The team was leaving Vancouver 2010 after a quarter-final beating of 3:7 by the Canadians, and the mood of the demanding Russian hockey public was summed up by the legendary Vyačeslav Fetisov in an eloquent sentence.
“We have no right to lose at home,” said the former defender heading to the next Olympics.
The Russians kicked it off in Sochi with a win against the Slovenian outsider, and right after that, a prestigious duel with the United States awaited them in the group.
They remembered the year 1980 and the “miracle on ice” at the Lake Placid Olympics, where American students shocked the Soviet machine. This was supposed to be at least partial revenge.
“The whole country will be watching, don’t let Russia down,” former Soviet players who experienced the famous defeat in America wrote in an open letter. Led by goalkeeper Vladislav Treťjak.
Hockey as a national sport was under the scrutiny of President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. He visited the match against the USA in person and saw a truly unusual outcome.
At 2:2, runs were decided by runs, in which TJ Oshie shone. In the long penalty battle against Sergej Bobrovsky, the American striker drove a total of six times and converted four.
In the eighth series, he closed the match, but later recalled that despite the victory, he did not have pleasant feelings. The transfer to the interview on American television was to be arranged by the Russian organizers.
“It was pitch black and the guys were telling me to be careful. They were saying, ‘You’re in Russia, Putin was here…'” Oshie recounted.
“A Russian guy came, grabbed me and put me in the car. I tried to follow where we were going so I could get back. And of course nothing happened. The driver was professional, but yes, I was afraid for my life,” the American striker described.
The Russians then defeated the Slovaks in the group – 1:0 on raids, but they still had to stay at the round of 16 stop against Norway. Although they won 4-0, it was becoming apparent that they were not in the form for the coveted gold.
“One Norwegian player told us after the game that the Russians looked tense. As if the ice was the last place they wanted to be that night,” reported Canadian journalist Pierre LeBrun for ESPN at the time.
And indeed. In the quarter-final against Finland, the team was leading, but the opponent quickly turned the game around and then patiently blunted the Russian effort to attack.
The Finns won 3:1 and the Russians did not even enter the medal fight again. Veteran Teemu Selänne, playing in his sixth Olympic Games, sank them with the winning goal.
“After losing the thriller to the USA, it was as if the weight of the host country became unbearable for the Russians. They seemed to be suffocating under it all,” wrote LeBrun.
Expected movers Alexander Ovechkin and Yevgeny Malkin ended the tournament with austere scoring contributions of 1+1 and 1+2. There was also speculation about the involvement of nine players from the Russian Kontinental Hockey League.
“There were rumors of team tension and the KHL versus NHL issue. Why on earth was Alexander Popov playing with Ovechkin and Malkin in the first offense? Why was Yevgeny Medvedev among the busiest players?” LeBrun asked in his text.
“Well, because the KHL and Russian hockey hoped to use the biggest matches in the world as a propaganda tool for the Russian league, which competes with the NHL. It turned out disastrously,” added the Canadian journalist.
To this day, the KHL is a competition that is closely linked to Russian politics. It is a project that is managed and paid for by state-owned companies, and the threads of which converge all the way to President Putin.
This is also why the Russians were so eager to succeed in Sochi.
Instead, Canada asserted Olympic dominance. For the first time since 1928, she won all her matches under five rings. What’s more, she conceded only three goals in six duels.
In the quarter-finals, the biggest difficulties were surprisingly prepared by the Latvians, whom she defeated 2:1. In the semi-finals, the Canadians defeated the USA 1:0, and in the final they did not give the Swedes a chance – 3:0. Goalkeeper Carey Price even had better numbers than Dominik Hašek in Nagano.
And the Russians? They won Olympic gold four years later in Pyeongchang. But there, on the one hand, “only” as Olympic athletes from Russia, and on the other hand, at a tournament without players from the NHL.
