Russian Sextet Defeats Crimson, 11-1

Demonstrating a brand of play unknown in the United States, the Russian hockey team scored at 3:02 of the opening period and was never headed as it went on to score an effortless 11-1 win over the Crimson last night at Boston Garden.

Led by four of the finest players amateur hockey fans have ever seen in this country--Igor Debonskii and Alexis Gury shev who each turned in the hat trick, Victor Priazhnikov who had two goals and an assist, and goalie Nicholas Puchkov--the Russians skated too fast, passed too accurately and stick-handled too well for the bewildered varsity six.

The Russians pressed their carefully organized offense even when shorthanded and kept the varsity from getting a shot on the Soviet goalie until the eight-minute mark of the first period when Stu Forbes picked up a loose puck and fired it past goalie Puchkov to tie the score at oneall. It was the only Harvard goal of the evening.

Russia Breaks Tie

Seven minutes later Benjamin Alexandrov scored on a typical Russian power play; then just before the end of the period Guryshev took a pass from Priazhnikov and when Pratt came out of the cage to attempt a block, Guryshev skated around him to score.

Russia opened her offense up to full steam as the second period began, with Guryshev scoring again at 0:16 on a screen shot from between the circles. A few minutes later, the Russian center picked up his third goal when, after Pratt had stopped his first shot from the right, he picked it up and fired through a jam-up in front of the goal to make the score 5 to 1.

Defense Key

In the attacking zone, the Soviet defensemen provided the groundwork of the Russian's offensive game with extraordinarily powerful drives from the point, many of them being shot while the puck was still in motion from a pass. The Russian teamwork was such that their passes almost never went astray, and the Crimson found it nearly impossible to take the puck away or even to retain possession of it for more than a few seconds.

Pratt Stands Out

With a 5-1 lead, the Soviets seemed to let up for a few minutes, and this, combined with some of Harry Pratt's best goal-tending of the year--he had 35 saves for the evening--prevented any more Russian scoring until 10:03, when Igor Debonskii, who scored the first goal of the game, deflected in defenseman Edward Ivanov's rebound from the blue line. Two and one half minutes later, after a score by George Baulin, Debonskii tallied again after a scramble in front of Pratt to end the Russian scoring for the period.

The decisive factor on these drives was, generally speaking, the superior speed of the Soviet wings. In their playing pattern, one of the wings would speed down ice with the puck, drawing the Crimson players with him into a corner. Then the pass would go out to one of the points for a long shot on Pratt, and after the rebound, either from Pratt of off the boards, the Russians would play in front of the cage for the decisive shot, passing out to the point if the puck floated into a corner again.

Final Period

Victor Priazhnikov opened the final period with an unassisted goal at 1:40, and he and Nicholas Sologubov finished the Russian scoring with a pair of goals near the seven-minute mark. Following this outburst, the Crimson mustered its only sustained offensive of the game with both the first and second lines getting off two excellent pairs of shots on Puchkov, who had spent most of the evening scraping the ice and examining the tape on his stick. The Soviet goalie proved himself to be at least the equal of his smooth-working teammates by turning away three shots which seemed certain goals.