South topples North 11-6, Couture MVP

AS9 Couture

MINSK, Belarus – The Southern Conference whipped the Northern Conference Sunday 11-6 in the Season 9 EURO All-Star Game. It is only the third time in nine games the South has come out on top.

The first time the Southern Conference won was in Season 5, when Athens’ Ryan O’Reilly was named MVP. The MVP this year is also an Athens forward. Logan Couture scored three goals in the first two periods and added two assists and the 5-point show he put on was good enough to win him a brand new car.

When the teams came onto the ice for the third period began, three Northern Conference players made their smartest defensive play of the night, playfully kidnapping Couture and dragging him to the North bench, with defensemen Justin Faulk and Erik Karlsson sitting on him so he couldn’t get on the ice for a minute or so. Not everyone affiliated with the Northern team was in such a good mood. Minsk Hussar GM Igor Kirunov watched from his luxury box and three times hurled papers out and into the lower stands. With the score 8-3 late in the second period, South goalie Carey Price, who played in Minsk until this season, made a glove save on Hussar star Jordan Staal and then held the glove hand up to the crowd. Kirunov stormed out. He returned late in the final period, his shirt covered in mustard and his pants very wet and smelling like alcohol. He refused to take questions from reporters.

South Coach Andrei Kostitsyn line juggled all night and the strategy paid off against his brother Sergei, who was coaching the Northern team. Lisbon’s Steven Stamkos assisted on all three of Couture’s goals, and in the second period, the coach played them with John Tavares, Stamkos’ linemate in Lisbon. Tavares assisted on two Couture goals and ended up being runner-up for the MVP honor with 4 assists. Other players who had good games included the South’s Vadim Shipachyov of Berlin (2 goals) and goalie Jimmy Howard of Athens (0 goals allowed in a period); and the North’s Jeff Skinner of London (1 goal and 2 assists) and Belfast’s Gabriel Landeskog (2 goals).