Hackett stymies Russians in OHL
All-Stars 5-2 victory Monday night

BY PETE KRUPSKY
Nov. 24, 2009, 10:30 p.m.

  The Canadian Hockey League continued to dominate the Russian All-Stars in the Subway Super Series 2009 on Monday in the Ontario Hockey League All-Stars' 5-2 victory before 6,353 at the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre.

  The Canadian Hockey League -- with two wins from the Quebec Major Junior League and now a pair from the Ontario Hockey League All-Stars -- will switch to the Western Hockey League for the final two games of the series.

  Plymouth goaltender Matt Hackett backstopped the OHL's win on Monday, stopping 28 of 30 Russian shots. Windsor's Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall, along with Tyler Toffoli (Ottawa), Nazem Kadri (London) and Zack Kassian (Peterborough) scored single goals for the OHL All-Stars.

  With the OHL leading 4-0 late in the third period, Russia ruined Hackett's shutout bid with goals by Kirill Petrov and Maxim Kitsyn.

  The Whalers were also represented by Tyler Seguin and Josh Brittain. Both players saw regular duty in the game as head coach Dave Cameron used everyone on the team.

  The OHL team was stocked with talent with 16 National Hockey League draft picks and six others too young to be drafted. By contrast, the Russians had just three NHL picks -- Petrov (New York Islanders), plus a a couple of players who were scratches in Monday's game -- goaltender Igor Bobkov (Anaheim) and Dmitri Kugreyshev (Washington).

  "I was real happy with the game," said OHL assistant coach Bob Boughner of Windsor. "Bottom line, our guys played hard. There's a lot on the line for them and I think they played the right way."

  Indeed, the hitting and shot blocking -- especially from th OHL side -- was a notable contrast from most All-Star games at any level. The OHL enjoyed a sizeable territorial advantage most of the evening and received sustained offense by winning one-on-one battles for pucks and keeping the play alive in the offensive zone.

  As the winning goaltender, Hackett was able to to enjoy the work of the team in front of him.

  "It was great," he said. "We had a great 'd' in front of me -- I'd make a save and they would clear the puck right away. It's fun to play with these guys. They make my job pretty easy. It's unbelievable.

  "It's a lot of fun to watch when you've got Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin and a bunch of good guys, too many to mention. They're all just unbelievable players."

  The pro-Windsor crowd had plenty to cheer about with Spitfires Ryan Ellis, Greg Nemisz, Hall and Henrique all playing leading roles in the victory. Henrique scored in the first period (8:39), Toffoli (7:57) and Hall in the second (15:56) and Kadri (5:35) and Kassian (18:31) in the third.

  But the crowd also saved cheers for one-time Spitfire Hackett and for Seguin.

  "Yeah, it was cool," Hackett agreed. "They were cheering for me here and it's kind of weird."

  "I thought the crowd was great," Boughner said. "Even the coaches behind the bench were saying how involved they were, how vocal they were in showing their appreciation when there was a big hit or a nice goal. I think the fans got their money's worth."

  Ed Wright can be reached at (734) 453-1980 or info@plymouthcantonsports.com.