Sunday, January 28, 2007

No Surprises on First Day of World Championships

KEMEROVO, Russia -- The top three teams coming into the World Championships - Sweden, Russia and Finland - all had an easy first day of the tournament, besting their opponents by a combined score of 40-4.

In the first match, Finland defeated Belarus 14-1 thanks to hat tricks from both Sandvikens AIK's Mikko Aarni and Rasmus Lindqvist of Falu BS. Belarus' lone goal was scored by Sergei Chernetsky of Yenisei Krasnoyarsk.

Daniel Andersson and David Karlsson also scored three goals each for Sweden, as they beat Kazakhstan 8-1. Kazakhstan's captain, Andrei Morokov of Rodina Kirov, scored the losing side's only goal.

And finally, Russia posted the most impressive score of the night, trouncing Norway 18-2. Dynamo Moscow's Sergei Obukhov rocketed to the top of the scoring charts, tallying six goals, while Pavel Ryazantsev of Uralsky Trubnik added four of his own. Christer Lystad of Swedish club Boltic/Gota and Kjetil Johansen of Norway's Solberg put the Norwegians on the board.

In Group B, the US defeated the Netherlands 11-0, Latvia defeated Mongolia 5-0, and Hungary beat Estonia 4-2.

Chris Preiss of the American Bandy Association's Minnesota Bandolier had a hat trick, as did Steve Nelson of the Minnesota Blades.

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