Russia claimed a do-or-die 3-0 victory over Finland on Thursday to advance to the semi-finals of the World Cup of Hockey and set up a mouthwatering showdown with archrivals Canada.
Canada, who stormed through preliminary-round play unbeaten to grab top spot in Group A, will face off against Russia later today, while Sweden, winners of Group B, take on Team Europe tomorrow.
Needing a win to clinch a spot in the last four, Russia got second-period goals 79 seconds apart from Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Telegin, then rode the netminding of Sergei Bobrovsky to victory as they dashed Team North America’s hopes of advancing.
Photo: AFP
Evgeni Malkin added a power-play goal in the third, while Bobrovsky stopped all 21 shots he faced for his first shutout of the tournament.
The Canada-Russia rivalry is hockey’s most storied and today’s semi-final shapes up as another classic with Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, the sport’s two biggest names, set to lead their respective teams into battle.
“It is Canada versus Russia, it is not two players,” said Ovechkin, who set up Russia’s first goal. “Two teams with a great history, it is going to be tough, it is going to be hard playing here in Canada, but it is also going to be fun. Tomorrow [today] we are going to think how we beat Canada. The opportunity is huge.”
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia’s status as a hockey superpower has faded, causing the rivalry to lose some of its heat, but none of the animosity.
Canada have won gold at three of the last four Winter Games, while the once unstoppable “Big Red Machine” has sputtered along, limited to a single bronze.
Finland, who had knocked Russia out of the Sochi Olympics in the quarter-finals, looked ready to be the Russian bogeyman once again after a scoreless opening period.
However, Russia broke the deadlock early in the second when Tarasenko took a nifty goalmouth feed from Ovechkin and redirected into an open net.
Just 1 minute, 19 seconds later, Telegin added an insurance marker by stickhandling across the goalmouth and sliding the puck past a sprawling Tuukka Rask.
“The first period was kind of asleep, kind of a boring game. We did not want to make a mistake and give them an opportunity to take the lead,” Ovechkin said. “They hit the crossbar and then we scored two goals right away. It kind of gave us some breathing room.”
In the late game, the US fell to the Czech Republic 4-3 to close out the group stage of the competition.
Both teams were already eliminated heading into the contest and the US suffered yet another defeat as goaltender Ben Bishop was pulled after giving up four goals on 20 shots through two periods.
The US finished the tournament 0-3-0, finishing seventh of the eight teams.
“None of us with the US team here from head to toe is happy with what’s happened here,” coach John Tortorella said. “We come up short, but I think some guys gave some really true efforts. We just didn’t find a way to win the hockey game.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but