Golden Irrelevance

Additional reporting by Todd Ehrlich of T-Line TV 

In North America, Russian hockey is all about the past. The Super Power that stormed the NHL with the fall of the Iron Curtain has seen its presence shrink significantly since the end of the lockout in 2005. There are only 28 Russians playing in the NHL today, about half as many as 2005. More striking is the fact that a mere 9 Russians were drafted in 2010. There are two major reasons...the Russian sports authorities don't like the compensatory transfer fees (or lack thereof) from the NHL after snagging Russian players, and Russia's professional league--the KHL--is a superior option for many Russian players because of culture, comparable dollars and its less grueling schedule.

So when Russia entered this year's fabulous World Junior Championship in Buffalo, they were an afterthought. That simple statement is almost inconceivable; considering the Russian Bear as anything less than a threat in a hockey tournament is risky business at best, foolhardy at worst.

But unimpressive Round Robin results earned "Ross SEE Ya" the final spot in the medal round playoff bracket, where they found a solid Finland team laying in wait. The Finns methodically marched to a 3 to 1 lead, and with 4 minutes to play, TSN announcers Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire were matter-of-factly looking at Finland's next opponent, and ruminating about the prospects of an all-Nordic semifinal between Finland and Sweden, age-old rivals. And then it began. The first of 3 separate miracles, the most amazing run of hockey ever seen on a global stage. Three straight trips to hell and back by this remarkable collection of hockey artists, passionate Russians with hearts worthy of Mother Russia who deserved their gold as much as any group who ever laced up a pair of skates.

Act 1--Quarterfinals: Trailing 3-1 with under four minutes left to play, 18 year old Yevgeny Kuznetsov puts on a show, scoring one and and then setting up the tying goal, and then finishing off the Finns with a brilliant OT thriller. The Finns never knew what hit them. Kuznetsov is a Caps first rounder, look for him to share Power Play minutes next year with Ovechkin.

Act 2--Semifinals: The unfair timing of this semifinal is a huge part of this story, a fact NEVER mentioned on TSN, who drives this tournament and is responsible for its uncanny popularity in Canada. Russia worked overtime Sunday night, leaving their dressing room around 11pm all amped up over their amazing comeback. They were then back in the rink Monday for a 3:30 semifinal puck drop against a Sweden team that had been resting since Friday. Russia jumped out to a two goal lead early in the second, and then watched the Swedes suck the life out of them the rest of the way, outshooting them by a 2 to 1 ratio and scoring three unanswered goals, the last a PP marker with 3:19 left in regulation to take the lead. Russia was spent, and it may have been unfair, but their impressive run through the medal round appeared to be over. And then the hockey Gods got involved. Undrafted 19 year old Sergei Kalinin jumped through bodies to pitchfork a loose puck in the crease with 1:27 left in regulation and Miracle #2 was underway. Russian goaltender Dmitri Shikin stopped 5 shots in ten minutes of OT, and shut down two Swedish snipers in the shootout. Russian defenseman Denis Golubev found an opening through Swedish netminder Robin Lehner, and the Swedes last hope, Captain Anton Lander hit the post, sounding a death knell for arguably the best team in the tournament. Sweden, incredibly, miraculously, was out of the gold rush. Russia survived despite having coughed up a lead and falling behind with seemingly no gas left in the tank. They now had a precious day of rest before taking on the Canadian juggernaut.

Act III, the Game for Gold: Canada swarmed Russia, outshooting them 29-17 over two periods, claiming a 3-0 lead and chasing Russia's heroic goalie Shikin, who was replaced by the gigantic and heretofore unknown Igor Bobkov. Remember that name. All of Canada, including most of the 18,690 spectators, began celebrating prematurely. Last year's OT disaster agains the Yanks had been washed out by their demolition of USA in their previous game, and the players wearing the proud Red Maple Leaf were building on 7 impeccable periods of hockey. This last stanza was to be a mere formality. The Russians had them right where they wanted them.

Two and a half minutes into the 3rd period, Russia's deadly artistry took over: two goals in eleven seconds, three in under five minutes forced Canada to call their timeout and assess the damage. The Red Maple Leaf party was over, the hunter was now the hunted, and Canada couldn't reverse the trend. The two traditional super powers of the sport jousted for another 8 minutes, but the Canucks were fading and the Russians had both jump and confidence. The Russians added two more when it was all said and done, a mind-blowing 5 goal third period against Canada, in which the fabulous Kuznetsov orchestrated three assists. It was a period for the ages, a masterpiece from the land that brought you Baryshnikov and Pushkin.

Three miracles in four days, all of them classics: one in Overtime; one in a shootout; and one punctuated by 5-0 demolition of Canada's finest. It was sport, hockey, as only the Russians can play it. Miracle might be too mild a word. Except for the 5 rings and the political landscape of the time, America's run of hockey victories 31 years prior in this same state was pedestrian in comparison.

Their three-game run to the gold was the greatest sports story in recent memory, far more compelling than the Winter Classic a day prior, which was a genuine spectacle in its own right. Yet the story of the Russian hockey gold rush was largely buried. How North American media essentially ignored this magical sports tale is a story in itself.

Let's examine the media prism in which this triple miracle took place...the dateline says Buffalo, New York, USA, but it was essentially Canada. To the Canadians, the story was all about the collapse. Bob McKenzie, the fiercely thorough Insider of all Insiders and a great chronicler of all things World Junior, posted his praise of the Russians 17 paragraphs into his blog of Canada's collapse. USA Today had virtually nothing, and the NY Times pulled their superb hockey writer Keff Klein back to Gotham after USA wet the bed in the semifinals. The Times ran a few wooden graphs from the Associated Press while Klein covered the Rangers.

Pierre McGuire, the info-maniac that is the driving force of TSN's prodigious World Junior coverage, usually pumps the international teams with stories of drafted players and NHL connections. The Russians are no longer sexy because they are largely ignored by scouts because of the hassles with transfer fees and the KHL competition. So it sucked a lot of the wind out of McGuire's rant. The Russians are now someone else's story. And if Canada isn't pushing a hockey story, we Americans aren't going to blaze a new trail, Especially with Klein on West 33rd street.

So the greatest hockey phenomenon in recent memory takes place on a hockey-mad border of USA and Canada, and the resonating story that emerges is that the Russian team was too inebriated to board their plane home to Moscow. Pity.

Well, since this post is so long winded, here's a take on the Russian alcohol consumption: TSN brought their cameras into the gold-medal winning locker room, where the Silver World Championship Goblet was getting filled repeatedly with bubbly. Every player was presented with the Cup, made a heartfelt toast, took a huge swig, and passed it on. Very civilized, very respectful, very Russian (except it was Champagne and not Vodka thank goodness). Now remember that the Russians were dehydrated and exhilarated. They were still composing toasts when TSN shut down their feed, so no one in the media is quite sure if they ever stopped prior to boarding the bus for the plane. So a bunch of 19 year old menchildren had a buzz on after shocking the hockey world. That became the secondary story after that of Canada's collapse. Russia's Triple Miracle is 17 graphs deep on a blog. Unless you live in St. Petersburg.

In the next posting of SportsRap, I hope to get a reaction from Russian hockey historian Igor Kuperman if this Triple Miracle has taken any of the sting from their Lake Placid "collapse" from 31 years ago. If it doesn't it should. There's never been anything like it. Eruzione has nothing on Kuznetsov.

Lost in the gold medal mania was Team USA's bronze, which was impressive after being throttled by Canada in the semis. Twice before Keith Allain had been on the losing end of Bronze medal games, and this time he put his club through an incredibly stiff practice on the Tuesday off day and they responded with an energetic 4-2 win over hard luck Sweden. New York Ranger prospect and Boston College forward Chris Kreider sniped in two goals for the Yanks, and should be expected to be wearing a professional red, white and blue hockey sweater next year a little further down state.