Russia fails in ice hockey, its national sport, and is eliminated by Finland in the quarterfinals after falling by 3-1
disappointment. Neither the referees nor the United States were to blame for the defeat as in the first phase. No ghost to hold on to. Finland was the best team and eliminated the hosts in the quarterfinals of the ice hockey tournament, the Olympic NHL. National tragedy because the failure in the king sport is to fail in the Games. Like that sad memory of the World 82 for Spanish football. Interestingly, the glorious times have gone the other way in both cases. The pressure of the organizer has been a slab. United States-Canada and Sweden-Finland will be the semifinals, two advanced Olympic finals.
The Russian elimination was fair and not only for the Finnish superiority, but for their own mistakes and shortcomings. Russia abused its individualities, the one-on-one fight, and it was worse than Finland's. He fired a lot more at goal, 38 shots against 22 of the Finns (13-9, 11-8 and 14-5 in each period), but in less clear situations. In Finland not only did goalkeeper Rask shine, but the entire defense. Alex Ovechkin, the Russian and NHL star, almost did not appear. It was not known to throw the equipment nor a hypothetical epic on the shoulder. Other players were also lost. Only Datsyuk and Kovalchuk, author of three goals in the tournament, shone. In another clash of most militant players in the North American professional league, the Finns squeezed more of their quality juice. Perhaps also because the Russians wrongly resorted to players of the KHL, the imitation of the NHL invented for the country, but they did not work. The "petrorublos" have not given the same fruit or level. The coach, Zinatula Bilyaletdinov, also failed to make proposals and decisions. The stars that he had were out of his hands and he did not know how to join them for the great occasion.
Russia seemed to start well, when their mistakes had not yet been noticed. Before the middle of the first period he was ahead on the scoreboard. Everyone roared. He took advantage of one of the superiorities by temporary expulsion of a Finn, one of the key moments almost always in hockey. Kovalchuk, scored in the center, after opening the defensive box rival the Russians moving the pill with five field players against four. But it was a mirage. The joy did not last a minute and a half. The Russian defense began to make water and Aaltonen got into the kitchen of the goalkeeper Varlamov. And still the worst would come. Before completing the first 20 minutes, with just 2.22, Granlund, just the expelled one that prompted the Russian goal, stole the pill from a clueless Voinov and Selanne, the great veteran Nordic star, managed 2-1.
Irony of fate, Vyacheslav Voinov, Slava, plays in Los Angeles Kings, the same team of the American TJ Oshie, who was shown on penalties and put the first big nail in the Russian coffin. Neither he nor Ovechkin, nor his companions, are going to get rid of the stain of this disaster for their entire lives.
Finland sentenced the match four minutes into the second period. Granlund, to complete his great performance, scored the 3-1. In another superiority, Selanne also threw from the center, Varlamov only deflected and Granlund scored. A matter between Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks. Actually, Russia lacked fortune in the decisive moments. Yemelin was sent off for two minutes, and he left with four field players to his team after hitting Finnish Korpikoski in the area. But this one, when it fell, broke his lower lip so that Ovechkin replaced him in the cell of the punished. For worse memory of his career, from there he saw the third Finnish goal.
The technician Bilyaletdinov, goalkeeper with the team that won the gold in Sarajevo 84 changed to Varlamov by Bobrovski and at least did not fit any more goal. Just in the final minutes he made two exceptional stops that avoided total humiliation. But Russia did not score either.
It could be argued that Russia should have played another match the day after the 4-0 defeat of Norway in the play-offs. That must have doubled the effort for "sin" before the United States. But the problem at all times has been his game, his own shortcomings. That goal was voided bad luck, not an arbitral error. The American goalkeeper moved the goal involuntarily a little before the shot and not too much, to further Russian misfortune. But in hockey, where the videos are reviewed with thoroughness, there are no mistakes of bulk as in football. Nor can they afford it with a pill that goes well over 100 kilometers per hour and is so many times invisible the first time. Thus, what could have been a favorable 3-2, because there were just four minutes left until the end of the match, then became a cruel defeat after extra time and in the eighth round of penalties and in the "sudden death".
Russia dominated the Olympic tournaments since its first winter participation in 1956, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, although its return as Soviet Union to the Olympism took place four years before, in the Summer Games of Helsinki 52. He suffered only two painful defeats in the finals of Squaw Valley, 1960, and Lake Placid, 1980, before the organizer and great global enemy, the United States. But it added eight golds to Albertville 92, already as a unified team, the residue of the disintegration. It was the beginning of the end. In Lillehammer, in 1994, he did not get on the podium and although in Nagano 98 he seemed to return to his level, he fell in the final against the Czech Republic of the legendary goalkeeper Dominik Hasek. It was the first tournament involving professionals from the American NHL and the definitive change in the only team sport of the winter program. Many Russians were already playing in it, but the comparative level could not be the same as it was with their previous block. The undercover professionals of military and physical education teachers could face the amateurs. That's why everything went from bad to worse. In Salt Lake City 2002 he had to settle for the bronze and see how Canada won the United States title that had so often been his. And since Turin 2006 he has not climbed to the podiums. Like this Wednesday, even eliminated in a humiliating quarter-final.
Two advanced finishes, two Nordic train crashes
Finland will now play one of the semifinals with the powerful Sweden, who easily thrashed Slovenia, 5-0. It will be the repetition of the Turin 2006 final clearly won by the Swedes. In search of the other place in the final the United States was confirmed as another great favorite by beating, 5-2, the Czech Republic of the legendary Jaromir Jagr. Canada, on the other hand, despite firing with 57 shots against 16 the Latvian goal, sweat blood to eliminate it. He had to take out his resources and his hardness to score 2-1 with seven minutes left. Seconds before the Latvian goalkeeper Gudlevskis, of the Tampa Bay Lightnings, had been shocked and beaten with the inertia of the aggressiveness of the Canadian Toews, of the Chicago Blackhawks. But there was no expulsion because the game was already stopped. In contrast, Weber, of the Nashville Predators, yes took advantage of the previous temporary expulsion of Pujacs, to hit with the stick to Doughty, another player of Los Angeles Kings. Pujacs is only in the Dinamo of Riga in his country. Not all Latvia is NHL like Canada. Her merit for the difference in level and her numantine resistance. At the limit of two minutes of numerical superiority and almost the end.
Canada will need much more aim against the United States, which seems to be left over. It will be another curious repetition in advance, and closer, of the Vancouver 2010 final. In summary, two
