Sochi, Russia: The United States got the better of hosts Russia in a thrilling 3-2 penalty shoot-out win in the Olympic ice hockey tournament on Saturday.
Watched by President Vladimir Putin in the Bolshoy Ice Dome, the US inflicted a sensitive defeat on Russia in a match which had revived memories of the “Miracle on Ice” when a US team upset the Soviet Union in the final in the Lake Placid 1980 final.
Russia thought they had a late winner when a Fyodor Tyutin shot beat Joanathan Quick in goal but it was disallowed after a video review ruled the left post was off its mooring.
Yesterday, many Russians’ thoughts were still on the ice hockey action of the previous day, when the late disallowed goal cost the host nation victory over arch-rival the United States.
In a rare moment of political unity, supporters and opponents of Putin came together on Twitter to express their outrage after the Americans won in a shoot-out.
“The puck was in the goal. What an abomination. Cheating before the whole world! Disgusting!” wrote Alexei Pushkov, a senior pro-Putin member of parliament after the score was wiped out because the goal had been shifted from its mooring.
Prominent gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev, at odds with Putin over a law banning homosexual propaganda among minors that overshadowed the build-up to the Games, was left in shock: “There’s a huge scandal in the hockey tournament. The American referee didn’t allow the Russian goal. Damn!”
Captain Pavel Datsyuk scored twice for the hosts in the 30th and 53rd minutes but Cam Fowler (37) and Joe Pavelski (50) levelled, and TJ Oshie scored four times in the shoot-out to clinch the game for the US.
“It was a lot of fun,” Oshie said.
“With the crowd, with the atmosphere. They’ve got a great team with a lot of really good players, and we did a pretty good job shutting the door on them and limiting their chances.”
The US move to five points in the preliminary round and have virtually wrapped up an automatic berth in the quarter-finals next week.
Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin said: “Both teams showed good character but unfortunately someone has to win and someone has to lose. We had a chance to win but they did a great job on the penalty shoot-out.”
After pre-Games criticism over human rights and the estimated $50 billion (Dh183.6 billion) cost of bringing the Olympics to Sochi, Putin can so far take satisfaction from an event where Russia has shown a friendly, welcoming face to the rest of the world and the sporting action has yielded plenty of drama.
Slovenia, meanwhile, defeated former world champions Slovakia 3-1 for their first win in Group A and are now a point behind Russia.
The Czechs lost on the 42nd birthday of star forward Jaromir Jagr, 1-0 against Switzerland in group C, where Sweden beat Latvia 5-3 in the other game.
