Russia’s Anton Belov (right) and Yevgeni Medvedev react after their loss to Finland in their men’s quarter-finals ice hockey game yesterday. (Reuters)


DPA/Sochi, Russia


Russia’s hopes of winning men’s ice hockey gold on the last day of the Sochi Games were ripped up by Finland in a shock 3-1 victory yesterday. The ice hockey team was meant to end a 22-year streak without gold and put the icing on the Games cake for the Russian hosts including hockey fan President Vladimir Putin.
But the team’s NHL stars failed to produce and left the rink to jeers from some home fans in the Bolshoy Ice Dome.
“It sucks, what can I say. No emotions right now,” Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin said.
Finland will now play two-time Olympic champions Sweden, who defeated Slovenia 5-0, for a place in the gold medal game.
Russia will be left without an ice hockey medal for the third successive Games since winning bronze in 2002 at Salt Lake City. The last gold came as the Unified Team at Albertville in 1992.
Ilya Kovalchuk put Russia ahead with a power play goal in the eighth minute but Finland hit back two minutes later when Juhamatti Aaltonnen equalized.
Teemu Selanne, at 43 the tournament’s oldest player, struck a second for the Finns on a sprint and pass from Mikael Granlund in the 18th minute to give them a first-period lead.
Finland opened up a two-goal advantage on a power play in the 26th minute when Granlund scored from a Selanne assist, and the Finns were able to shut out the Russians in the third period.
“A huge win,” Selanne said. “Obviously, we were not favourites, but you’ve got to believe. The gap between the number one and number five team (in the standings) is not very big.”
“We knew that they played four games in five nights, and we might have a little more extra jump than them. We had to make sure they had to grind every opportunity for what they get, and I think it worked.”
Granlund said Finald deserved the victory. “They had the first goal, but we bounced back really good, and throughout the game we defended well and didn’t give them much. We made it tough on them,” he said.
“We stick together, we play together. We know what we’re doing, and we defend each other and that’s how we can succeed and will succeed.”
Ovechkin, the NHL’s most valuable player in three of the past six seasons, said after a good start “we made two mistakes that cost us the game.”
Fellow forward Pavel Datsyuk said: “The emotion we feel right now is disappointment, disappointment that we didn’t live up to the hopes placed on us.
“There were great hopes placed on us and we didn’t live up to them.”