Despite the home ice advantage, Russia was not able to pull ahead. The Russian men’s hockey team has been disqualified from the tournament at the Sochi Games after losing to Finland 3-1 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Russia took the lead in the first quarter when Iiya Kovalchuk scored a goal at 7:51. However Finland answered with a goal by Juhamatti Aaltonen to tie the game less than two minutes later. Finland’s, Teemu Selanne, 43, and Mikael Granlund, 21, scored two more goals for their country.
However must game changing was Finnish goalie, Tuukka Rask who was able to fight off 11 saves in the second period. Oppositely Russian starter, Semyon Varlamov could not fend off Finland’s goals and was taken out shortly after giving up the third goal reported USA Today. X
Russia’s loss on the ice continues years of disappointing finishes in the Olympics since the break up of the Soviet Union. In the 22 years since its break up, Russia has only won two medals, silver in 1998, and bronze in 2002. Prior to this the Soviet Union won the Olympic gold seven of the nine appearances according to the NY Times.