Much has been made about the formation of Russia’s new league, the KHL (Continental Hockey League) because of it’s contentions with and it’s desire to rival the NHL. While NHL training camps open in two weeks, the KHL’s inaugural season began on Tuesday with five games, three of which went to overtime. Most notable, Alex Radulov set up former Anaheim Duck Oleg Tverdovsky for a goal in his debut with Ufa in a 4-1 win over Yaroslavl.
Wednesday’s games were highlighted by the marquee matchup of Jaromir Jagr’s Avangard Omsk vs. Alexei Morozov’s Ak Bars Kazan. Morozov helped his team edge Omsk with two third period powerplay goals in a 4-2 win. Now with a great deal of former NHL players and unsigned draft choices in the KHL, this will certainly be a league that people will keep an eye on. We’ll see if the Continental Hockey League can live up to the hype it has generated.