February 03, 2010 - Moscow, Russia - After a week in the A Pool tasting nothing but defeat, Saturday's game against Canada was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for the USA Men's Bandy team.  And while it was not the earth-shattering performance they had hoped for, the US did just enough to win, riding a three goal performance from John Arundel and a quick strike offense at the beginning of the second half, to defeat the Canadians 9-6 at Krylatskoe Stadium.  The bottom line for the US was that it was a win, and a win means that they will be back in the A Pool in the 2011 World Bandy Championship.  For Canada, it was a small dose of reality after having walked through the B Pool with very little trouble, going 4-0, and outscoring their opponents by a combined 65-6.


Daren Richardson started off by doing to the Canadians, what had been done to the US in every game this week, when he scored in the first minute of play.  Richardson scoring first for the US was nothing new of course, but the United States leading 1-0 on the scoreboard was a surprise after the week they had just endured.  Richardson had drawn up a play in the locker room that he expected would produce a score if executed properly, and a couple of drop passes later, his name was once again in the box score.  After such a quick strike, the US was relatively quiet, getting a goal from Jon Keseley at the thirteen minute mark, and another from Mike Hosfield twenty one minutes later.  The US went into the halftime break up by two scores at 3-1 after a late goal from the Canadians. 


The coaching staff for the US must have sent a message to their team in the locker room at the half, because the team came out storming in the second half.  Apparently, nobody got the message quite like John Arundel, who  had his second goal before the two minute mark of the second half.  Arundel had been enjoying a good week on the ice, but had been overshadowed for the most part by the play of Richardson.  A minute after Arundel scored his second goal, co-captain Steven Nelson got into the scorers column after playing the role of set up man all week.  After a short break to catch their collective breath, the US would continue their onslaught as Arundel completed the hat trick at the fifty three minute mark, and BJ "Spin Move" Bayers added another a minute later on a nifty spin move.  Regarding their onslaught to start the second half, Fullback Davis Plaunt said "We just decided in the locker room at the break that it was time to pump up the jam, and let the dogs out".  Added veteran Halfback Bobby Scott, "We played uninspired bandy in the first half for the most part, and didn't want to end the week on a negative note".  The US went up 8-1 early in the second half, and the game looked to be over.  But the Canadians made a late comeback attempt when the US started getting into penalty troubles, going down three men at one point.  But goalkeeper Steve Jecha made some big time stops down the stretch, and kept his team in the lead, all the way to the end.  "Jex made some great saves to keep us in the game" said co-captain Rick Haney.  "We were running around a little bit, and weren't on our game today. We needed him to come up huge in the nets, and he came through".  Scoring for the American squad was Arundel with three, BJ Bayers with two, and Keseley with one.  Hosfield had a goal and three assists, Richardson had a goal and two helpers, and Nelson had a goal and an assist to finish up the scoring.

The American players will now return to their teams in the US and Sweden for the remainder of the outdoor bandy season, as team organizers resume scouting and preparations for the next World Championship.

~ Thom Wynn