Schedule, Rosters Announced for Russian Government Cup

MOSCOW, Russia -- The Russian Bandy Federation has announced the official rosters of the teams participating in the Russian Government Cup, which will be held in Irkutsk December 8-10. National squads from Russia, Sweden and Norway will be taking part, as will the home side, Baikal-Energia Irkutsk.

There has been a lot of controversy in recent weeks swirling around who would lead the Russian squad. In early September, Vladimir Yanko, Dynamo Moscow's skipper, announced that he was stepping down as Russia's head coach. Yanko had been behind the Soviet and Russian national team benches since 1989, winning five world championships, including the 2006 title last February.

The former Zorky and Dynamo midfielder has also won a staggering 10 national championships as the coach of Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, Vodnik Arkhangelsk and Dynamo.

Yanko cited fatigue and conflict with federation leadership as the reasons for his departure. Several months passed with no decision on the new coach, and on November 20th, Zorky Krasnogorsk submitted a formal letter of complaint about the coaching vacancy. The federation had requested that Zorky release six players for the tournament, players Zorky threatened to withhold if the situation was not resolved soon.

On November 23rd, the federation announced that Yanko's assistant at Dynamo, the legendary Sergei Lomanov, would take over the national team. Until the summer of 2005, Lomanov had been a longtime player and then coach for Yenisei, a team with which he is nearly synonomous. He had spent several seasons with the national team as an assistant, and when Yanko made the move from Vodnik to Dynamo 18 months ago (and his son, Sergei Lomanov, Jr., one of Russia's top snipers, was traded to Moscow), Lomanov ended his brief retirement and signed on as the club's assistant coach.

At the time of the announcement, Lomanov was working in Kazan with a crop of young players Dynamo had loaned to Raketa to give them more playing time and help their development.

Despite Dynamo's stacked roster, only one player from the club, goaltender Kirill Khvalko, was selected for Russia. Midfielder Daniel Liw was also released by Dynamo to play for the Swedes. Kuzbass Kemerovo led all teams with four selections for Russia, including snipers Alexander Sapega and Pavel Ryazantsev. Some Zorky fans may be torn at this tournament, as three players will suit up for Russia, while three more will play for Sweden, including the potent duo of Johann and Hans Andersson.

Russia

Goaltenders
1. Roman GEYZEL - Kuzbass Kemerovo
2. Kirill KHVALKO - Dynamo Moscow

Defensemen
3. Anton SAVLUK - Yenisei Krasnoyarsk
4. Pyotr ZAKHAROV - Zorky Krasnogorsk
5. Alexander USOV - Raketa Kazan
6. Yury VIKULIN - Yenisei Krasnoyarsk
7. Alexei CHIZHOV - Kuzbass Kemerovo
8. Paveil BULATOV - Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk
9. Mikhail ZHDANOV - Rodina Kirov
10. Yevgeny KOREV - CKA-Neftyanik Khabarovsk

Midfielders
11. Denis KOTOV - Zorky Krasnogorsk
12. Igor UFANDEYEV - Zorky Krasnogorsk
13. Alexander SAPEGA - Kuzbass Kemerovo
14. Sergei SHABUROV - Rodina Kirov
15. Denis KRIUSHENKOV - Kuzbass Kemerovo
16. Yevgeny SHVETSOV - SKA-Neftyanik Khabarovsk

Forwards
17. Viktor CHERNYSHYOV - Raketa Kazan
18. Igor LARIONOV - Raketa Kazan
19. Pavel RYAZANTSEV - Kuzbass Kemerovo
20. Maxim PAKHOMOV - Stroitel Syktyvkar

Coaches
Sergei LOMANOV - Head Coach
Sergei MYAUS - Assistant Coach
Vladislav SPINKA - General Manager

Schedule*

December 8

16:00 Norway - Russia
20:00 Sweden - Baikal-Energia Irkutsk

December 9

13:00 Russia - Baikal-Energia Irkutsk
17:00 Sweden - Norway**

December 10

12:00 Russia - Baikal-Energia Irkutsk
17:00 Russia - Sweden

*All game times local Irkutsk time (EST + 13h)
**All games played at Irkutsk's Trud Stadium except Sweden v. Norway, which will be played at Stroitel Stadium in neighboring Shelekhov

Officiating Crews

RUSSIA: Yevgeny MOROZOV, Andrei TOKMAKOV, Igor SAVENKOV, Alexei MARKELOV (Lead Referee)
SWEDEN: Roland FAGER, Tomas PERSSON, Tobias LINDBERG, Per-Erik AHLUND (Lead Referee)
NORWAY: Jorn-Ivar PETERSEN, Rune JANSEN, Knute GROTHAUG, Rolf Wendt ANDERSEN (Lead Referee)