just five minutes, Artemy Panarin, Maxim Kitsyn and Vladimir Tarasenko distinguished themselves three times and equalized the score.

And in the end, the opponent was finished off by the same Panarin and Nikita Dvurechensky.

Many of that "youth team" have grown into real stars: Panarin, Kuznetsov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Dmitry Orlov.

Unfortunately, not all of the winners of the MFM-2011 have survived to this day.

Lokomotiv's hockey players, defender Yuri Urychev and striker Daniil Sobchenko, died in a plane crash near Yaroslavl just nine months after the final meeting with Canada.

In general, the matches between Russia and Canada at the MFM, as a rule, turn out to be effective.

In the new century, rivals scored less than four goals for two only twice.

The domestic team beat the North Americans twice with a score of 2: 1.

First, as part of the meeting for third place in 2014, and then in the group stage in 2019.

Another curious feature of battles is unpredictability.

Opponents often exchanged streaks of two or three wins.

So, in 2002 and 2003 they met twice in the final of the MFM and in both cases the Russian squad took the upper hand - 5: 4 and 3: 2, respectively.

The game in the Czech Republic turned out to be especially memorable.

For the first time, the paths of the teams in that tournament crossed at the group stage, and the wards of Vladimir Plyushchev lost - 2: 5.

The game was also remembered for a serious scandal: Alexander Svitov spat at striker Brian Sutherby, who provoked him.

Before the decisive confrontation, emotions were also heated to the limit, and the hockey players almost fought in the hotel elevator.

As in 2011, our hockey players managed to make a comeback.

During the match they were 1: 3 inferior, but in the end they scored three goals in ten minutes.

And the victory was brought to the team by the goal of Anton Volchenkov.    

But from 2007 to 2011, "Maple Leaves" won five victories in a row over an opponent, three (2007-2009) in the final.

In 2005, they threw six goals into the gates of our youth team - 6: 1.

After three goals conceded, the coaching staff replaced Anton Khudobin with Andrey Kuznetsov, but this did not help.

The following year, the Russians intended to take revenge from the North Americans on their territory, but suffered an equally painful defeat - 0: 5.

It was possible to interrupt the unsuccessful streak only in 2011, after which Bragin's wards beat the Canadians in three more out of four matches, losing only at the group stage of the home MFM-2013 - 1: 4.