Yesterday, in their opening match of the 2006 European Champions Cup, Moscow Dynamo defeated Slovakian club HC Slovan 3-1. Lightning prospect Albert Vishnyakov scored the game's opening goal in the match. Fellow prospect Dimitry Kazionov is also participating in the tournament.

One step forward, two steps back...

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Ryan Craig returned from injury and helped set up the lone Lightning goal with a strong forecheck to register the first assist of his NHL career. Craig played 16:48 and was +1. Paul Ranger was -1 in 15:37 of ice time with one shot on goal. He showed surprising strength on a second period hit on power forward Daniel Paille as his physical game continues to evolve. Evgeny Artyukhin played 8:12 with 1 shot on goal and the seemingly obligatory goaltender interference minor.

Game sheet from NHL.com.

Finland defeated Team USA yesterday to win bronze in their final match of the U20 World Junior Championships. Tuukka Rask made 37 saves on 39 shots faced in the 4-2 win and was named the best goaltender of the tournament. Karri Ramo again played the role of backup.

In the championship game, Team Canada crushed the Russians 5-0 to secure back-to-back WJC gold. Congratulations to Team Canada.

Final Lightning Prospect Statistics: Finland
Karri Ramo, 0-1-0, 6.21 GAA, .861 sv%

The match that was originally scheduled between Linkopings and Sodertalje on November 25th was moved to December 20th. Fredrik Norrena defeated Sodertalje 6-3 making 30 saves on 33 shots faced. Norrena's updated season record stands at 16-7-4. Bolt Prospects apologizes for the tardiness of this update.

Linkopings went down to defeat today at the hands of a Bjorn Melin overtime game winning goal as HV 71 triumphed 1-0. Fredrik Norrena made 24 saves on 26 shots but dropped to 15-7-4 on the season. HV 71 currently leads the Elitserien table and widened their lead on third place Linkopings to 13 points.