Sunday, February 17, 2008

Baikal Embarassed in Playoff Opener

Rodina Stadium, KIROV, Russia -- Baikal-Energia Irkutsk did not start their playoff run well, falling to Rodina Kirov 7-3 on Thursday.

Rodina scored seven goals before Baikal was able to get on the scoreboard. Maxim Blem scored off a corner in the 68th minute to prevent the shutout. He was followed by Roman Murzin, who was assisted by Alexander Nasonov, and Yevgeny Yakovlev capped off the scoring in the 81st minute.

Rodina entered the tournament ranked sixth in the West Division, finishing the season with a 7-9-2 record, so this loss does not bode well for Baikal's performance against the elite teams of the West.

Baikal will next face one of those elite teams, Zorky Krasnogorsk, on February 17th. Zorky finished the season in second place with a 17-1 record, missing out on the top spot due to Dynamo Moscow's outrageous +153 goal differential.

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