’06 St. Petersburg Selects sweep through round-robin play in Russia
Russia’s tournament of Federal District Championships concluded on Saturday. This annual event takes place between players from nine different regions of the country: Central, Far Eastern, Moscow, Northwestern, Siberian, Southern, St. Petersburg, Ural and Volga. These selects teams feature the best players in the age group from the respective areas of the country, competing in an 11-day tournament.
The 2006 event was made final when the St. Petersburg District defeated the Northwestern District 4-0 over the weekend. The victory capped off a 7-1-0 performance at the tournament from St. Petersburg. The lone defeat coming at the hands of the Central District, 3-2 in overtime.
Forward Egor Graf, Matvey Gridin and Kirill Knyazev led a very balanced offensive attack for SPB. Count finished second in the tournament in scoring with 14 points, while Gridin and Knyazev followed close behind with 13 and 11 respectively. Mikhail Korotkov backstopped the team in seven-of-eight games and posted a 1.10 goals-against average in net as well.
The Federal District Championships regularly serves as the primary platform for scouting and preparation for the following season’s under-16 Russian National team.
North Americans can get an up close look at many of the top players from Russia’s 2006 championship team this summer. The SKA Silver Lions are slated to travel to the United States in June for the World Selects Trophy in Nashville, and will feature more than a dozen players from this St. Petersburg district championship team.
“We’re looking forward to and hope that the pandemic situation will allow this team to join the World Selects Trophy tournament this summer,” said Silver Lions head coach Oleg Zak.
For more information on the World Selects Trophy and what other countries will be represented at this international youth tournament, click HERE.
