U.S. Advances To Finals As Hull Connects Twice

Brett Hull scored two goals Sunday night to lead the United States to a 5-2 victory over Russia in the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey.

The United States will play Canada in the best-of-3 final series that opens Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

The Canadian-born Hull heard chants of “Traitor” from the sellout crowd of 18,500 at the Corel Centre as the U.S. team beat Russia for the second time in the eight-team tournament.

Hull, the son of Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, was born in Belleville, Ontario, raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and played some junior hockey in British Columbia. He opted to exercise his dual citizenship after being passed over by Canada’s national team in 1986.

Now, just as he did in the 1991 Canada Cup final, he’ll be leading the United States against Canada.

The United States beat Canada 5-3 in round-robin play but looked far more error-prone Sunday night despite dominating the Russians and outshooting them 33-25.

The Americans, first in the North American pool after winning all three round-robin games, hadn’t played since last Tuesday night in New York.

Matthieu Schneider, Pat LaFontaine and Tony Amonte also scored for the U.S. team, while Sergei Berezin and Sergei Zubov tallied for the Russians, who scored only once in eight power-play opportunities.

Hull scored once on a power play and once short-handed.

LaFontaine put the United States ahead 26 seconds into the game, completing a 2-on-1 break with Joel Otto and the crowd became loudly pro-Russian.

“Let’s go Russia!” the fans chanted, while jeering Hull every time he touched the puck. Hull then scored on the power play with 15 seconds left in the first period.

Berezin scored at 9:06 of the second period, but Amonte restored the two-goal lead less than a minute later when he kicked a loose puck up to his stick and slipped it past sprawling goalie Andrei Trefilov.

Russia was outshot 15-8 in the middle period despite enjoying eight solid minutes with a man advantage. Hull’s second goal came shorthanded at 14:58 on a terrific pass from Doug Weight and made it 4-1.

Zubov pulled Russia within two goals on a power play 1:57 into the third period and Schneider scored the game’s final goal with 6:03 to play.