Team Russia wins 2010 Subway Super Series

After the first two wins over the QMJHL selects, Bragin's Team Russia faced the OHL and WHL selections.

The first game against the OHL selects wasn't very good as the Russians were obviously tired due to the schedule (it was a back-to-back game) and the OHL had an easy 4-0 win.

In this game Bragin's team could count on Nail Yakupov. He showed that he has been gifted with incredible coordination and agility. Even if he didn't score he played quite well in the second and third periods

Also Vladislav Namestnikov of the London Knights joined the team. He played pretty well, creating offensive scoring chances setting up Yakupov and Zdunov as well as playing a bit of time on the penalty kill. But this game didn't give indications about his WJC play as he appeared quite small and did not win many puck battles or faceoffs,

A trio of undrafted players is doing very well: Anton Burdasov continued his great play with fast skating at both ends of the ice and great compete level, Nikita Dvurechenksy also played pretty good and backchecked hard, while Sergei Kalinin: continued to display the highest effort on Russia, blocking shots and skating like a madman at times.

Maxim Kitsyn and Daniil Sobchenko did not play poorly, however they did not step up and play as good as they are capable.

Top defenseman Nikita Pivtsakin made a poor play on the third OHL goal, but other than that was quite good. His colleague defenseman Andrei Pedan had good moments, but coughed up the puck in his own zone and took two penalties. Berezin and Zakhar Arzamastev were the other two defenders who had pretty good games despite losing.

London Knights' Igor Bobkov played very well and had 44 saves.

The second game vs the OHL selects was a better one for Team Russia. A second period goal by Artem Voronin gave Bragin's team a 1-0 advantage, but Casey Cizikas made it 1-1 during the third stanza. After the shoot-outs the OHL selects grabbed the win 2-1. Only Maxim Kitsyn scored for Russia.

Caps' prospect Ivan Telegin played fairly well, although he did not stand out, he was solid defensively and on the PK and had some good chemistry with Anton Burdasov. Burdasov played really well and most likely he has earned a spot on the WJC team. He has good speed, knows how to use his size and has pretty good hands as well. Dynamo's Nikita Dvurechensky had a nice assist on Voronin's goal plus played well in general and had good effort. He also will most likely represent Russia at the WJC.

Maxim Kitsyn played pretty well again, most dangerous offensive player and scored a great shootout goal. First line defenseman Berezin played well and his size is a big advantage, while his role mate Yuri Urychev - Is playing better and better as the series goes on. Nikita Pivtsakin played much better this time and most likely he also gained a spot in the upcoming WJC.

Team Russia then went on winning the series with two straights win over the WHL selects. In the first game they had 6 different scorers when the regulations ended 6-6, with Russia getting the win 7-6.

In the second game a hat trick by Ak Bars' Stanislav Bocharov and a marker from Maxim Kitsyn, for the second straight year Subway Super Series top scorer, lift team Russia to a 5-2 win, getting their first ever win in the tournament. "Our coach's conribution to the win was enormous", acknowledged Kitsyn after the game. Bragin's team ended up with a 4-1-1 record.