Faithfully Defending Evgeny Kuznetsov

On Tuesday, the Russian World Juniors Team defeated their arch-rival Canadians by a score of 6-5 in the Semi-Final, eliminating the hosts from contention. After rushing out to a 6-1 lead, Canada fought back with four goals in the last 12 minutes, but their comeback fell short. Caps super-prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov, who captains the team, scored a hat-trick and added an assist to lead his team to victory and add to his tournament-leading tally of 13 points.

Unfortunately for Kuznetsov, some people, mostly, if not only, Canadians, have not been impressed with him. Quite the opposite. Kuznetsov has been criticized for being selfish and immature, as people have ripped the superstar Russian despite his impressive performances and constant dominance.

Nobody has been worse than Calgary Sun Columnist Eric Francis, who has made it a mission to point out every Kuznetsov's flaw, even the nonexistent ones.

Evident Crosby-worshipper Francis kicked off his monumental evening with an unnecessary and irrelevant jab at Caps captain Alex Ovechkin on Twitter, ironically when Canada were losing 5-1 to the Russians. on 2012 draft-eligible Finnish defenseman Olli Maatta, a hit that knocked the 17-year-old out of the tournament. In fact, that hit on Maatta is almost certainly Kuzya's fault as well.

Francis goes on to criticize Kuznetsov for being a bad captain, after he celebrated his second goal (he scored three right? Yes, that's right, three. Against Canada) by effortlessly eluding his teammates and joining those on the bench instead. Of course, Kuznetsov was also being a bad teammate when he cleared the puck out of the zone in the last minute. Canada had their goalie pulled, and of course, Kuznetsov was shooting the puck from near his own goal line forcing the icing in an effort to score and "pad his stats," rather than trying to clear the zone under heavy pressure from three Canadian attackers.

He doesn't forget to mention Kuznetsov's "classlessness," when he, see above, responded to Canadian fans raining boos on him by raising his hands to his ears and asking for more. What would you do, Mr. Francis? Would you take it? Or would you answer? Kuznetsov, a wonderful character, has pulverized Canada two years in a row. Evidently, he's a classless guy.

Francis ends the article by gratuitously singling out Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin as "(needing) to grow up."

The point remains that Kuznetsov is one of the league's top prospects, and evidently better than any of the Canadian players. Caps fans should be very, very excited about him coming, and for good reason. George McPhee just needs to make sure he has a bodyguard for the Canada trips, that's all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final of the World Juniors is tonight at 8 PM. Russia takes on Sweden.