Russian Olympic Committee – Page 2

Arseni Gritsyuk, team ROC’s 20-year-old forward, kept his nerve to grab a shoot-out winner for the defending champion after a hard-fought semi-final against Sweden. The game was deadlocked at 1-1 after 60 minutes and neither team could decide it in overtime.

Sweden came close to claiming that shoot-out verdict. Lucas Wallmark and Joakim Nordstrom both managed to get the better of their CSKA Moscow clubmate Ivan Fedotov in the ROC net, meaning Yegor Yakovlev had to score to keep the defending champion in the tournament. The 2018 gold medallist did just that, and in sudden death Gritsyuk stepped up after two failures from Nikita Gusev. The Avangard Omsk youngster fired in off the post to give his team the verdict and send it to back-to-back Olympic finals for the first time since the Soviet era.

“I was to blame for the first goal, I lost the puck in their zone and then lost their player behind me,” said Gritsyuk. “In my heart, I felt like my mistake had hurt the whole team and I really wanted to put it right. I’m happy that Vanya Fedotov played so well and got us to the shoot-out.

“When it came to my turn, I went out and knew straight away what I was going to do – and you saw the result. If you keep turning over your shots in your thoughts, you can lose your head.”

Many head coaches would rely on experience in such circumstances, but Alexei Zhamnov never doubted that Gritsyuk could do it. “It was a collective decision,” he said. “Of course I understood the risk, and I took responsibility as the head coach.

“But we drew our conclusions from what we saw in practice, who looked good on penalty shots. We know who can score and who can’t. We thought that against the Swedish goalie this might work, and it did.”

And the youngster added that it wasn’t hard to keep his hands from trembling, pointing out that Yakovlev’s do-or-die attempt came under far greater pressure. “I love penalty shots, I take a lot of them,” he added. “I treat it like a one-on-one game, just me and the goalie. One of us wins, one of us loses.”

Yakovlev himself credited his psychologist with an assist on his shoot-out success. “To be honest, I don’t understand how I kept my nerves in check,” he said. “I just went out and took a shot. Thanks to my sports psychologist!”

Team ROC goes on to face Finland on Sunday for gold; Sweden must try to recover in time for Saturday’s bronze-medal game against Slovakia.

Captain Anton Lander was succinct. “It sucks, it really sucks. Right now, it sucks.”

His fellow forward Wallmark had more to say. “It was a tight game but I still think there were some scoring chances there,” he said. “It was two good teams and it sucks to lose it like that.

“I think both teams were playing their own systems and didn’t give up that many chances, but we had a couple and a chance to win the game and when there aren’t many, you have to take advantage of them.”

There were few changes from the quarter-final line-ups. Sweden put forward Gustav Rydahl onto the fourth line in place of defenceman Linus Hultstrom. Team ROC scratched Stanislav Galiev, with Kirill Semyonov taking his place alongside Vadim Shipachyov and Andrei Chibisov on the first line. Artur Kayumov returned to the team on the fourth.

Prior to the game, both teams promised a hard-fought battle with the emphasis on minimizing defensive errors and ensuring that nobody left the ice with any regrets. As a consequence, scoring chances were at a premium throughout this semi-final clash. There was particular attention for Wallmark, the CSKA Moscow forward who had scored in every game in Beijing so far. His KHL clubmate Fedotov snapped that streak and the Swedish sniper’s shoot-out tally was not enough for the Tre Kronor.

Team ROC shaded the opening stages, with Anton Slepyshev getting on a break down the left and firing in an angled shot that Johansson turned around the corner. However, that early momentum was disrupted by Andrei Chibisov’s offensive zone trip on Nordstrom which gave the Swedes the first power play of the game.

That two-minute spell offered little evidence of Swedish attacking prowess and the next big opportunity came when Chibisov jumped out of the box to get clear and test Johansson once again. For the most part, though, it was more about energy than creativity in the first 10 minutes.

Sweden came close to grabbing the lead in the 12th minute when a Lukas Bengtsson point shot came through traffic and took a deflection onto the post with Fedotov beaten. Max Friberg and Alexander Nikishin were battling on the slot for the vital touch, and the ROC goalie was grateful to hear the ‘ding’ of rubber on iron. The Tre Kronor had another good chance when an ROC attack broke down. Theodor Lennstrom led a two-on-one rush but Fredrick Olofsson’s shot went straight to Fedotov’s glove.

Team ROC ended the first period on a high, with Slava Voinov firing in a testing shot that caused confusion on the Swedish crease. And the men in red maintained that momentum through the intermission, returning to the game to open the scoring 15 seconds after the break.

As in the opening stages of the first period, it was Slepyshev collecting Pavel Karnaukhov’s long pass and moving down the left-hand channel. This time, the CSKA Moscow forward beat Christian Folin and walked to the net, where he executed a neat little backhand-forehand shuffle to beat Johansson at last. That was the first time Sweden had fallen behind in regulation time action here in Beijing.

Subsequently, Team ROC concentrated on further tightening its defensive effort and Sweden was limited to a few half chances as it looked to get back into the game. There was an anxious moment for Fedotov when Carl Klingberg went around the back and slung the puck right across the paint, but Mathieu Brome could not steer it home at the back door. However, for the most part, Alexei Zhamnov’s team did a good job of closing down the play and protecting its lead.

The Swedes are at their most dangerous when the defence is able to link up with the forwards. Going into the semi-final, Jonathan Pudas and Henrik Tommernes were among the team’s leading playmakers. And it was those two who combined to deliver the tying goal in the 47th minute. Pudas fired in a point shot that Tommernes redirected into Fedotov’s pads from close range. As the puck bounced free, Lander reacted first and the Swedish captain gleefully slotted home a vital goal.

“I think we played a good game,” said defeated coach Johan Garpenlov. “We’re happy with the way we played, we felt we were better during the game, we had more chances but we didn’t find a way to score than one goal. Then again, [ROC] is good defensively and have lots of gifted players, and they found a way.

“I thought we had a few [chances] there, especially in the third period but we didn’t score. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Now, discipline was crucial for both teams. Chances were even harder to come by and the puck spent much time up against the boards, attended by a scrum of players battling for every inch of the ice. As time ticked down, it became clear that either a moment of brilliance or an unexpected individual error was the most likely source of a winning goal in regulation. Shipachyov came close to delivering the former, bursting through on his own to force a big pad save from Johansson.

Team ROC has faced criticism at home for a lack of invention on offence and it’s fair to say that the class of 2022 is some way from the swashbuckling teams of old. However, defenceman Nikita Nesterov is more than happy with performances at both ends of the ice.

“It was a good game,” he said. “We played our game. I wouldn’t say we are just a defensive team. We play aggressive but we need to score more. Every game we’ve played better and we hope our best game will be the final.”

Overtime followed and Sweden was first to show with Lander carving out the first opening of the extras. Then Karnaukhov crashed the net – literally – as he bore down on Johansson at high speed, slamming his whole 96kg frame into the goal but leaving the puck behind.

The biggest chance of the extras went to Sweden. Only a stick thrust out at the vital moment by Vladimr Tkachyov prevented Brome from shooting at an open net as Fedotov got caught out of position by a swift raid on his goal.

Tkachyov later missed in the shoot-out, but Gritsyuk’s winner ensured he got full value for that brave defensive play. And ROC captain Shipachyov paid tribute to the youngster. “Even before the Olympics, I said that he was ready,” Shipachyov said. “Clearly, the kid has no nerves.”

Source: iihf.com

It was a true David and Goliath confrontation, but this time Goliath won. The ROC team advanced to the final four by defeating Denmark 3-1 in Wednesday’s Olympic quarter-finals.

Even though ROC outshot Denmark 40-18, the underdogs appearing in their very first Olympics didn’t make it easy. This remained a one-goal game until less than five minutes remained in regulation.

“Hopefully we just brought a lot more hockey fans back in Denmark, opened their eyes up to this game,” said Danish assistant captain Frans Nielsen. “We played five games. We gave it all we had. We worked hard every night for 60 minutes. We for sure laid it all out there. When we get home, there’s no regret from us.”

For the ROC team, captain Vadim Shipachyov led the way with a goal and an assist, and defencemen Nikita Nesterov and Vyacheslav Voinov also scored. Nikita Gusev chipped in two assists.

“It was a nervous game,” said Gusev, the 2018 Olympic scoring leader. “The first period started well, but didn’t give us moments to create. We played well but we couldn’t score and put pressure on us. Then we scored a goal and started to play our game. The most important thing is that the team won and that we move on.”

Nielsen, the all-time leading Danish scorer in NHL history (473 points), scored his second goal of the tournament. This was a hard-working, never-say-die finale to the Danish Olympic odyssey.

“We knew that if we could take this game to overtime anything could happen and it would be really tough mentally for the Russians to face elimination,” said Danish goalie Sebastian Dahm, who shone with 37 saves. “We were really close but in the end it was tough to accept the loss.”

In the 2-0 group-stage loss to the ROC team, second-string Danish goalie Frederik Dichow, 20, also stepped up with 31 saves. However, Dahm, the 34-year-old who helped the Danes advance with an exhilarating 3-2 qualification playoff win over Latvia, was the natural choice for this do-or-die affair.

This ROC team is now two wins away from following in the footsteps of the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), who won the men’s gold medal in PyeongChang in 2018 with a 4-3 overtime victory over Germany.

Goalie Ivan Fedotov, who posted one of his two Olympic shutouts against Denmark, got his fourth straight start for the ROC team.

“From the outside it might seem that we should be clear favourites and beat everyone 5-0, 10-0,” Fedotov said. “But here all teams can play defensively.”

In a reflection of how unpredictable this Olympic tournament can be, the ROC team finished ahead of Denmark in Group B with seven points. But the Russians lost their last preliminary-round game 6-5 in overtime to Czechia, which then got eliminated with a 4-2 qualification playoff loss to Switzerland. ROC is happy to be moving on to the semi-finals.

Danish coach Heinz Ehlers had to tweak his lineup. Veteran forward Nicklas Jensen, who shone with five goals at both the 2016 and 2021 Worlds, was sidelined with an injury. Nick Olesen, a 26-year-old who has 12 points in 35 points for the SHL’s Brynas IF, took his place on the top line with Nielsen and Mikkel Bodker, another ex-NHLer.

Of losing Nicklas Jensen, Nielsen said: “I would call him our best goal-scorer. So it’s always tough when you miss guys like that.”

The ROC team entered this game with just eight goals in three games and a power-play conversion rate of 9.09 percent (1-for-11). So few were predicting a Russian blowout here.

“I wouldn’t say that this was easier than the group stage,” said ROC’s Arseni Gritsyuk. “The Danes have a good team. In the third period they forced the pace. We expected a tight game in [the neutral zone]. We prepared for that. We managed to get through it and play in their zone, and that led to goals.”

Both teams came out looking keyed up, but Dahm was by far the busier of the two netminders. Fedotov didn’t face a shot until more than six minutes in. The ROC team was firing the puck and was also dangerous off the rush, while the Danes laboured to keep them to the outside.

Halfway through the period, Stanislav Galiev had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when he pushed the puck through the blue paint behind Dahm, but couldn’t tuck it in.

The ROC team’s two most lethal forwards hooked up on a broken play to draw first blood at 13:01. With the Danes struggling in their own zone, Gusev fired a hard shot from the left faceoff circle, and the puck deflected to Shipachyov, who converted from a bad angle. Shipachyov leads the KHL with 67 points for Dynamo Moskva.

“Gus said that I should go to the far post,” Shipachyov said. “And it was already rush-hour there with all the ricochets. I’m not quite sure what happened, but we can say that we agreed what to do before.”

The teams traded minor penalties in the final minute of the first period. Denmark was lucky to escape down by just one goal after being outshot 18-1.

The Danes got an early second-period power play with Sergei Plotnikov off for tripping, and Nielsen capitalized just 22 seconds into it. The veteran of 925 NHL games, now with Eisbaren Berlin, picked up the puck to Fedotov’s right and put it in from a bad angle at 2:57. Nielsen also got the 2-1 winner against the Czechs in the group stage on a penalty shot.

“It was a big goal,” Nielsen said. “It gave us some confidence.”

Danish defenceman Nicolai Meyer caught a break when his stick clipped Andrei Chibisov in the mouth and the play went undetected by the officials.

The pace slowed, which was to Denmark’s advantage. Around the midpoint, excellent Danish box play thwarted a Russian power play with captain Peter Regin serving a hooking minor.

Nesterov made it 2-1 at 14:36. The Russians gobbled up a turnover inside the Danish blue line and Gusev sent the puck to an incoming Nesterov, whose blast rattled off the camera inside the net. It took a moment for the officials to signal a goal, but there was no doubt.

“I don’t necessarily think it was because it was a high shot, more that it was a rocket of a shot,” Dahm said.

With under two minutes left in the second period, ROC squandered a fabulous chance for a two-goal lead. Shipachyov set up Kirill Semyonov on a 2-on-1, but he went to the backhand and shot high and wide.

In the early stages of the third, Dahm was there to say no when Voinov, a 2018 Olympic all-star on defence, stickhandled to the net and got a couple of cracks at it.

The Danes nearly tied it up on a shorthanded 2-on-1, featuring Nielsen and Morten Poulsen, with under six minutes remaining. But Fedotov slid across to deny Nielsen’s one-timer off the rush.

“I should have gotten it up,” Nielsen said. “It wasn’t even a good save. I just didn’t get it up.”

On that same power play, Voinov gave ROC some breathing room at 15:45, making it 3-1 on a centre point shot through traffic.

Ehlers pulled Dahm for a sixth attacker with under two minutes left, and the Danes pressed furiously, but couldn’t narrow the two-goal deficit. Denmark has also never beaten a Russian team in 11 IIHF World Championship meetings dating back to 2003.

Nesterov acknowledged there’s another level ROC needs to reach in the semi-finals: ”We need to play better the next game. We need to take the puck to the net, do more screening, play more comfortable with the puck.”

The only medal Denmark has ever won at the Winter Olympics is a silver medal in women’s curling in 1998 in Nagano. Their hockey teams won’t add to that total in Beijing, but they can be proud of this history-making run.

Source: iihf.com