January 28, 2010 - Moscow, Russia - The home team was relentless, and without mercy.  In front of their home crowd, and on international television, it didn't come as much of a surprise.  Russia dominated from start to finish, and put a 19-5 thumping on the US in front of a near sellout crowd at Krylatskoe Stadium in Moscow.

The onslaught began only thirty seconds into the game Evgeny Ivanushkin  had scored for Russia, and by the two minute mark, he had netted his second goal of the game. No game would be complete without Daren Richardson scoring first, and scoring early for the US, and he didn't disappoint in this match either. He scored at the seven minute mark to bring his team to within' a goal at 2-1.  Unfortunately, that would be as close as the US would come, as Russia went on to put a fifteen spot on the US before the first half was over.  Ivanushkin and Sergey Obukhov scored thirteen goals between them, twelve coming in the first half, as they put the game away early.


For the United States, Richardson tallied a goal and two assists, Jon Keseley had two goals, John Arundel had one goal, and Jasper Felder rounded out the scoring for the US with a goal of his own in the losing effort.  Many of the players commented on the talent level on the Russian team.  "Their speed is amazing" commented Dave Moline. "We watched a lot of game film on the Russians leading up to this matchup, and of course we knew they were a great team. But you just can't imagine just how fast and skilled they are until you're face to face with them".  Added John Arundel "most people would look at the score, and think we were devastated. I actually had a lot of fun out there".

The U.S. will play Kazakhstan in their final match of round robin play in the 2010 VM.  Follow all the games at:  http://bandy2010.ru/

~Thom Wynn