Associated Press
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Alexei Kovalev had two goals and an assist as Russia won the bronze medal in Olympic hockey with a 7-2 victory over Belarus on Saturday.
With an uninspired but productive performance against the tournament’s most surprising underdog, the Russians claimed their 12th medal in Olympic hockey – a record their nation will share with Canada after today’s gold-medal game.
Still, it was a disappointing finish for Russia, which won silver in Nagano and gold in three of the previous four Olympics. Russia has eight hockey gold medals in all, more than any nation.
A 3-2 loss to the United States on Friday night – caused by the latest in a series of slow starts by Russia’s phenomenal group of forwards – cost the Russians a chance to play for another gold.
Instead, they took out their frustrations on Belarus in a physical game between two teams representing nations with a long history of dislike. Belarus is a former Soviet republic.
“We hate those guys. Put it in the paper,” Russian coach Slava Fetisov barked earlier in the week when asked what he thought about facing Belarus.
In truth, goalie Nikolai Khabibulin trained with the Belarusian team last summer, and Sergei Fedorov is among several Russian players who once trained in Minsk.
Belarus, which upset Sweden 4-3 Wednesday to earn an improbable berth in medal play, held Russia to a 2-2 tie until early in the second period, when Oleg Tverdovsky and Pavel Datsyuk scored 23 seconds apart.
Darius Kasparaitis – who has one goal in 58 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season – Pavel Bure and Maxim Afinogenov also scored for Russia, which scored 13 of its 19 goals in the Olympics during its two games against Belarus.
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