Alexei Cherepanov

Infobox Ice Hockey Player


position = Right Wing
shoots = Left
height_ft = 6
height_in = 1
weight_lb = 183
team = New York Rangers
league = NHL
prospect_team = Omsk
prospect_league = KHL
nationality = Russia
birth_date = birth date and age|1989|01|15
birth_place = Barnaul, USSR
draft = 17th overall
draft_year = 2007
draft_team = New York Rangers
career_start = 2006
nickname = The Siberian Express

Alexei Andreyevich Cherepanov ( _ru. Алексей Андреевич Черепанов; born January 15, 1989 in Barnaul, USSR) is a Russian professional ice hockey winger, currently playing for the Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Playing career

Nicknamed the "Siberian Express", Cherepanov is in his second season with Avangard, a team in southwestern Siberia. In his rookie season in the RSL, Cherepanov had more points than now-NHL stars Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk did in their first seasons in the Super League at the age of 17. In March 2007, Cherepanov surpassed the Russian league rookie goal scoring record previously held by Pavel Bure. [cite web | publisher=NHL.com, Bill Meltzer | date=2007-03-24 | title=Cherepanov Sets RSL Rookie Goal Record | url= http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=290442| accessdate=2007-07-01]

He represented Russia at the 2007 World Jr. Hockey Championships. Along with winning a silver medal, he led the tournament in scoring and subsequently named to the tournaments all-star team, as well as earning the award as best forward.

On June 22, 2007, Cherepanov was drafted in the 1st round, 17th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, despite being considered by many rankings to be a top 5 prospect, and the top European available. Among the reasons offered by analysts for his lingering in the draft was the lack of a new transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation concerning players in the Russian Hockey Federation, though Russian players can simply give two-weeks' notice and leave any team, as was the case with Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin. [cite web | publisher=The Sports Network. | date=2006-08-19 | title=Malkin sits down for interview with TSN | url= http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=174657&hubname=nhl| accessdate=2007-07-01]

Cherepanov currently has one year remaining on his contract with Omsk, going into the 2008/09 season, and it is not known for certain when he will play in the NHL.

On August 29, 2007, during game 2 of the 2007 Super Series, Cherepanov collided with Canadian forward Brandon Sutter and suffered a concussion. The next day it was reported that he would be out for the remainder of the eight-game series. [cite web | publisher=TSN.ca | date=2007-08-31 | title=Cherepanov out for remainder of Series | url= http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/news_story/?ID=217269| accessdate=2007-08-31] Team Russia went on to go winless in the series.

On November 5, 2007 Cherepanov was named RSL Newcomer of the Year for the '06-'07 Season. [cite web | publisher=Metallurg.ru | date=2007-11-05 | title="Матч звезд": шоу для тех, кто пришел | url= http://www.metallurg.ru/news/32867/| accessdate=2007-11-05]

Cherepanov led Russia to a bronze medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships, and had three points in the medal winning 4-2 victory over the United States. [cite web | publisher=rangers.nhl.com | date=2008-01-05 | title=Cherepanov leads Russia to WJC bronze | url= http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=348869]

On October 3, 2008 Alexei tied the Avangard Omsk goal scoring streak record with goals in 6 consecutive games. [cite web | publisher=www.hawk.ru | date=2008-10-03 | title=Черепанов повторяет рекорд Затонского | url= http://www.hawk.ru/news/4734.html ]

Career statistics

References

External links

* [http://www.russianprospects.com/public/profile.php?player_id=605 RussianProspects.com Alexei Cherepanov Profile]
* [http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app?page=PlayerDetail&playerId=8474193&service=page Rangers profile]
* [http://hawk.ru/person.php?n_id_person=5273 Player page at Avangard Omsk site]
*hockeydb|96288
*eurohockey|102405
* [http://hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=9353&mode=threaded&order=0 HockeysFuture article]