Fifteen minutes of darkness spiced a hockey game between Finland and Russia at Ceska Pojistovna Cup in Liberec. After scoreless first period, the Russians beat Finnish goalie Leinonen twice before the power failure broke up the period, and added two goals after it. The Finnish replied with one goal.

Both teams came out to an intense start, but found themselves in penalty trouble early on, with a first-period five-on-three Finnish power play, in which they failed to capitalise. At the end of the period the Russians took over offensively, putting heavy pressure on Finnish goalie Leinonen.

The cautious hockey stopped in 23 minutes into the game when, after several big chances Atyushov opned scoring. Finns tried to tie the game, however the first Russian line showed brilliant action near the 33 minute mark. Charitonov unexpectedly stopped after crossing the blue line, made a pass in front of the net to Sushinsky whose shot Taratuchin deflected into the net. An unscheduled 15-minute break occured when the stadium abruptly went dark. It is believed that the power faliure originated outside the arena.

When the game resumed, the Russians continued to dominate, surprising Leinonen with a shor from the blue line from Kulyash, makng the score 3:0. The Russians added a fourth goal; a lucky bounce when Leinonen’s clearing pass deflected off Taratuchin, falling behind the Finnish goal line. The Finnish team added a goal at the 54 minute mark, on a shot from Lehtonen. The finnish players vastly outshot the Russians but goaltender Jeremenko was outstanding and was rightly named the Player of the game. Pirnes was named to be the best Fin.

Finland - Russia 1:4 (0:0, 0:2, 1:2)

Goals and assists: 54. Lehtonen (Vihkolua) - 23. Atyushov (Kulyash, Sushinsky), 33. Taratuchin (Charitonov, Sushinsky), 48. Kulyash (Atyushov), 52. Taratuchin. Referee: Minář - Barvíř, Blümel. Penalties: 8:10. Power-play Goals: 0:1. Audience: . Shots on Goal: 41:26.

Line-ups
Finland: Leinonen - Karalahti, Lehtonen, Lepistö, Niemi, Mikkola, Saravo, Malmivaara - Louhi, Viuhkola, Piorala - Saarela, Pirnes, Pärssinen - Kallioo, Hahl, Virta (C) - Luomala, Kontiola, Valtonen.

Russia: Eeremenko - Kulyash, Atyushov, Zhukov, Kuteikyn, Titov, Vorobyev, Chomicky, Koltsov - Sushinsky (C), Taratuchin, Charitonov - Tkatschenko, Nepryaev, But - Platonov, Kaygorodov, Tschistov - Zaripov, Kuryanov, Misnov.