News

The Russians clearly considered the medal around the neck to be cast from the wrong precious metal, as their tepid celebration indicated after their bronze-medal match with Slovakia at the world junior hockey championship yesterday afternoon.

Though they overwhelmed the tournament's surprise team and fan favourite 5-2, the Russians played well short of the standard set in their heartbreaking semi-final loss to Canada.

Afterward, Russian coach Sergei Nemchinov admitted it was difficult to get his charges excited about playing for third place.

"It was hard to motivate them after the emotional game against Canada," Nemchinov said. "We started really slow, as the game went on, we started to pick up our speed and passing … overall we are satisfied. You always want to get gold, but a medal is a medal."

The Russians dedicated their tournament to Alexei Cherepanov, who was eligible to play but died suddenly from a heart condition during a game with his Russian professional team.

And the defeat to Canada on Saturday evening cast a long shadow.

"Even yesterday it was very hard for us, a big shock for all the guys," said Russian captain Nikita Filatov, a Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick who scored two goals yesterday. "You could see even from our play today, it was far from perfect, sometimes even bad. But anyway, we won.

"It's difficult … we were so close [to the gold-medal final]. I think we played just good enough to beat this team, maybe God didn't watch this game, I don't know. Maybe He's waiting for the final."

Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Janus gave NHL scouts something to chew on with his third successive scintillating performance.

"I don't really want to talk about the draft, it was a few games. … I think the scouts are looking for goalies who play well the whole season, and hopefully the rest of my season will be great," said Janus, whose name drew the loudest cheers during player introductions at Scotiabank Place.

The undrafted Erie Otters goaltender exits the tournament playing the best hockey of his young career.

The same might be said of diminutive forward Tomas Tatar, who scored his seventh goal of the tournament in a losing cause.

Tatar, who is draft eligible in June, finished just one goal shy of the tournament lead — held jointly by Filatov and Canadian forward John Tavares — and will have improved his standing among scouts.

"Perhaps, but I'm more concerned about the success of the whole team," he said through an interpreter. "Slovakia is such a small country, we are very happy to have gotten as far as we did … but of course a medal would have been much nicer."