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The Karjala tournament, the second Euro Hockey Tour event in the 2009-2010 season, was decided after the fifth game when Alexei Morozov scored the game-winner on the power play in overtime for Russia against the Czech Republic.

Russia was undefeated in the round robin event, but needed overtime twice – against the Czechs and Finns – to claim the crown. Morozov netted both overtime game-winners.

While the Russians took over the top position in the Euro Hockey Tour standings with 12 points in six games, the home crowd celebrated Finland’s historic win against rival Sweden with a 7-0 thumping. It was only the second time that the Finns netted a seven-goal win against the Tre Kronor.

The win was also the second for the Finns against Sweden this season as they won the Nordic meeting in the first Euro Hockey tour event in September. Goalkeeper Petri Vehanen, earned the shutout with 27 saves. On the other side, Swedish netminder Stefan Liv was replaced after two periods seven goals.

Best promotion for Germany

Germany delivered a great advertisement for the upcoming 2010 World Championship as they won the annual Deutschland Cup for the first time since 1996. The Germans fell to the U.S. in a shootout and then beat Slovakia in a shootout, setting up a must-win scenario against Switzerland on the final day.

Germany easily won the deciding game, crushing the Swiss, 5-1. It was the largest margin of victory against Switzerland since the 1987 World Championship. Germany got help from Slovakia, while beat the U.S. in a shootout, lifting Germany above the Americans in the final standings.

It was the first time since the 1993 World Championship that hockey was played in the Olympic Arena in Munich. The tournament will be held in the arena for the next three years to bolster Munich’s bid for the 2018 Olympics.

Belarus wins first tournament in post-Hanlon era

Three days after Glen Hanlon quit his job as the head coach of the Belarus national team, the nation hosted the Polesie Cup in Bobruisk and Zhlobin. Andrei Gusov was the interim head coach for the tournament, but the final decision about the head coach for the 2010 Olympics will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

The tournament ended well for Gusov. Belarus beat both Austria and Denmark with a 4-2 score. 7,000 fans in Bobruisk saw Belarus win the final game against Norway, 3-2. Patrick Thoresen opened the scoring, but Norway only led for five minutes. Alexander Zhidkikh and Yaroslav Chupris turned the game with their markers at 18:12 and 23:56. Martin Røymark equalized nine minutes into the third period, but Andrei Stas scored the game-winning goal on the power play 74 seconds before the end of the period.

Other events:

Slovenia won the Pannon Cup – a tournament of the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge – in Szekesfehervar, Hungary. They beat Croatia (4-0) and Italy (3-1) before a 3-1 victory in the final against host Hungary.

Ziga Pance, Jakob Milovanovic and Bostjan Golicic scored the goals for Slovenia. Slovenia will host one of the World Championship Division I tournaments in Ljubljana, and will meet Hungary again in April.

For Italy, the only top-division team of the 2010 World Championship program in the tournament, the Pannon Cup ended in third place after a 7-0 victory against Croatia.

Mikhail Zakharov has to wait for the first game behind the bench of the Ukrainian national team. Because of the swine flu pandemic in the country, the two exhibition games against Poland in Sanok were cancelled. Some Ukrainian players were either sick or injured following the camp in Kyiv.

Poland won a game against the local club team Sanok, 5-3.

Swedish juniors win in St. Petersburg

Sweden won the U20 Four Nations tournament in St. Petersburg and looks to be the strongest European entry for the upcoming World Junior Championship. The tournament was the last major event before to the 2010 World U20 Championship, which begins on December 26, 2009, in Saskatoon & Regina, Canada.

Sweden won the key game of the tournament against host Russia, 4-2. The Russians finished in second place ahead of the Czech Republic and Finland.

Some other European nations involved in the next World Juniors played in a four nations tournament in Monthey, Switzerland, which was won by Slovakia. Germany claimed second place ahead of Switzerland and Norway.

Team USA defends title at World Junior A Challenge

Many other high-calibre U18 events were underway last week, but the biggest tournament was played in Summerside, Canada, with the World Junior A Challenge, which included two Canadian entries and four national teams.

The United States and Canada West met in the gold-medal game which Team USA won with Matt Leitner’s 2-1 goal at 40:50.

Another American entry won a four nations U18 tournament in Finland.

MARTIN MERK