Baikal Beats Zorky, Playoffs Enter Final Stretch

Rekord Stadium, IRKUTSK, Russia -- In a season that has been marked by inconsistency, Baikal-Energia fans have something to cheer about on this International Womens Day as the home side defeated Zorky Krasnogorsk 6-3 in front of a capacity crowd at Rekord Stadium.

Four Baikal players had multi-point games, led by Alexander Nasonov's two goals and two assists. Roman Murzin also scored two goals, while Nikolai Kadakin registered a goal and an assist. Those two tallies give Nasonov 40 goals on the year, good for fifth place in the league.

The decision to move the game from Irkutsk's much larger Trud Stadium was made the night before the game. Warmer weather had severely affected the quality of the ice, team officials said, forcing the move to the artificially-cooled surface at Rekord. The change of venue left literally thousands out in the cold, as Rekord has a capacity of only 6,300, while Trud holds more than 18,000.

The win puts Baikal in eighth place in the standings. There are only four games left to play for each team, and at 7-11, the best Irkutsk can hope for is a .500 finish. Dynamo Moscow sits atop the 12-team table at 15-1.

The playoff format is rather bizarre, and honestly, it just took me about 15 minutes to figure it out even though I have grasped it before, and even written about it. Each team has currently played seven or eight games of their 12-game schedule, which consists of home-and-home matchups with the six playoff teams from the opposite division. Also included in the overall standings are the results of regular season matches between eventual playoff teams (thus Baikal's regular season losses to SKA-Neftyanik are included in the current standings, but its win over SKA-Sverdlovsk is not).

Here is how Baikal has fared thus far:

Rodina Kirov 7:3 Baikal-Energia
Zorky Krasnogorsk 14:6 Baikal-Energia
Baikal-Energia 7:3 Raketa Kazan
Baikal-Energia 6:5 Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk
Volga Ulyanovsk 7:6 Baikal-Energia
Dynamo Moscow 19:5 Baikal-Energia
Baikal-Energia 4:6 Rodina Kirov
Baikal-Energia 6:3 Zorky Krasnogorsk

And the remaining schedule:

March 12: @ Raketa Kazan
March 15: @ Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk
March 19: vs. Volga Ulyanovsk
March 22: vs. Dynamo Moscow

Baikal is certainly capable of beating the next three teams, but a win in the season finale at home against Dynamo is a lot to ask of this squad. After a season of crushing defections and lowered expectations, a victory in that game would certainly bode well for this young team heading into next season.

Dynamo Moscow Defeats Edsbyns for ExTe Cup

LJUSDAL, Sweden -- Dynamo Moscow defended their ExTe World Cup title by defeating Swedish side Edsbyns IF 5-0 in the final. Rinat Shamsutov scored a hat trick in the victory, while Ivan Maximov and Maxim Chernykh also added goals.

Dynamo had to defeat rivals Zorky Krasnogorsk to reach the final, besting them 4-3. Dynamo jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to goals from their big four scorers - Sergei Lomanov, Maximov, Yevgeny Ivanushkin, and Sergei Obukhov. Zorky rallied in the final 15 minutes, as Yury Loginoy's goal was bookended by a pair from the tournament's leading goal scorer, Sami Laakkonen.

In the "third-prize match," which, strangely, involved the two worst teams in the tournament, Norway's Stabaek Bandy defeated Finnish side Tornea PV 4-3.

Dynamo, Zorky to Meet in ExTe Cup Semifinals

LJUSDAL, Sweden -- Russian sides have been dominant at the ExTe World Cup of Bandy, as three of the four teams that will meet in the semifinals are from the Russian League. Five of the six Russian clubs in the tournament advanced to the quarterfinals.

The biggest match-up of the semifinals will likely be between defending champions Dynamo Moscow and perennial powerhouse Zorky Krasnogorsk. Sweden's lone hope to recapture the cup lies with Edsbyns, who will take on Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk for a spot in Sunday's final.

While Zorky enters the semifinals with a perfect 4-0 record, Dynamo stumbled in the qualifying round, playing Vasteras SK to a 2-2 draw, but they still managed to win their group.

The only Russian squad left out of the elimination round was AMNGR-Murman Murmansk, who finished the tournament 1-2. They did however manage a victory over tournament hosts Ljusdal BK 6-3.

Meanwhile at the Entos Cup in Lidkoping, parity has been king as no team has been able to assert themselves thus far in the tournament, though the hometown team has been best at 1-0-1 thus far.

Scores:

ExTe World Cup
Quarterfinals

Zorky Krasnogorsk 5, Vasteras SK 3
Dynamo Moscow 9, Vodnik Arkahngelsk 0
Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk 1, Rodina Kirov 0
Edsbyns IF 2, Broberg 1

Semifinals

Zorky Krasnogorsk vs. Dynamo Moscow
Uralsky Trubnik Pervouralsk vs. Brodberg

Entos Cup

Villa Lidköping 11, IFK Vänersborg 6
Gripen Trollhättan 6, BolticGöta 2
IFK Vänersborg 5, Gripen Trollhättan 4
BolticGöta 5, Villa Lidköping 5

Shazam! Two Home Wins for Baikal

Trud Stadium, IRKUTSK, Russia -- Baikal-Energia Irkutsk got their championship run back on track with wins over Raketa Kazan and Zorky Krasnogorsk.

Baikal is now tied for third place in the tables with Kuzbass Kemerovo.

On Thursday, Baikal beat Raketa 5-4, and they thumped Zorky 5-1 on Sunday.

More updates to come soon.