OHL defeats Russians again

NEWS RELEASE

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

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Little comes up big against Russia

By Aaron Bell

Bryan Little is looking for an early Christmas present.

The Barrie Colts’ captain was one of the last cuts from Canada’s entry at the World Junior Championships last Christmas and is hoping that his outstanding season so far will earn him a ticket to the event this year in Sweden.

On Monday, Little took another step closer to that dream when he scored the winning goal to lift the OHL to a 4-3 win over the Russian Selects in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa.

With the score tied at three early in the third period, Little took a centering feed from Ryan O’Marra and snapped a shot into the top of the net. It was the Barrie Colts captain’s second goal of the series and gave the OHL its eighth straight win against the Russians in the four-year history of the tournament.

“These are the games that you get a chance to show your stuff,” said Peterborough Petes’ captain Steve Downie, one of five OHL stars that helped Canada win the gold medal at the World Junior Championships last Christmas. “You’ve got a chance to show them what you’ve got.”

Saginaw Spirit teammates O’Marra and Tom Pyatt teamed up to give the OHL an early lead in the game. With the OHL on a powerplay, O’Marra one-timed a centering feed from Pyatt past Russian goaltender Llia Proskuryakov.

Dmitry Zyuzin tied the game on the powerplay later in the opening frame.

Patrick McNeill of the Spirit restored the OHL’s one-goal lead in the dying seconds of the first period. With the OHL on the powerplay, Oshawa Generals’ sophomore John Tavares worked the puck out from the corner and handed it to McNeill in front of the net.

Downie bumped the OHL’s lead to two early in the second period when he finished off a rebound from James Neal of the Plymouth Whalers and stuffed it into the short side of the net.

Denis Kazionov brought the Russians to within one when he scored his first goal of the series in the second period and then Russian captain Andrey Kiryukhin tied it 2:07 minutes later on a solid individual effort in front of the net.

“We got the lead, but they battled back,” said Downie, who admitted that the OHL squad was tired after playing a full slate of games the past few days. “All the guys in our room played all weekend.”

Steve Mason of the London Knights was exceptional in the OHL net. He turned aside 24 shots, including a point-blank stop on Vadim Shipachev with two minutes left on the clock to preserve the win.

The Russians travel to the Western Hockey League to conclude the series with games in Chilliwack on Wednesday and Kamloops on Thursday. Both games will be broadcast across Canada on Rogers Sportsnet.

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