VANCOUVER—In an epic matchup featuring a historic hockey rivalry, Canada sent Russia to an early exit from the Olympics after routing them 7–3 before a raucous home crowd in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal.
Canada–Russia was predicted to be the gold-medal matchup. Instead, the Russians are gone without even reaching the semifinals.
Ryan Getzlaf scored Canada’s first goal just two minutes into the game. Many more were to follow. It was complete Canadian domination.
The fans that filled Canada Hockey Place to the rafters rarely dulled their deafening roar. Canada coach Mike Babcock said it kept the team pushing.
In a press conference following the game, the two coaches gave credit to each other, while acknowledging that the Canadian onslaught was impossible for the Russians to manage.
Speaking through a translator, Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov congratulated the Canadian team for going on to the semifinal.
“Unfortunately our Olympic Games are over for the hockey team and I apologize to all our fans,” said Bykov
“It was a very strong team today playing against us and we couldn’t [deal] with the pressure of the Canadian team.”
He said they tried different ways to deal with the Canadians but nothing worked. Canadian defenseman Shea Weber took Russian star Alexander Ovechkin out of the game.
Babcock gave the Russian coach credit for the discipline he brought to his team and credited his own team’s success to the momentum they gained by scoring early.
“We knew we were in for a tough battle here today,” said Babcock.
“We got the momentum early and were able to carry it. Sometimes you get good puck luck, pucks bounce off their sticks to ours and we shot it and we had some tap-ins that way. We feel fortunate to be moving on.”
Oddly enough, Canada may have benefited from placing lower in the standings after the round-robin games that included a disheartening loss to the American team last Sunday.
LOOKING BACK
The Canada–Russia rivalry is rooted in the 1972 Summit Series when the two countries’ best players faced off over eight games.
It was a special contest because of the lopsided matchups that plagued other international competitions, including the Olympics.
With NHL players absent from Olympic competition until 1998, Canada had to field second-tier players against the Soviet Union’s best. The Soviets skirted the restrictions by giving their top players—who played full time as professionals—nominal job titles or as players of the Soviet army.
In the Summit Series, Canada for the first time was able to put its top players on the ice and in a moment that captured the attention of the nation, claimed victory over a hard fought eight games. Canada won four, lost three and tied one game.
The rivalry has continued through the years, providing stellar matches in the Canada Cup and other international competitions. In the 2006 Turin Olympics, it was the Russians who sent Canada home packing the in quarterfinals.
Today the Canadians, and the thousands of fans who packed Canada Hockey Place, were all too happy to return the favour.
As the clock wound down, the raucous crowd could be heard chanting. “Na na na na, na na na na. Hey hey hey. Good bye.”
