So much for drama: Canada 'awesome' in win over Russia
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A superpower showdown quickly became a super letdown.
Canada ended 50 years of Olympic hockey frustration against Russia, surging into the Olympic semifinals with a 7-3 romp over the world champions Wednesday night behind a goal and 2 assists from Dan Boyle during a take-charge first period.
This game - one that may have been better suited for the gold-medal game than the quarterfinals - fast became alarmingly one-sided.
The physical, focused Canadians took advantage of terrible goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov and superior depth and size to open leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period and 6-1 early in the second period, and the unexpected rout was on.
"We played an awesome game for 60 minutes. We played a great game," goalie Roberto Luongo.
The resurgent Canadians now play in Friday's semifinals. If the Canadians advance, they might face the United States in a rematch of the 5-3 loss on Sunday.
That disappointment marked their first Olympic loss to the U.S. since 1960; the punishing win over Russia was their first since the same tournament in Squaw Valley and only the second in 11 Olympic Games against the Russians or Soviets.
Long before it was over, fans began chanting, "We Want Sweden (in the semifinals)," just as they had asked for Russia the day before. After that, it was "We want gold."
On this day, Canada got all it wanted and more.
Corey Perry upstaged Russia's big-name, big-contract forwards with 2 goals, Shea Weber also scored and set the tone by upending Maxim Afinogenov with a board-rattling hit in the opening seconds, and Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and 2 assists.
And Boyle frustrated Nabokov, his NHL teammate, by scoring a power-play goal and creating two others.
And that was only the start.
Almost as surprising as the score was how Canada pulled it off. Sidney Crosby went scoreless in a subordinate role, with less celebrated players and grit negating Russia's cast of stars and supposedly superior speed.
"I saw a team that wants to win and play smart hockey and another team that didn't play smart hockey and didn't play with passion," said goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who replaced Nabokov. "I don't know why. Every one of us has to ask this question of themselves."
Nabokov, whose NHL San Jose Sharks are perennial playoff underachievers, allowed several soft goals early, one to Sharks teammate Patrick Marleau, and the letdown was evident on a downcast Russian bench.
Coach Slava Bykov didn't pull Nabokov until Weber scored at 4:07 of the second to make it 6-1. Given the looks on the players' faces, the move came about 2 or 3 goals too late.
Asked what he was thinking on the bench, Bryzgalov said, "I think like, 'Uh-oh.' "
Russia, which beat Canada in each of the last two world championships, also seemed unprepared for Canada's aggression. Within the first few minutes, Russia quickly learned that speed isn't a factor when stars are being knocked off their skates before they can advance into the offensive zone.
"We wanted to be physical with everyone," Crosby said. "There was not a special order just to hit him (Ovechkin)."