Meanwhile, in the Kontinental Hockey League, Avangard Omsk Coach Wayne Fleming was fired during the second intermission of his team's game against Vityaz Podolsk on Thursday, according to TSN. And all we usually get here in the NHL are three-minute midget hockey games and Zamboni fumes between periods ...
Fleming, a former assistant coach with the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers, was recruited by Omsk star Jaromir Jagr to come to the KHL and coach his team. The move will inevitably fuel speculation that Jagr wants to return to the NHL, because that's what happens whenever Jagr's name is mentioned in correlation with KHL controversies.
In other news, the League is preparing to hold its first all-star game on Saturday, Jan. 10 in Moscow on Red Square. It's a game that will be available on U.S. television via Universal Sports and its Web site, UniversalSports.tv. You can find out where the network is available on this page. Color us jealous, Idaho.
"With the excitement of last weekend's Winter Classic still fresh, the idea of the top international hockey players playing under the stars in Red Square in Moscow is something that shouldn't be missed," said David Michaels, NBC Emmy Award-winning producer and head of Universal Sports production, said in a press release.
John Ahlers, the television voice of Anaheim Ducks and Brent Severyn Ducks radio analyst, will provide an English broadcast of the Team Jagr vs. Team Yashin game from the Universal Sports studio in Los Angeles. They better bring the knowledge, because we're outraged that not a single player from Khimik Voskresensk is competing in this game. Outraged, we tell you.
In case you haven't seen them, The final rosters for the 2009 KHL All-Star Game:
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Team Yashin
Goaltenders: Alexander Eremenko (Salavat Yulaev Ufa ); Konstantin Barulin (CSKA Moscow); Defensemen: Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan), Vitaly Proshkin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa), Konstantin Korneev (CSKA Moscow); Alexei Zhitnik (Dynamo Moscow ); Darius Kasparaitis (SKA St. Petersburg); Forwards: Alexei Yashin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) - C; Andrei Nikolishin (Traktor Chelyabinsk) - A; Alexei Kudashov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) - A; Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan ); Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan); Maksim Sushinsky (SKA St Petersburg); Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytishchi); Alexei Tereschenko (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Oleg Saprykin (CSKA Moscow); Coaches: Sergei Mikhalev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa); Vyacheslav Bykov (CSKA Moscow); Igor Zaharkin (CSKA Moscow )
Team Jagr
Goaltenders: Robert Esche (SKA St Petersburg); Ray Emery (Atlant Mytishchi.); Defensemen: Ray Giroux (SKA St Petersburg ); Kevin Dallman (Barys Astana); Karel Rachunek (Dynamo Moscow ); Magnus Johansson (Atlant Mytishchi); Ben Clymer (Dynamo Minsk); Forwards: Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk) - C; Marcel Hossa (Dynamo Riga) - A; Jakub Klepis (Avangard Omsk) - A; Pavel Brendl (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod); Tony Martensson (Ak Bars Kazan); Jan Marek (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Jaroslav Kudma (Metallurg Magnitogorsk); Esa Pimes (Atlant Mytishchi); Branko Radivoevich (Spartak Moscow); Oleg Antonenko (HC MVD); Coaches: Barry Smith (SKA St. Petersburg); Kari Heikkilä (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl); Vladimir Vuytek (Dynamo Moscow.)
