After finishing fifth in Hershey Bears’ scoring during the team’s 2023 Calder Cup championship run, Maryland native Sam Anas is already making noise with his new team, Dinamo Minsk.
Anas scored his first career KHL goal in his Dinamo debut, a 5-4 overtime victory against the Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk.
🎯🎯🎯Сэм Энас с ноги залетает в регулярный чемпионат 🔥
Первый гол нападающего открывает счет шайбам «Динамо» в сезоне 2023/24 🤝
Лайк за точное попадание 💙 pic.twitter.com/2hIlae22wF
— ХК Динамо-Минск | HC Dinamo Minsk (@hcdinamoby) September 2, 2023
Anas’s goal opened the game’s scoring. The right wing, wearing number 77, deked out a Neftekhimik defenseman with a nasty inside-out move before beating goaltender Emil Garipov with a short-side shot. The goal came 7:33 into the first period.
Dinamo would surrender four consecutive goals to Neftekhimik before scoring four unanswered of its own and winning in OT.
Anas signed with Dinamo Minsk in July, weeks after the Bears raised the Cup. Anas held his Cup day in Potomac and took the AHL championship trophy to his childhood rink, Rockville Ice Arena.
Anas took his talents overseas shortly after, joining Dinamo’s training camp in August.
Recently, Anas ran into former Bears teammate Aliaksei Protas, who was loaned to Dinamo Minsk by the Capitals during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
Anas’s KHL milestone came on the same day Zach Fucale stopped 31 of 32 shots for his first career KHL win during his debut for Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
