02/12/2022 – Page 5 – CanucksBanter

Russian Olympic Committee’s Pavel Karnaukhov (15) scores a goal against Denmark goalkeeper Frederik Dichow (1) during a preliminary round men’s hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By STEPHEN WHYNO

BEIJING (AP) — Just because the Russians won their first two games at the Olympics with a couple of shutouts doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.

The defending champions and gold medal favorites in the men’s hockey tournament have scored just twice against an opposing goaltender. Their 2-0 victory Friday against overmatched Denmark featured an empty-netter and a concerning lack of offense from a team that should have no trouble scoring.

“We won two games, but I am not happy how we play offensively,” coach Alexei Zhamnov said. “We’re not controlling the puck, we don’t have traffic in front of the net and too much play around. That’s why maybe we don’t score so many goals. Next games is going to be tougher because teams are going to be better and better, so we have to be ready for this.”

The Russians wrap up the preliminary round Sunday against the Czech Republic and will be one of the top seeds in the knockout round if they win that game in regulation. The Czechs are certainly a step up in difficulty level from Switzerland, which the Russians beat 1-0 Wednesday, and Denmark, so the faster the goals materialize the better.

Forward Stan Galiev said he and his teammates need to manage the puck better and make it more difficult on opposing goaltenders to generate more quality scoring chances.

“We have to score more,” Galiev said. “We try to do a couple cute passes, extra passes. We’ve got to shoot more and get the pucks on net.”

The Russians — competing as ROC, short for Russian Olympic Committee, because of a massive state-sponsored doping operation dating back to the 2014 Sochi Games — are averaging more than 30 shots a game. Forward Mikhail Grigorenko said the power play, which is 0 for 8 so far, needs to get going, while his coach wants to see better effort.

“We want to make sure our forwards start working in offensive zone because defensively we play good, but offensively we not start good playing,” Zhamnov said. “Our forwards have to be better in offensive zone if you want to win games in the future.”

Beating Denmark was a matter of talent disparity. Denmark captain Peter Regin said: “Russia is a better team than us. That is just facts.”

Such slow starts are common for Russian teams in international tournaments, and Regin is bullish on their chances of making another deep run to a medal.

“I think they’re the favorites to win,” he said. “I think they have the best team on paper. All of them play in KHL, top guys that could play in the NHL if they wanted, and a phenomenal goaltender. I think they have all the ingredients to go all the way.”

That phenomenal goaltender is Ivan Fedotov, who has not been tested much but has stopped all 49 of the shots he has faced. The Philadelphia Flyers 2015 seventh-round pick has been the Russians’ best player so far.

“Our goalie played really good,” Grigorenko said. “It’s really important to have your goalies play well.”

In other games Friday, Sweden defeated Slovakia 4-1, while the Czechs remain without a regulation victory after beating Switzerland 2-1 in a shootout. Finland plays Latvia in the nightcap.

The U.S. and Canada renew their rivalry Saturday. Each team won its opener: The Americans 8-0 against China and Canadians 5-1 against Germany.

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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Canada’s players huddle prior a women’s quarterfinal hockey game between Canada and Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By JOHN WAWROW

BEIJING (AP) — The Canadians just finished making brisk work of Sweden in the quarterfinal round of the women’s Olympic hockey tournament, and yet coach Troy Ryan wasn’t prepared to assess just how dominant his team can be.

A better time to ask might be Thursday, when the gold medal is awarded.

The Canadians are now considered the favorites, having raised the bar of the women’s game with a dynamic and relentless, four-line transition attack that has outscored opponents by a combined 44-5 at the Beijing Games.

It’ll take a little more to impress Ryan.

“Honestly, we keep things pretty simple in our minds,” said Ryan on Friday, following an 11-0 win over Sweden in which Canada scored five times on six shots during a second-period span of 7:25. “I don’t think we’re reinventing the wheel at all.”

Perhaps not.

But the Canadians, in three-plus years under Ryan, are reinventing themselves following the lowest points in their proud history.

The downturn began with a gold-medal loss to arch-rival United States at the 2018 Winter Games, which ended Canada’s run of four Olympic championships. The following year, the Canadians settled for bronze in failing to reach the world championship final for the first time in tournament history.

The losses led to Ryan and his staff transforming what had been both a stale team culture and style of play.

They made the game fun again by placing a focus on speed and transition to increase offense and complement the strengths of the ultra-talented pool Canada draws from. And with that, came an emphasis on not being afraid of making mistakes.

“We’ve got to be OK with the mistakes, because one of the things we talked about was how do you improve your game if you don’t leave a little room for error?” he said.

The change paid off at the world championships in August, when Canada’s 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. in the title game ended the Americans’ run of five tournament titles.

Ryan’s strategy centers on using Canada’s play-making defenders to exit the zone as quickly as possible — accepting the risk of turnovers to keep opponents on their heels.

“I think we had become a little robotic in the way we played,” said Natalie Spooner, who leads the tournament with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists). “The quicker we play on defense, the quicker we get the puck out, let’s us play offense and let’s us do our thing.”

Canada will face Switzerland, and the U.S, coming off a 4-1 quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic, will play Finland in the semifinals on Monday. Both games are preliminary round rematches after Canada defeated the Swiss 12-1, and the Americans beat Finland 5-2.

Finland advanced with a 7-1 win over Japan on Saturday, with Petra Nieminen scoring three goals and adding two assists. In Switzerland’s 4-2 win over the Russian Olympic Committee, Alina Muller converted Lara Stalder’s pass on a 2-on-1 break to score the go-ahead goal with 2:37 remaining in regulation and then added an empty-netter.

Swiss coach Colin Muller sees a significant jump in Canada’s game since the world championships.

“It’s ridiculous. I think Canadians and the U.S. have stepped up their game, but for me at the moment, Canada, maybe more,” Muller said. “It’s a different animal than what I even saw in August. And when I compare back two years ago and three years ago and that 2019 worlds, it’s a different team.”

The Canadians have dialed it up a notch after a four-month leadup of practices and games that allowed them to polish their chemistry.

Canada leads the tournament in scoring efficiency with 44 goals on just 250 shots, and power-play efficiency in converting 10 of 20 chances. Canada’s 4-2 win over the U.S. last week matched the most the team has ever scored against its cross-border foes in Olympic play.

Meanwhile, Canadians Brianne Jenner and newcomer Sarah Fillier are tied for the tournament lead with eight goals each, one short of matching an Olympic record set by Canada’s Meghan Agosta and Switzerland’s Stephanie Marty at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

“Being able to score as many goals as we have, and scored in so many different ways really gives us confidence,” forward Blayre Turnbull said. “Some of us definitely played a bit more of an uptight game where we were gripping our stick and just thinking about mistakes. We’ve done a big 180 as a program.”

The change is night and day for goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens, who actually quit playing hockey after 2018 because she no longer enjoyed it. She attended Wisconsin to get her master’s degree in accounting, where Desbiens doubled as a goalie coach for the Badgers women’s team.

Coaching and the change in Canada’s culture lured her back.

“I think you see the fruits by seeing all the smiles on the ice,” said Desbiens, who has allowed four goals on 97 shots in three games. “Troy’s done a good job of creating a safe environment and making sure that all the players can play to their best ability and not have to hold on to their sticks too tight.”

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More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports