Japan vs Amur Khavarovsk

Game details of the Japanese national team’s 2 warm up matches against Amur Khavarovsk (this team sent its 3rd team Golden Amur into the Asia League a few seasons ago, and has been playing practices matches against various Japanese teams in the years since then, hopefully they’ll make a return to the Asia League in the near future. The continued relationship with Japanese hockey is promising.)

———–

Game 1 (Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan) 1 April 2008

Japan 4(３-３、１-１、０-０)4 Amur

Goals
１P
01:48　JPN 1-0 (G)Obara (A)Tanaka (A)Okubo (PPG)
04:08　AMU 1-1 (G)36 (A)21 (PPG)
04:31　JPN 2-1 (G)Suzuki (A)Sato (A)Mitani
08:22　AMU 2-2 (G)9 (A)5 (A)2
16:06　AMU 3-2 (G)10 (A)37 (A)5 (PPG＋2）
19:37　JPN 3-3 (G)Yamashita (A)Okubo (A)Obara (PPG)

２Ｐ
04:29　JPN 4-3 (G)Suzuki
13:48　AMU 4-4 (G)35 (A)77 (A)10　(PPG)

Shoot Out
Japan 1(○-×、×-×、×-×)0　Amur
1：Tanaka ○
2：Kuji ×
3：Obara×

Lines
1st Kuji　〜　Kon　〜　Takeshi Saito　〜　Jun Tonosaki　〜　Osawa
2nd Sato　〜　Mitani　〜　Suzuki　〜　Keller　〜　Haga
3rd Kei Tonosaki　〜　Obara　〜　Domeki　〜　Miyauchi　〜　Yamashita
4th Kamino　〜　Go Tanaka　〜　Ogawa / Iimura　〜　Okubo　〜　Kawai

GK　Kikuchi　4 GA (60:00)

Game MVP
Yamashita （Oji）

———–

Game 2 (Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan) 3 April 2008

Japan 2(０-０、１-１、１-０)1　Amur

Goals
２P
0:46　JPN　1-0　(G)Obara　(A1)Iimura　(A2)Keller　(PPG＋2）
1:52　AMU　1-1　(G) 9　(A1)24
３Ｐ
3:28　JPN　2-1　(G)Obara　(A1)Takeshi Saito　(A2)Osawa (PPG）

SOG
Japan　24-19　Amur

Penalties
Japan　8-9　Amur

Shoot Out Exhibition
Japan　１(○-×、×-○、×-×)１　Amur
1：Takeshi Saito
2：Kamino
3：Domeki

Lines
1st Kamino　〜　Go Tanaka　〜　Ogawa　〜　Kawai　〜　Yanadori
2nd Domeki　〜　Kon　〜　Takeshi Saito　〜　Jun Tonosaki　〜　Osawa
3rd Kei Tonosaki　〜　Okuyama　〜　Uchiyama　〜　Keller　〜　Haga
4th Sato　〜　Obara / Iimura　〜　Kuji　〜　Okubo　〜　Yamashita

GK　Haruna (Oji)　　GA １ (60:00)

Game MVP
Obara (SEIBU)

It turns out all 3 university players, Haga, Kuji, and Yanadori
got a look in the 2 test matches against Amur, turns out I didn’t look
carefully enough on my blog post earlier (doh!) They look to be promising
young players.

Obara is hot, and Haruna continued to look strong in goal, after winning 9 straight AL playoff games (only allowing more than 2 goals once) leading Oji to the championship and will probably be Japan’s main goalie in the tournament as Fukufuji (who became the first Japanese NHLer last season) is tied up in the ECHL playoffs with the Bakersfield Condors during IHWC.

I have no clue what calibre of players Amur brought over for these games because names were not given in the game reports (what?) But probably they’re probably similar to the Golden Amur players (young player and over the hill veterans that participated in the AL a few seasons ago for Amur’s 3rd team).

Japanese national team currently has 30 players in camp, and the roster will get pared down to its proper roster for the IIHF World Championship in Sapporo which starts on the 13th.