On October, 4, SKA played against Carolina in the show game “KHL vs NHL”. It was a nice show, with lots of goals and fights. SKA won 5:3.

St. Petersburg coach Ivano Zanatta explains to IIHF.com:
“This meant a lot to the national hockey pride of Russians. The Olympics left a scar in the Russian hockey soul. What we did tonight was to start mending that scar a little bit,” said the Italo-Canadian who is entrusted with the monumental task of jelling this star ensemble into a cohesive group.

His counterpart was also quite happy with his team’s performance, but not with the way the SKA, according to Paul Maurice, took liberties with some of his star players.
“In the NHL when players have an issue they are allowed to solve it by themselves,” said the Hurricanes coach. “And then you continue to play. But this is not possible in international hockey, there is a different tradition.”

This is the second time that an NHL-team will face a KHL-club. In the inaugural Victoria Cup on October 1, 2008, the New York Rangers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat European club champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 4-3, with Ryan Callahan netting the winner with 20 seconds remaining. The game was played in Bern, Switzerland, reminds the IIHF website.

Here are some photos, taken from championat.ru, sovsport.ru and other open sources

Semin's car accident - lifesports.ru

Washington Capitals star Alexander Semin got in a very small car accident last week in Krasnoyarsk — reportedly, his car was slightly hit by another. Semin said he even hadn’t realized what had happened. No one was hurt.

Here’s a small video in which a person tries to learn what has happened and is told not to take the video – Semin car accident

More Hockey News — Straight Outta Russia …

Afinogenov is reportedly headed to the greener pastures of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Another flashy Russian is apparently headed back to the Motherland. Reports say former Atlanta Thrasher Maxim Afinogenov off to the KHL, joining former San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeny Nabokov in St. Petersburg, signing a deal with SKA. The report is that he’s getting five years for an unknown sum of money.  My Russian is OK, but not that good.

The Thrasher fan in me continued to hope that Mad Max would bring his razzle dazzle back to the ATL.  He looked good in Thrasher blue.

I have a couple of Russian colleagues who are looking into the story further, but the Russian site Sovietsky Sport seems to indicate Afinogenov to the KHL is a done deal. If true, that’s likely the last we’ve seen of Afinogenov in the NHL, which is sad. First Jagr now this!?! Horror! :-)

I hope that our brilliant and talented Russian gurus will have a better update for you later. Until then, do svidanya Max. It was fun while it lasted.

What do you think of this exodus of players from the NHL — is it worrisome to you? Let us know what you think!

Photo: Maxim Afinogenov by Goddess Kaatiya. Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.