Russia’s hockey defeat ‘shameful’, ‘inglorious’

Hosts knocked out of the quarters of Winter Olympics.

SOCHI: Russia’s 3-1 defeat to Finland in the Olympic ice hockey tournament plunged fans and national media into despair after a second successive quarter-final exit.

The Russian media tore into the national team after their limp performance.

Thursday’s papers were filled with the following damning reactions:

‘We don’t need this kind of hockey’, said the Sport Express.

Thousands of people came to the stadium expecting a great hockey celebration and in exchange had the desire to forget February 19 2014.

‘Shameful for a world power stated, Sovietsky Sport. “Our players played helplessly and left the country without the medal that it wanted most...”

“They burned in the Finnish sauna,” said the Kommersant.

“The Russian team did not show its true potential”, said the Izvestia.

“The Russian team were knocked out with an inglorious defeat. There were two teams, the Finns managed to realise their moments, the Russians now,” roared the Moskovskiy Komsomolets.

‘Eat me’, says coach as Russia suffer hockey horror

The glory days may be over for the much-vaunted Russian hockey team who again failed to live up to Olympic Games expectations with their coach admitting he’s ready to be ‘eaten’.

Finland’s 3-1 victory in the quarter-finals Wednesday has become the second-straight Olympic nightmare for Russian hockey.

Four years ago in Vancouver they were crushed by the Canadians 7-3 and this time around the enormous expectations of winning gold on home ice proved to be too much.

Russian coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov knows the reaction from the Russian media and fans to another Olympic embarrassment will be swift and scathing.

“Well, eat me now. You’ll eat me and I’ll be gone,” said Bilyaletdinov. “But I will keep living.”

Russia have not claimed a hockey gold medal since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. That team won the Olympic title in 1992 in Albertville when they played as the Community of Independent States (CIS).

Their second straight quarter-final exit from the Winter Games once again raises questions about the team’s cohesion and ability to play together rather than individual stars.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.

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