And the Champions Hockey League is turning the final corner, with ZSC Lions Zurich and Metallurg Magnitogorsk advancing to the two-part final, played on January 21 and 28.
Here's how Metallurg did it.
You are viewing the archives for January 2009
Russian steel
Jan 11, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Europe | Send to a buddy
Break over
Jan 02, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Europe | Send to a buddy
So, it's 2009. I'm back from my break.
Of course, the hockey world didn't stop to wait for me to recharge my batteries. There was the Spengler Cup (Dynamo Moscow won), the Izvestija tournament (Russia won), the Winter Classic (Detroit won), and then there was Modo who kept losing in the Swedish Elitserien.
They have only won two of their last 17 or so, and are now dead last in the standings - tied with Djurgården and Södertälje.
That made the fans' blood boil so much that some of them trashed the club's two-year-old Swedbank Arena that Peter Forsberg built, breaking windows and painting demands of the resignation of the club's board of directors on the walls.
Modo replied with a letter to the fans on its website.
Unfortunately, the people responsible for the vandalism may not know how to read.
Of course, the hockey world didn't stop to wait for me to recharge my batteries. There was the Spengler Cup (Dynamo Moscow won), the Izvestija tournament (Russia won), the Winter Classic (Detroit won), and then there was Modo who kept losing in the Swedish Elitserien.
They have only won two of their last 17 or so, and are now dead last in the standings - tied with Djurgården and Södertälje.
That made the fans' blood boil so much that some of them trashed the club's two-year-old Swedbank Arena that Peter Forsberg built, breaking windows and painting demands of the resignation of the club's board of directors on the walls.
Modo replied with a letter to the fans on its website.
Unfortunately, the people responsible for the vandalism may not know how to read.