Ice
hockey: Steely Russians top Czechs to reach final
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[February 23, 2018]
By Dan Burns and Mark Trevelyan
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (Reuters) -
Vasili Koshechkin recorded a shutout to lift the Russian men past
the Czech Republic 3-0 on Friday, giving them a chance at their
first Olympic gold medal in men's ice hockey for more than a quarter
of a century.
In a rematch of sorts from their last shot at gold in Nagano in
1998, the Russians turned the tables on the Czechs, who then foiled
their hopes by beating them 1-0 on a brilliant goaltending
performance by Dominik Hasek.
It was Russia's netminder who dominated on Friday with Koshechkin
turning aside 31 Czech shots in his second shutout of the Games.
"He's been our best player this tournament," Russian forward Mikhail
Grigorenko said of Koshechkin. "He's just been making a lot of
saves. He made some huge saves tonight, and he was good."
Koshechkin has the tournament's lowest goals against average at 1.08
and has stopped more than 95 percent of shots put on the Russian
goal.

The Russians, playing as the Olympic Athletes from Russia because of
a doping ban, won thanks to second-period goals by Nikita Gusev and
Vladislav Gavrikov less than a minute apart and a smothering
defense.
It was a cautious, tight-checking game before a crowd dominated by
jubilant, flag-waving Russian fans, many of whom had come directly
from seeing teenage figure skater Alina Zagitova deliver the
country's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games.
After a scoreless first period, the Russians broke the deadlock
midway through the second period.
Pavel Datsyuk, the Russian captain and two-times Stanley Cup winner
with the Detroit Red Wings, came in on the right wing and fed the
puck across the goal mouth to Gusev, who fired a wrist shot behind
Pavel Francouz.
Ivan Telegin then swept into the Czech zone and back-handed it in
front of the goal to Gavrikov and he redirected it mid-air past
Francouz.
EMPTY-NET GOAL
Ilya Kovalchuk rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal late
in the third period, padding his status as the highest-scoring
Russian in Olympic ice hockey. A 12-season veteran of the NHL who
now plays for the St. Petersburg team in Russia's Kontinental Hockey
League, Kovalchuk has 14 career Olympic goals.
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Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics - Men Semifinal Match - Czech
Republic v Olympic athletes from Russia - Gangneung Hockey Centre,
Gangneung, South Korea - February 23, 2018 - Czech Republic's Martin
Ruzicka and Olympic athletes from Russia's Sergei Shirokov in
action. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

Coming into the first Olympic tournament without NHL players in more
than two decades, Russia's Big Red Machine were the team to beat,
stocked with former NHL talent and players from the KHL, seen as the
world's second-best pro league.
They had a hiccup in their first game, blowing a two-goal lead to
lose 3-2 to Slovakia, but they have been on a roll since, winning
four straight and outscoring opponents 21-3.
They appear determined to overcome their embarrassing showing in
Sochi when, as Olympic hosts, they did not make the medal round.
"We've been striving for this for years," Russian coach Oleg Znarok
said
The Russians last won a gold medal in hockey in 1992 in Albertville,
France, in the first Winter Olympics of the post-Soviet Union era.
As the Soviets, they won seven gold medals in nine Games from 1956
to 1988.
The arena was rife with Russian fans displaying tricolor flags from
many corners of the country, from Kursk to Kazan and Siberia, and
drowning out the smaller number of Czech fans with chants of
"Russia" and "Shaibu!", which roughly translates to "Score a goal!".
The Russians are guaranteed an Olympic medal in men's ice hockey for
the first time since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games where they won
bronze.
They will play Canada or Germany in the final on Sunday.
(Reporting by Dan Burns, editing by Ed Osmond)
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