In the Olympic men’s tournament, Russia marches on – a 6-1 win over Norway cements the team’s status as pre-tournament favorite. In the women’s event, though, there was disappointment as the Russians missed out in the bronze medal game, going down 2-3 against Finland.
Eeli Tolvanen was Finland’s star once again as the Leijonat downed Korea 4-2, but Slovenia’s Ziga Jeglic was in trouble after a failed drugs test. His country’s day didn’t improve – an overtime loss against Norway ended its Olympic campaign and sent the Norwegians into a QF against Russia.
IIHF President Rene Fasel praised the work that China is doing within the KHL as it builds to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing – and hinted at the possibility of a Korean team joining the competition to consolidate the success of the on-going tournament in PyeongChang.
Patrick Zackrisson scored the goal that took Sweden direct to the quarter-finals – and pushed Finland into the qualification round. The Sibir forward snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the third period in the battle of the Nordic neighbours, and rated it one of the biggest goals of his career.
The latest instalment of the big Trans-Atlantic rivalry ended in a comfortable victory for Oleg Znarok’s Russian team. A 4-0 scoreline reflected the superiority the Olympic Athletes from Russia all over the ice on a night when Ilya Kovalchuk became Russia’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic play.
Ilya Kovalchuk matched the great Pavel Bure, Kirill Kaprizov got a hat-trick and Sergei Mozyakin scored his first Olympic goal at the age of 36 as the Russians roared back to form against Slovenia.
Following our series of Olympic team profiles, we have one more addition – Russia, or the “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” for the politically-correct, and a team licking its wounds after its shock opening-day defeat at the hands of the Slovaks.
Russia might be ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ here, the roster might be almost entirely different from 2014 in Sochi – but the opening period of action for Oleg Znarok’s team instantly evoked memories of how the Russians started on home ice four years ago. Unfortunately, happy reflections of a slick start in Sochi were followed by painful reminders of how Russia stuttered in its first game there. And worse was to follow: the recovery that sank Slovenia in 2014 never materialized; Slovakia made off with a shock 3-2 victory.
With just hours, rather than days remaining until the start of the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament, KHL.ru completes its preview of the teams with a look at the USA, Slovakia, Slovenia and Norway. None of the quartet would regard itself as among the favourites for gold in PyeongChang, but all four boast some highly talented players from the KHL.
In part four of our country-by-country series of Olympic previews, we turn our attention to the reigning Olympic champion, Canada, who for the first time this century will be fighting for gold without their leading players from the National Hockey league. As a result, head coach Willie Desjardins called upon no fewer than 12 players from the KHL (and also Linden Vey, now at Zurich, but who was plying his trade at Barys Astana when he was named in the roster).
In the third of our country-by-country series of Olympic previews, we sought the views of Team Finland General Manager Jere Lehtinen about putting together the roster, the role of the sixteen KHL players in the team, and the nation's hopes and expectations from the upcoming tournament.
KHL.ru continues its Olympic hockey preview with a look at the Czech Republic roster. Head coach Josef Jandac spoke to us about his players (15 of whom are from KHL clubs), their selection, and the expectations of the team as they prepare to fight for gold in PyeongChang.
KHL.ru presents a series of previews devoted to the teams competing for hockey gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The Games get underway on Friday, the 9th of February, and the hockey tournament runs from the 14th to the 25th. Today, we spoke to Team Sweden head coach Rikard Gronborg about his team and their expectations for the forthcoming event.