Translated material
Bronze knights
Our hockey players won third place at the World Championships
The Russian team won world championship awards for the first time in the last three seasons. Yesterday in the match for third place, head coach Vladimir Krikunov's team defeated the Swedes - 6:3. Our hockey players scored goals for every taste. This was done by Maxim Afinogenov (twice), Alexey Kovalev, Alexey Yashin, Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. The score could have been even higher if Kovalev had taken the shootout in the first period. The onslaught of the Russians so stunned the Tre Krunur defense that the Swedes had to change the goalkeeper after 20 minutes of play. The decisive match for gold, in which Canada and the Czech Republic met, ended late in the evening Moscow time.Based on the quality of hockey demonstrated at the tournament, the Russians deserved gold awards. But the day before, in the semifinals with Canada, our team’s entire game was ruined by Finnish referee Hannu Henriksson. In the first period alone, he sent our hockey players to the penalty box six times for completely dubious violations. Krikunov’s team spent most of the period in the minority. Although the unsuccessful actions of the Russians against the first link of the Maple Leafs cannot be blamed solely on the referee. The leading five Canadians, in which Rick Nash and Joe Thornton are soloists, opened Maxim Sokolov's goal in the second minute of the match - this was done by defender Wade Redden with a pass from the tireless Thornton. A little more time passed, and a quick combination by the reigning world champions ended with a precise throw from another defensive player, Sheldon Souray.
As happened in most of the previous matches of the tournament, the Russians caught up and found themselves in the role of catching up. But it was here that the referee began to do his dirty work. First, he sent Ovechkin to rest, having succumbed to the provocation of one of his rivals. As soon as Alexander had time to go on the ice, having served his punishment, another inexperienced hockey player of our team, world championship debutant Evgeni Malkin, immediately played harshly, but still within the rules. After Denis Denisov was sent off, the three of us were left on the ice, which ex-Ak Bars forward Dany Heatley was quick to take advantage of. The situation for the Russians became critical - 0:3.
The height of injustice was the removal of Andrei Markov four seconds before the end of the first period. The capital's Dynamo defender was hit in the back and fell to the ice. Instead of punishing the Canadian, the Finn imposed a two-minute penalty on Markov... for simulation. Jovanovski's goal at the beginning of the second twenty minutes, when there were 16 seconds left before the Dynamo player's exit, ultimately became victorious for the Canadian team. Moreover, Thornton scored an assist for the third time. So our team failed to cope with the main task - neutralizing the two enemy leaders. With the score 0:4, the referee's bacchanalia ended. The referee finally gave the Russians the opportunity to play without fear of going to the penalty box at the slightest physical contact with the Canadians.
To the credit of our players, they did not give up even in such a hopeless situation. Thanks to the efforts of Semin and Yashin in the second period, and Ovechkin at the beginning of the third 20 minutes, the Russians reduced the gap to a minimum, but, alas, they were not enough to do more. Although a miracle could happen. In the last minute, Krikunov replaced Sokolov as the sixth field player and literally a few seconds before the siren, Alexey Kovalev in the backfield had a small chance to push the puck past Canadian goalkeeper Martin Brodeur. However, the Maple Leafs fought with great dedication on defense, and Brodeur was generally excellent.
Such a desperate assault on the Canadians’ goal might not have been necessary if a little earlier the Finnish referee had counted the puck scored to us after Sokolov’s gross mistake. Maxim was throwing a rubber disc away from his goal, and it landed right on his opponent’s stick. One of the Canadians had not yet managed to cross the blue line into the middle zone, and the other, picking up the puck at the very border of the two zones, accurately threw it into the goal left by Sokolov. According to the referee, the puck still came out of our defensive zone and therefore should not have been counted.
“It’s very difficult to beat a great team like Canada when they have help from the referee,” Kovalev said. - Thanks to the referee, the opponents made the game in the first period, but we simply did not have enough time to equalize the score. There was a chance to save the meeting. We fought as hard as we could and showed real character.” Thornton paid tribute to his colleagues in the Russian national team: “We gave up the initiative too early. The Russians have excellent strikers, and you can’t relax for a minute with them. Thanks to Martin Brodeur, if not for his skill, everything could have ended differently.”
In the second semi-final, the Czechs defeated Tre Krunur in extra time. Three periods did not bring an advantage to either team - 2:2, and in overtime the victory for the Czechs was brought by a goal from striker Radek Dvorak.