Canada-Russia: Radulov Gives Russia Gold at World Hockey Championships

Alexander Radulov proved to be rad, but not the one you love if you are a fan of Team Canada, the NHL, or the Nashville Predators. His second period goal proved to be the game-winner in a 2-1 final between Russia and Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championships.

Radulov created a lot of controversy recently when he jumped from the NHL to the KHL. He was poached from the Nashville Predators and played for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the city of Ufa, which is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, in Russia.

Ufa won the Russian Super League Championship last year and finished first in the KHL's regular season this year. The KHL season is scheduled to end before the World Championships so the best KHL players can represent Russia at the tournament.

The NHL remains unhappy with the KHL and is considering staying out of the 2014 Winter Olympics, to be held in Russia.

In the final game of the tournament, Canada scored first, with a goal by Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League, but the Russians tied it up later in the opening period, with a goal by Oleg Saprykin of the HC CSKA Moscow in the KHL.

Both goals could be called tip-ins. The teams looked fairly evenly matched, although the Canadians hits were clean but the Russians got a penalty for high sticking and drew a penalty for diving.

The Canadian goalie might have also exaggerated a hit to draw a penalty and, Alexei Kovalev also received a hockey player's smile during the game, losing a tooth.

Radulov got the game-winner early in the second period.

The win gives the Russians plus the Soviet Union 25 world championships, just one more than Canada. However, the Soviets were clearly taking the tournament far more seriously in the days of the CCCP.

The Soviets sent their best team, which also represented them at the Olympics, while the Canadian squad has always been made up of players who did not make it beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL.

Sweden won the bronze medal, defeating a surprising young team from the USA.