ROC misses out in thriller

An 11-goal thriller produced the most compelling spectacle of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament so far — but ROC ended up on the wrong side of the referees and the wrong side of the scoreline.

Team ROC 5 Czechia 6 OT (1-1, 1-2, 3-2, 0-1)

An 11-goal thriller produced the most compelling spectacle of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament so far — but ROC ended up on the wrong side of the referees and the wrong side of the scoreline.

The key moment in the game came late in the second period. Team ROC was up 2-1 when Dmitry Voronkov was removed from the game for elbowing Lukas Sedlak. The subsequent major penalty saw the Czechs score two quick goals to take the lead — while there was anger about the officials’ verdict, which was made after a video review.

Although there was clear contact between Voronkov’s elbow and Sedlak’s head, Traktor’s Czech forward had his head down as he tried to reach for a loose puck. Many in the Russian camp felt that Voronkov was harshly penalized for a collision that he could not have prevented.

Sedlak himself described Voronkov as “unlucky”, while Czech head coach Filip Pesan insisted that it was the correct call. His ROC counter part Alexei Zhamnov described it as “a controversial incident”. “I’ve only seen it on the big screen, I’ve not watched it back fully,” he said after the game. “But the [Czech] player comes in with his head down and you have to take that into account. I don’t see a 5+20 there.”

That incident overshadowed an exciting game that could have been won by either team. After criticism for a lack of goals in its opening games, Team ROC made changes. Most notably, Andrei Chibisov took over from Mikhail Grigorenko on the first line.

It didn’t take long for a new-look offence to strike. Nikita Gusev’s stretch pass released Vladimir Tkachyov down the left, and the Traktor forward beat Simon Hrubec in the fifth minute. Czechia tied it up with a power play goal in the first period from Tomas Kundratek, one of many players on the team with KHL experience.

In the second period, team ROC got ahead again with its first power play goal of the tournament. Nikita Nesterov was on target as the Czechs ran into penalty trouble. Then came the Voronkov incident, and two goals in 35 seconds on that power play to give Czechia the lead at the second intermission.

The third period began with a flurry of goals. Lukas Klok extended the Czech lead to 4-2 — and inspired a Russian fightback. Arseny Gritsyuk was among the scorers, with the 20-year-old tying the scores and claiming his first goal at the Olympics.

“My family was waiting for that goal, and I’m glad that I scored it on Simon,” Gritsyuk said. “The puck came to me and I couldn’t quite control it, but Nikita [Gusev] tidied it up and gave me a chance. I went to the net at speed, but I wouldn’t say I pulled off an unexpected move. I had a similar chance in the previous game but couldn’t score.”

Moments later, the Red Machine was back in front thanks to Chibisov but that was immediately cancelled out by a speculative effort from Tomas Hyka that bounced into the net off Ivan Fedotov’s skate. After two games without allowing a goal, the CSKA netminder was beaten five times in regulation here.

Overtime was settled with another power play goal, and this time it was Admiral’s Libor Sulak who secure the win for the Czechs. Unsurprisingly, he was thrilled with the outcome, but the ROC players also found positives from an absorbing and controversial evening.

Chibisov said: “We found our game, started to attack more, created chances and came back from 2-4. We have a good team spirit and we managed to turn things around.” And Gusev added: “We’re steadily starting to play better. I hope that the next game will be even better. A little break gives us time to prepare and to rest a little, then we can come back with renewed strength.”

Team ROC finishes on top of Group B and goes directly to the quarter finals on Feb. 16. Denmark took second place in its first ever Olympic appearance, thanks to a 5-3 win over Switzerland. The Swiss and the Czechs go to the qualification round, while the Danes will wait to see if it will get a bye to the QF as the best runner-up in the group stage.

Group A: China wins respect, USA shocks Canada

China 2 Germany 3 (0-2, 1-1, 1-0)

China scored its first goals at the Olympics — and came close to pulling off a sensation against the 2018 silver medallist. Despite falling 0-3 behind, the Dragons rallied to make it a one-goal game in the third but could not complete the comeback.

Shuai Fu (Parker Foo) and Taile Wang (Tyler Wong) were the Chinese scorers on a day when Ivano Zanatta’s team achieved its objective of proving that it deserved to be at the Games.

“It’s pretty crazy but I can’t I can’t take all the credit,” said Fu of his goal. “It’s a whole team effort. It’s been a long journey for sure all the way leading up to that goal. Everybody’s bought in, so it’s definitely not just me, it’s the whole team. For me it’s a huge honour. I’ll definitely remember it for a long time, for sure.”

Canada 2 USA 4 (1-2, 0-1, 1-1)

The USA’s collection of talented prospects and seasoned pros surprised its old rival Canada with a 4-2 verdict in Saturday’s early game.

There was a strong KHL accent to the USA scoring, with all five of our league’s players on the roster picking up at least a point. Torpedo’s Andy Miele scored his country’s tying goal, with assists from Jokerit’s Brian O’Neill and Ak Bars’ Steven Kampfer as he cancelled out Mat Robinson’s opener for Canada. Early in the second period, Sibir’s Nick Shore set up Brendan Brisson for his second of the tournament as the Americans went 3-1 up.

Canada responded through Corban Knight (Avangard) but early in the third the Torpedo partnership of Miele and Kenny Agostino made it 4-2.

A bright start from this young USA roster has prompted memories of 1980’s ‘Miracle on Ice’ and Miele is happy to be an experienced influence on a youthful team.

“We’re going to keep the energy high,” he said. “We’ve got young legs, so they can buzz all game long. We’ve got to let them do that.”