Top 5 reasons why Russia failed at the Olympics (Photo © Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
With the early quarterfinals exit, Team Russia set a new negative record as this was the worse Olympic outcome in their history. Since the first participation, 1956 Olympics in Cortina, Italy, Russia never had such a poor result.
Team Russia’s roster was, on paper, the tournament’s finest, but they couldn’t live up to the expectations, even in the round robin, which Bykov’s team ended with two wins and one loss, which determined the pairing with Canada.
RussianHockeyFans.com offers you top five reasons why Russia failed at 2010 Olympics.
If someone remembers well, we used this reason also for the WJC failure article. While this was not the case in the quarterfinals match against Canada, this sure played a role in the other Russian defeat, against Slovakia. In that game Bykov’s team played without passion, as Bykov himself stated after the game, probably thinking that it would have been enough a 5-minute push to run away with the win. Well, it wasn’t enough. I’m putting some stress on this because if team Russia would have won they would have got a better seed, staying off team Canada so early.
Top players, especially in the game against Canada, didn’t really show up and took the team on their shoulders. Alexander Ovechkin has been invisible in the quarterfinal match, not to talk about Evgeni Nabokov and Ilya Kovalchuk. About Kovalchuk, unfortunately he didn’t manage to repeat the great effort he had in the two latest World Championships.
Let’s browse the roster in depth. Alexander Semin, only two assists, Alexander Radulov, only one goal and one assist, Pavel Datsyuk, one goal and two assists. These are not the performances a contender would need from its top players, especially considering that Ovechkin, Malkin, Semin, Kovalchuk and others are without any doubt among the best players of the world.
And here we go again. Even if putting all the blame over Nabokov wouldn’t be fair, once again team Russia lacked quality goaltending. Considering the good performances by both Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov in the latest international competitions, it was reasonable to expect kind of the same in Vancouver. But unfortunately Nabokov didn’t deliver against Canada, letting in a couple of soft goals in the first period. And when Bykov benched him, after the sixth goal, it was too late.
As said, it was unexpected. Nabokov finished the Olympics with a terrible .853 of saves percentage and a GAA of 4.16. For comparison’s sake, at the 2006 Turin Olympics he had, respectively, .940 and 1.34. At the Quebec World Championship, .929 and 1.78. It’s safe to hope that for Sochi 2014 Semyon Varlamov will mature enough to take the starting or the backup role.
Yet another common point in Russian defeats at any level. There is plenty to talk about the bad coach decision in the 2010 Olympic Hockey Tournament. The first thing that we should notice is Nabokov’s usage in the quarterfinals. Why Bykov let him between the pipes after such a bad performance in the first period? While it’s easy to talk with hindsight and claim that Bryzgalov should have started, it’s safe to say that he should have been benched after the third goal or the first period to try sparking the team. He did had a couple of nice saves, but, conceding goal after goal, he lost confidence. When Bykov swapped him with Bryzgalov, the game was 6-1, too late.
Another problem of this team has been the powerplay. The Russians could assemble man advantage units made up of most of the world’s best players and yet they were the third last worst team in the round robin with 12.5%. The same percentage as Germany, who surely didn’t ice players of the caliber of Ovechkin, Malkin, Semin and Kovalchuk…on the same line. If we take the overall rankings, Russia stays the ninth seed with 15%. Once again, these aren’t statistics you can put together if you want your team to be a contender.
The third coaching’s fault was probably an over usage of the third and fourth liners. During the quarterfinals, only in the third period Bykov gave the top lines a bigger role, but once again, it was too late. Besides, Semin played not even three minutes in the game’s final stanza.
The last thing we’ll notice was that most of time team Russia didn’t feature good teamplay, but mostly relied on one-by-ones or trying to do it all alone.
Vyacheslav Bykov has been team Russia’s second big disappointment after Nabokov. It looked like a good coach was finally found, but it looks like he’s not Olympic quality.
Canada dominated Russia since the first minute. After the first period many would have asked if this was a WJC game or an Olympic game as the game was loopsided in favor of the Canadians in a fashion never seen during international games. In the quarterfinal match Canada had much more than Russia in all departments: a better goalie (Luongo), better defensive play and, a bit surprisingly, better offense too. They might have less “names”, but they managed to overcome all this with a more focus and physical play. There isn’t much else to say on this matter, simply the best team deservedly won.
Russian Hockey Federation will have plenty to think over in order to avoid another debacle on the home soil in 2014.
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View Comments
@DaBich
I don't know where this information comes from, I mean that the players were told not to speak to the English-speaking media. Actually, after the game against the Czechs Ovechkin gave an interview to NHL.com.
As for me, I'll name just one reason - the Russians played with no heart.
After the second period, when the score was 3-7, I still believed in the team. I expected them to jump on the ice and start fighting like they never did before.
But what I witnessed was slow, lazy players skating as if it was a game from a off-season.
I don't really understand the players when they say "we tried". Seriously, I haven't seen any efforts at all. Remember the final in Quebec? That's where you were fighting boys, but not here.
@CanucksFan4, @Canuck21
I think Alessandro meant that on paper Malkin is considered to be better than Getzlaf, Ovechkin better than Nash, etc.
Canada showed that hockey is played on the ice, not paper.
@Andrew_Yang
When people say "too many KHL players" they seem to forget that there are like 25 Russian players in the NHL. All others play in the KHL. Who do you think was left off the roster? Kovalev and Frolov? Seriously, if Ovechkin and Malkin showed nothing, do you really believe that Kovalev and Frolov could have changed something?
'Unleash the dogs of war' No team could have survived that Canuck attack. It was breath-taking. Daa, Russia was out-coached pre-game and during, but Team Canada didn't award a roster spot for past achievement ( eg Federov). Five minutes left in the game and the camera focused on Tretyiak. Guaranteed, Canadians took NO pleasure in witnessing his pained expression. Clean hit by beautiful Semin, retaliation by ugly Boyle. After the replay, the Canadian announcers were surprised that the beautiful Russian Semin received an off-setting penalty. What was NOT surprising was that Beauty didn't retaliate back against Ugly. 'Beauty is fleeting,, Ugly lasts a lifetime' P.S. Canada 7-Russia 3 Massacre or not a Massacre love this site
@Igor
I agree
@"too many KHL players"
Honestly, who to bring from the NHL? I agree with Alexander, when he says that about Frolov and Kovalev. And I also agree with all the rest he said.
I'm a North American who is a bigger Russian hockey fan than a North American hockey fan. This is not the first setback Russian hockey has ever had! The best thing for the advancement of the Russian hockey program, believe it or not, is to actually keep on doing what they are doing!!! There has been a lot of criticism of the KHL in this thread, but the bald fact is, the KHL is the best league that Russia has ever had, by far! It just started, its still a baby, so keep investing in it - keep building on it - keep growing it. There is no law of Nature or of the Universe that says that the NHL must for all eternity be the best hockey league in the World. If the Russian hockey hierarchy has a vision of a great Russian hockey future, and has the foresight to keep working on the KHL, you will see Russian hockey start to show steady signs of improvement of depth and quality of players. Keep in mind, for the entire time that the best Russian players have gone to the NHL, Russian international teams have been abject failures!!
Maybe even more important is to redouble the investment in the MHL. The MHL has completed only one season, but it clearly has the potential to be the best junior hockey league in Russian history. To have a strong program, you have to have advanced youth development. Look at Canada as as case in point. Canada has great youth hockey, and it pays dividends by producing dozens of outstanding prospects every year. Russia doesn't produce dozens of good players every year, but it easily could, if the selection and coaching and compeitition allowed them to fully develop their potential. But that implies that Russian hockey officials must continue to work to make the MHL better and better, as well as to expand youth development as widely as possible.
Lastly, there has been a lot of criticism of Slava Bykov in this thread, much of it deserved. He made a huge blunder by failing to pull Nabokov at least by the end of the first period. A bigger sin was failure to have his team psychologically ready to face the Canadian pressure early in the game. As Ovechkin said, by the time they woke up, it was too late! But in a broader perspective, Slava Bykov represents a changing of the guard as far as Russian coaches go. Aside from being one of the greatest players that I have seen in his own right, he has the technical skills and the sheer intelligence to devise strategies and tactics to win. Hopefully, no more of the Vladimir Plyuschev type, old men who have nothing more to offer than screaming at and berating their players. Maybe they think they are emulating Tarasov and Tikhonov, because those guys were also screamers. But Tarasov and Tikhonov were technically brilliant coaches, and that is what I think Slava Bykov has the potential to be.
@mcremers
With names I meant players with name only, without play on the ice. Unfortunately for us Ovechkin was just a name in the match against Canada, while players with shorter CVs (and less media hype) where much better.
@dimi19
I think it has something to do with the fact that Kovalev didn't call Bykov back before the World Championship 2008.
Trondsky... You feces obsessed trogladite.. You would stain this site by mentioning 'football ( soccer in N.America). Hockey is played by men who don't dive or embelish a check,then ly face down on the ice for sympathy from the ref.... wait .... that sounds like a russian player. Canada will be sending a slighly smaller 'team' to Sochi for the 'speed kills' on the bigger ice. Smaller Canadians are twice as nasty. Skill pfffff, I'll take heart everytime.