Athletistic / Hockey. In April-May 2000, Russia hosted the World Hockey Championship for the first time in its history. The tournament took place in St. Petersburg and was one of the most anticipated sporting events of the last year of the 20th century.
In Russia, the 2000 World Cup was awaited as a holiday, and people hoped that after the difficult 90s in every sense of the word, the national team would be able not only to compete for medals, but even to win the tournament. Before that, the last time the Russians won gold at the world championship was in 1993. They tried to bring order to St. Petersburg for the reception of their dear guests – the city was washed and beautified, and a brand new ice palace was built, specially built for the World Cup. It is noteworthy that the then newly elected president of the country, Vladimir Putin, opened the tournament in his hometown.
The legendary Alexander Yakushev rose to the position of head coach of this team. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Vladislav Tretyak were appointed assistants. For the home tournament, the Russian national team was able to build the strongest team possible, inviting under its banner a large number of NHL players who came to show off in their home country. Dmitry Mironov, Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Nikolishin arrived from the Washington Capitals; from the Ottawa Senators – Alexey Yashin and Igor Kravchuk; from the Buffalo Sabers – Alexey Zhitnik and Maxim Tandiogenov, from the New York Rangers – Valery Kamensky and from the Chicago Blackhawks – Alexey Zhamnov. Well, the icing on the cake was Pavel Bure, who brought Viktor Kozlov from the Florida Panthers with him.
In the opening match of the 2000 World Cup, the Russians “destroyed” the French team with a score of 8: 1. Avangard Omsk striker Maxim Sushinsky scored a hat-trick during this meeting and Pavel Bure, already legendary at the time, scored a double. After this result, experts and the media began to talk even more loudly about the next reincarnation of the Russian national hockey team, and the fans were in ecstasy. But then things went horribly wrong. In the next match, the Russians lost without any chance to the American team (0:3), and in the last match of the first group stage of the tournament, the hosts of the tournament sensationally lost to Switzerland (2:3).
Photo source: Russian Hockey Federation
As a result, Alexander Yakushev’s team qualified for the second group stage of the world championship from third place in group A, beating France only in terms of additional indicators. It is interesting that everything could have ended much worse if the French had at least kept a draw in the meeting with the United States. In this situation, the Russian national team would participate in a survival tournament, where they would play matches with the national teams of Japan, Austria and Ukraine. However, the worst was yet to come for the Russian national team.
In the second group stage, the Russians were scheduled to face the national teams of Latvia, Belarus and Sweden. Moreover, as it seemed then, victories over two teams from the former USSR could be enough to reach the playoffs of the tournament. But all dreams were once again shattered by the harsh reality: for the first time in our history, we lost to Latvians (2:3), then to Belarus (0:1). It was a failure on a universal scale. The entire team, from coaches and players to staff, and with it the Russian Hockey Federation, was simply destroyed in the press, on television and in conversations of ordinary fans.
The defeat against Belarus deprived Russia of even a theoretical chance to advance to the playoffs, so the victory of the tournament hosts over Tre Kronur (4:2) in the match held on May 9 on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Great Victory was no longer needed by anyone. True, it is not known what would have happened to the Ice Palace if the Russians had managed to lose that day…
Photo source: Russian Hockey Federation
It seems to us that the reason for such a disastrous performance of the Russian national team at the home tournament was the team’s disunity. Hoping for a very successful performance at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano (Japan), where the Russians won silver medals, the NHL legionnaires took the reins into their own hands and constantly pulled the cover on themselves. Russian fans remember this tournament for its distinct lack of teamwork, as well as complete discord within the team. As it turned out later, there was a complete split in the locker room, dividing the team into “ours” and the “legionnaires”. And the technical staff, made up of phenomenal players, has never managed to unite the team, relying on brilliant personalities.
As a result, the Russian team took 11th place in this tournament, and the winner of the 2000 World Cup in St. Petersburg was the Czech Republic, defeating Slovakia in the final with a score of 5:3. Seven years later, Russia will once again host the world championship. Then, in Moscow, the team of Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin will win bronze medals. Nine years later – in 2016 – Russia will again host the World Hockey Championship and again finish third. These two results, compared to the failure of 2000, will seem like manna from heaven.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
