Canada thoroughly outclassed Hungary 9-0, Russia got an expected huge 7-2 victory over France and the two other games between Switzerland and Germany and Slovakia and Belarus were as tight as expected on third day of the 2009 IIHF World Championship

GROUP A

Slovakia - Belarus 1-2 SO (0-0, 0-1 ,1-0, 0-0, 0-1)
26 April 2009, Zürich-Kloten Arena, Att: 5,256
0-1 33:17 Andrei Stas 1 (Chupris)
1-1 57:06 Marcel Hossa 2 (Sekera)
1-2 65:00 SO: Oleg Antonenko
SVK 4x2, BLR 3x2, SOG 32:21 (9:6, 14:4, 9:8, 0:2, 0:1)
Best players: SVK: Lubos Bartecko, BLR: Mezin

Shootout: 0-1 Oleg Antonenko (BLR), 1-1 Rucizka (SVK), Grabovski (BLR) missed, Nagy (SVK) missed, Kalyuzhny (BLR) missed, Bartecko (SVK) missed, 1-2 Oleg Antonenko, Ruczika (SVK) missed.

SVK: Ratislav Stana, Jaroslav Obsut, Andrej Sekera, Lubos Bartecko, Michal Handzus (2), Marcel Hossa; Peter Smrek, Ivan Baranka (2), Milan Bartovic, Ratislav Pavlikovsky, Ladislav Nagy (2) - Dominik Granak (2), Boris Valabik, Stefan Ruzicka, Juraj Mikus, Branko Radivojevic - Rene Vydareny, Jiri Bicek, Peter Olvecky, Thomas Surovy,
BLR: Andrei Mezei; Alexander Ryadinski, Ruslan Salei, Andrei Mikhailov, Konstantin Koltsov, Yaroslav Chupris - Aleksandr Makritsky, Andrei Bashko (2), Aleksei Ugarov, Aleksei Kalyuzhny, Mikhail Grabovski - Ivan Usenko, Viktor Kostiuchenok, Oleg Antonenko (2), Evgeni Kovyrshin, Sergei Demagin - Andre Antonov,Alexander Kulakov, Andrei Stas (2).
Refs: Vyacheslav Bulanov & Rafail Kadyrov (RUS)
Linesmen: Konstantin Gordenko & Yuri Oskirko (RUS)

Slovakia had a difficult game against Hungary on Friday and today didn't bring any better for the 2002 world champion. Belarus defended meticulously and Mezin took some nice saves and gave nothing free for Slovakia. In the mid 2nd period, Andrei Stas got a quick shot off a bad angle to give Belarus the lead. This lead to better game by Belarus and it wasn't until the 58th minute that Slovakia managed to tie the game. The OT was scoreless even though Belarus had a go on the power play. In the shootout the experienced Oleg Antonenko scored two goals and secured the Belarussians the extra point despite the fact that Mikhail Grabovski's beautiful spin-o-rama goal was disallowed after review.

Canada - Hungary 9-0 (4-0, 2-0, 3-0)
26 April 2009, Zürich-Kloten Arena, Att: 5,506
1-0 05:18 Martin St. Louis 1 (White, Schenn)
2-0 09:40 Shea Weber 1 (St. Louis, Roy) PP1
3-0 12:35 Derek Roy 1 (Spezza, Phillips)
4-0 12:48 James Neal 1 (Fisher, White)
5-0 27:35 Martin St. Louis 2 (Doughty)
6-0 29:03 Shea Weber 2 (Phillips) PP1
7-0 41:06 Mike Fisher 2 (Horcoff, Hamhuis) PP1
8-0 44:51 Martin St. Louis 3 (Doan)
9-0 50:55 Jason Spezzza 2
CAN 2x2 + 1x5+20 (Upshall), HUN 8x2, SOG 50:16
Goaltender splits: HUN: Szuper (19/25 - 29:03) / Hetenyi (23/26 - 30:57)
Best players: CAN: Martin St. Louis - HUN: Tamas Sille

CAN (2): Chris Mason; Dan Hamhuis, Shea Weber, Derek Roy, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza - Drew Doughty, Chris Phillips (2), Steve Stamkos, Shane Doan, Martin St. Louis - Luke Schenn, Ian White, Scottie Upshall (25), Shawn Horcoff, Matthew Lombardi - Mike Fisher, Colby Armstrong, James Neal.
HUN: Levente Szuper (29:03 Zoltan Hetenyi), Bence Svasznek, Tamas Sille, Janos Vas, Krisztian Palkovics (2), Daniel Fekete - Andras Horvath (4), Viktor Tokaji (2), Balazs Ladanyi, Marton Vas (4), Imre Peterdi - Viktor Szelig (2), Omar Ennaffati, Csaba Kovacs, Csaba Janosi, Artyom Vaszjunyin - Ratislav Ondrejcik, Balazs Kangyal (2), Andras Benk, Gergely Majoross, Roger Holeczy.
Refs: Rick Looker (USA) & Daniel Piechaczek (GER)
Linesmen: Tobias Wehrli / Daniel Wirth (SUI).

Much has been written about Hungary's return to the IHWC after 70 years. In the 1930s the two teams met twice and the results were close. In the 1933 IHWC, Hungary lost narrowly 1:3 and in 1938, they even managed to tie the almighty Canadians. If history has any relevance, the game tonight was more akin to the one game two teams played in the pre-war Olympics. In 1936 where Hungary was crushed 15-0.

Tonight it was only by chance that the Hungary managed to keep the score in single digits. The game was virtually played in one end from start to finished and Canada dominated every single aspect of the game. Hungary was outskated, outmuscled, outshooted and shutout. The puck bounced happily in the Hungarian crease, and Canada hit the post nearly as often as they scored. It takes two Csárdá, but there was only one dancer on the ice tonight. Martin St. Louis made a hattrick, Steve Mason got a shutout, and for once Dany Heatley was kept scoreless. A game that Hungary needs to shake off as quickly as possible before their more important game vs Belarus on Tuesday.

Standings

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Canada	2	2	0	0	0	15:1	6
2		Slovakia	2	1	0	1	0	5:5	4
3		Belarus	2	0	1	0	1	3:7	2
4		Hungary	2	0	0	0	2	3:13	0

GROUP B

Switzerland - Germany 3-2 OT (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
26 April 2009, Postfinance Arena, Bern, Att: 11,423
0-1 06:26 Christoph Ullmann 1 (Y. Seidenberg, Butenschön) PP1
1-1 08:36 Roman Wick 1 (Lemm)
2-1 23:25 Mathias Seger 1 (Paterlini)
2-2 33:02 Christoph Schubert 1 (Hospelt, Hager) SH1
3-2 61:18 Mark Streit 1 (Plüss) PP1
SUI 7x2, GER 6x2, SOG 38:22 (7:8, 17:10, 12:4, 2:0)

SUI: Martin Gerber; Severin Blindenbacher, Mark Streit (2); Thierry Paterlini, Thomas Ziegler (2), Raffaele Sannitz - Felicien du Bois, Goran Bezina, Martin Plüss (2), Ivo Rühtemann (2), Ryan Gardner - Mathias Seger, Roman Josi (2), Thomas Deruns, Sandy Jeannin, Romano Lemm - Philippe Furrer (2), Andreas Ambühl (2), Roman Wick, Julien Sprunger, Kevin Romy.
GER: Dimitri Pätzold; Christopher Schmidt, Michael Bakos (2), Michael Wolf, Michael Hackert, Philip Gogulla - Sven Butenschön, Christoph Schubert (2), Jochen Hecht, Yannic Seidenberg, Christoph Ullmann (4) - Sebastian Osterloh, Moritz Müller (2), Sven Felski, Daniel Kreutzer, Alexander Barta - Andreas Renz, Frank Hördler (2), Travis Mulock, Kai Hospelt, Patrick Hager.
Refs. Sami Partanen & Jyri Petteri Rönn (FIN)
Linesmen: Ivan Dedioulia (BLR) & Antti Orelma (FIN)

This was an exciting game between the two neighboring nations. While the enchanted home audience expected a strong performance by Switzerland, the game turned out tight. Germans took the lead with a powerplay goal after six minutes but Roman Wick tied it soon after. Two goals were also scored in the second period and especially the short handed goal by Christoph Schubert was a show of will as he stuffed his own rebound in after a partial breakaway. In the over time Mark Streit released a cannon of a shot to beat Pätzold high.

Russia - France 7-2 (5-1, 1-1, 1-0)
26 April 2009, Postfinance Arena, Bern, Att: 10,505
1-0 01:23 Aleksandr Radulov 1 (Gorovikov)
2-0 07:06 Danis Zaripov 2 (Gorivikov, Kalinin) PP1
3-0 07:20 Aleksandr Radulov 2 (Zinoviev)
4-0 08:01 Aleksandr Perezhogin 1 (Kuryanov, Kovalchuk)
4-1 10:25 Kevin Hecquefeuille 1 (da Costa, Bellemare)
5-1 15:00 Aleksei Tereschenko 1 (Atyushov) PP1
6-1 27:23 Alexei Tereschenko 2 (Morozov, Atyushov) PP1
6-2 39:31 Luc Tardif 1 (Bachet, Amar)
7-2 49:20 Ilya Kovalchuk 2 (Perezhogin)
RUS 3x2, FRA 5x2, SOG 42:25 (18:6, 12:7, 12:12)

RUS: Aleksandr Eremenko, Ilya Nikulin, Vitali Proshin, Danis Zaripov, Aleksei Tereschenko, Aleksei Morozov - Vitali Vishnevski, Oleg Tverdovsky (2), Aleksandr Perezhogin (2), Sergei Zinoviev, Ilya Kovalchuk - Dmitri Kalinin, Vitali Atyushov, Oleg Saprykin, Konstantin Gorovikov, Aleksandr Radulov (2), Denis Grebeshkov, Anton Kuryanov.
HUN: Eddy Ferhi; Vincent Bachet, Baptiste Amar, Yorick Treille, Laurent Meunier, Damien Raux (2) - Mathieu Mille, Antonin Manavian (2), Francois Rozenthal, Anthoine Lussier, Laurent Gras - Benoit Quessandier (2), Thomas Roussel, Pierre Edouard Bellemare, Kevin Hecquefuille, Damien Fleury - Kevin Igier, Jonathan Zwikel (2), Stephane da Costa, Luc Tardif (2), Sasha Treille.
Refs: Ole Hansen (NOR) & Peter Orszag (SVK)
Linesmen: Peter Sabelström (SWE) / Anton Semionov (EST)

Just like the first match, Russians needed only twenty minutes to close the game. Unlike the match against Germany, Bykov's team, who played without Frolov and Volchenkov, opened the dancing just after eighty seconds with a flashy counterattack by Aleksandr Radulov. A few seconds later France had the tie on Meunier's stick, but Eremenko was ready and saved the attempt. Another difference between this game and the inaugural one was Russian's powerplay efficience as when Reux was sent to the box, Zaripov doubled the score after a great combination in the offensive zone that involved also Gorovikov and Kalinin. Fourteen seconds later Radulov made it 3-0 after a great invite by Zinoviev from between the crease. Despite the confortable lead the Russians kept on playing hard and scored the fourth goal with Perezhogin just at the eighth minute. After this mark the game slowed down a bit and France managed to put the puck in the net thanks to a nice shot by Hecquefeuille after a quick counterattack. Russian four-goal lead was quickly restored later by a powerplay goal by Aleksei Tereschenko.

The second and the third period were less interesting as the Russians had no drive toward running the score and they preferred trying some moves and new combinations. Danis Zaripov has been left in the locker room because of a micro injury, but that was just a precautional move as he will surely play against the hosts of Switzerland on Thursday. At the twenty-seventh minute Tereschenko scored again on a powerplay to give Russia a 6-1 lead, the result that everyone was expecting for the second period's end, but a deflection by Ilya Nikulin on a shot by Tardif gave the French a second goal.

The third period was even slower than the second. The French did had a few chances, but Eremenko didn't allow any other goal and midway throught the period the Russians got the seventh goal with Kovalchuk, who will be awarded as his team's MVP of the night. The goal came off a great onetimer after a nice pass by Perezhogin.

The reigning champion's next game will be played, as said, on Thursday against Switzerland at the local 16.15

Standings

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Russia	2	2	0	0	0	12:2	6
2		Switzerland	2	1	1	0	0	4:2	5
3		Germany	2	0	0	1	1	2:8	1
4		France	2	0	0	2	0	2:8	0