Tyler Foo – CanucksBanter

The IIHF Meet December 6 To Discuss China’s National Men’s Hockey Team 2022 Winter Olympics Participation

Red Star Dragons goalie Paris O’Brien makes save against Sibir

Kunlun Red Star 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 7 (0-2, 1-3, 0-2)

Sibir defeated Kunlun for the third time this season, recording a fourth straight victory and improving to 10 wins from its last 12 games. That upswing, which follows a slow start to the season for Andrei Martemyanov’s men, puts the Novosibirsk team level with Avangard on 42 points.

The IIHF, are set to meet December 6, to discuss China’s National Men’s Hockey Team participation in the Beijing Olympics, and the decision is expected to hinge on player eligibility rules and the performance of the Kunlun Red Star Dragons.

Red Star enjoyed a rare victory last time out, defeating Neftekhimik 2-1 as young goalie Paris O’Brien made a winning start to his KHL career. The Dragons also promoted some of their homegrown Chinese players to more prominent spots on the team and Ivano Zanatta continued with that approach here.

However, O’Brien found life tougher on his second appearance in this league. In-form Sibir created far more offense from the start and took full control of this game with two goals towards the end of the first period. Alexander Sharov opened the scoring with a well-placed backhand, then Nikita Shashkov doubled the lead barely one minute later.

Dragons Tyler Wong goes in on net for scoring chance

Red Star’s power play has been problematic this season, but early in the second period the home team needed just 12 seconds to parlay a minor penalty for Denis Golubev into a goal for Tyler Wong. However, at the very moment Golubev would have exited the box, if Sibir’s penalty kill had endured, he was on the ice make it 3-1.

Then O’Brien suffered a moment to forget when a Trevor Murphy point shot cannoned off the boards and bounced into the net off the luckless goalie’s pads. Murphy, a former Dragon, added a goal to his earlier assist.

As the second period drew to a close, Ethan Werek pulled one back for Kunlun but Michal Cajkovsky made it 5-2 seconds before the intermission.

The third period saw Sibir increase its lead. Vadim Kudako got his second of the season to make it 6-2 before Golubev’s second of the game confirmed the final scoreline.