2008 Victoria Cup

Infobox ice hockey game
game_name = Victoria Cup


visitor = Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)
home = New York Rangers (NHL)
visitor_total = 3
home_total = 4
visitor_per1 = 2
visitor_per2 = 1
visitor_per3 = 0
home_per1 = 0
home_per2 = 1
home_per3 = 3
date = October 1, 2008
arena = PostFinance Arena
city = Berne, Switzerland
attendance = 13,794cite web |url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=384373 |title=Rangers rally to win Victoria Cup |last=Rosen |first=Dan |publisher=NHL.COM |date=October 1, 2008 |accessdate=2008-10-01] The 2008 Victoria Cup was the first edition of the Victoria Cup challenge, played on October 1, 2008 between the 2008 European Champions Cup, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), [cite web |url=http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=228084&hubname=nhl |title=McKenzie: NHL's European plans finalized |date=January 24, 2008 |last=McKenzie |first=Bob |publisher=TSN.ca |accessdate=2008-01-28] at the PostFinance Arena in Berne, Switzerland. The game was played under IIHF rules.cite web |url=http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/rangers-challenge-metallurg.html |title=Rangers challenge Metallurg |date=January 26, 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-28 |publisher=IIHF] The Rangers won the challenge 4–3.

The match was preceded by an exhibition game on September 30, 2008, between host SC Bern and the New York Rangers. The New York Rangers defeated SC Bern in this game 8-1. This was the first time a Swiss club had played a NHL team. The Rangers followed the Victoria Cup game with two NHL regular-season games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 4 and 5 at the O₂ Arena. [cite web |url=http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?articleid=351323&page=NewsPage&service=page |title=Four NHL teams to open the 2008-09 regular season in Europe Oct. 4-5 |publisher=NHL.com |date=January 26, 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-28] Both games were won 2–1 by the Rangers. [cite news| url=http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/ny-sprang065872240oct06,0,2193826.story | title=Rangers get four points in Prague | publisher="Newsday" | last=Zipay | first=Steve | date=2008-10-06 | accessdate=2008-10-07]

Game description

The goalies in the game were Henrik Lundqvist for the New York Rangers and Andrei Mezin for Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

At 1:28 of the first period, Metallurg's Denis Platonov scored a goal past Lundqvist to give them the lead. With 18:07 gone in the first, with the Rangers' Paul Mara in the box for holding, Vladimir Malenkikh made it 2-0 for Magnitogorsk on the power-play.

In the second period, Nikolai Zavarukhin scored another power-play goal at 30:20 to give Magnitogorsk a 3-0 lead over New York, this time with Petr Prucha in the box for holding. Late in the second, Metallurg ran into penalty trouble as Alexei Kaigorodov and Zavarukhin found their way to the box for holding. The two-man power-play led to a goal at 39:37 for Chris Drury.

In the third, penalty troubles continued to plague Magnitogorsk. At 45:45 Dan Fritsche scored for the Rangers to make the score 3-2. Then, with Metallurg's Stanislav Chistov in the penalty box for hooking, Drury scored his second power play goal of the game at 50:13 . With the score tied 3-3, the Rangers were badly out-shooting Metallurg. In the last minute, Ryan Callahan picked off a sloppy pass by defenseman Vladimir Malenkikh at Metallurg's blue line and came in alone on goalie Mezin. In a "shoot-out move", he faked a backhand shot, switched to his forehand and managed to wrap the puck around Mezin's outstretched right leg for the game-winning goal at 59:40.

Lundqvist stopped 22 of 25 shots for the win, while Mezin stopped 40 of 44 shots for Magnitogorsk. According to Lundqvist, "I think we should have won the game, and we did. I think we were the better team. They got some easy goals the first period and made it tough on us. That's on me, but the way we came back in this game was great to see. I think we learned a lot. It gave us confidence moving forward, and now we don't have to hear about it."

The Victoria Cup Trophy was accepted on behalf of the team by Nikolai Zherdev and Dmitri Kalinin, the two Russian players on the Rangers. The Rangers received $1,000,000 for their victory. [cite news | url=http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/ny-sprang025866464oct02,0,3766693.story | publisher=Associated Press |title=Rangers come back for win overseas, opener next | date=2008-10-02 |accessdate=2008-10-01]

Rosters

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;Source: [http://www.victoria-cup.com/index.php?id=159 New York] , [http://www.victoria-cup.com/index.php?id=158 Magnitogorsk]

Rene Fasel of IIHF:

Notes

External links

* [http://www.victoria-cup.com Victoria Cup website]