Athletistic / Hockey. The Olympic Games in Nagano (Japan) in 1998 became historic. Firstly, these Games were the last winter games of the 20th century and, secondly, for the first time in history, active NHL hockey players came there. The IIHF and the NHL managed to reach an agreement regarding the participation of players from the North American league in the Olympic Games.

It is believed that the NHL leadership finally came to the conclusion that the Olympic Games with the participation of all the stars would be the best advertisement for their project. The World Cup helped in many ways: the teams of Canada and the United States in 1996 reached the final and showed that at that time they were head and shoulders above the rest. After that, the overwhelming majority of foreign experts called for the release of NHL players for the Olympics, so that Canadians and Americans could mock the Europeans and take revenge on the Russian team for the hegemony of the USSR (Russia is the legal successor of the USSR) in the 60s, 70s and 80s of the 20th century. However, Russia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden had their own opinions on this issue.

The Russian team went to Nagano like a dark horse. Now it’s hard to believe, but at four world championships before the Games in Japan, our team failed to win a single medal, taking only 6th place in the IIHF ranking. At the same 1996 World Cup, the Russians reached the semi-finals, but lost without any luck to the United States (2:5). And the worst thing is that during those years a conflict raged between the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) and Russian NHL players. It was possible that, despite the NHL’s decision, Russian players playing in the Super League would come to Nagano and that NHL players would watch the Olympics on television. In order to defuse the situation at least a little, Vladimir Yurzinov (head coach), Pyotr Vorobyov and Zinetula Bilyaletdinov (both assistants) were included in the coaching staff of the Russian national team.

Photo source: Andrey Golovanov and Sergey Kivrin

But even the presence of such groups in the coaching staff did not help Russia collect all the strongest under its banner. While hockey players from other teams were rushing to the Olympics, in Russia, players began to massively refuse to participate in the Games. Thus, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Nikolai Khabibulin, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Zubov missed the Nagano tournament. However, roster issues were associated not only with rejections, but also with injuries. Due to health problems, Andrey Nikolishin, Alexey Kovalev and Alexander Karpovtsev did not travel to Japan.

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Russia’s biggest problems were in the goalkeeper line. It was Nikolai Khabibulin who, at that time, was the only Russian who was the main goalie of the NHL team. As a result, Mikhail Shtalenkov, then a player of the Anaheim Ducks, became the first in Nagano 1998, Andrei Trefilov of the Chicago Blackhawks became his replacement, and the third goalkeeper of the Severstal Cherepovets, Oleg Shevtsov, went to the Olympics . Interestingly, the first two had very little NHL experience and went the entire season with virtually no game practice.

But despite all this, the composition of the Russian team was more than brilliant. Both Bure brothers (Pavel and Valery), Sergei Fedorov, Alexey Yashin, Alexey Zhamnov, Sergei Gonchar and many others went to Nagano.

Photo source: OKR

The Russian team at the Olympic tournament was part of a group with the Czech Republic, Finland and Kazakhstan. It would later become known that it was in this group that all the future winners of the 1998 Olympic Games gathered. In the first match of the Olympic tournament, Vladimir Yurzinov’s team destroyed the Kazakhstan team (9:2 ). Then the Russians won a voluntary victory over Finland (4:3) and at the end of the group stage they managed to defeat the Czech Republic (2:1), scoring two goals in one minute.

The match against the Czechs was interesting because two opposing systems of play met on the ice. If Russia represented offensive hockey at the Nagano Olympic Games, the Czechs relied on the defensive game and the actions of their goalie, Domenik Hasek. In this match of the group stage, the Russians lost with a score of 0:1 before the start of the third period, and it was Hasek, who showed a simply phenomenal game, who allowed his team to carry out. However, in the third 20 minutes, Alexey Zhamnov and Valery Bure beat the legendary Czech and helped the Russian team take first place in the group.

The other group included teams from Canada, the United States, Sweden and Belarus. In this quartet, the Canadians won the group stage, the Swedes took second place, the Americans (current World Cup winners) came third and the Belarusians came last. According to the rules of the Olympic tournament, all 8 teams reached the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, a sensation immediately arose: the Czech national team “threw away” the United States and sent the “stars and stripes” home. Interestingly, it was the Americans who scored the first goal in this match, but Hasek, Jagr and Co. then proved unstoppable. In another match, the teams of Sweden and Finland met. Before the start of this match, few people doubted that Tre Krunur would reach the semi-finals, however, even here they found their chance – the Finns managed to “dry the match” and won in their favorite way with a score 2:1. But in the other two quarter-finals everything was predictable: Russia beat Belarus with a score of 4:1 and Canada beat Kazakhstan with exactly the same numbers on the scoreboard.

Photo source: Reuters

In the first semi-final, the Czech Republic again relied on the magic of Hasek, who managed to hold his team until the shootout, where the founders of hockey were defeated by the Czechs, who destroyed the myth of the indestructibility of the NHL. Interestingly, the main argument in the story of the NHL’s trip to the 1998 Olympics in Nagano was Wayne Gretzky’s desire to participate in the Games. The career of the world hockey legend was coming to an end and he dreamed of finishing it as an Olympic champion. But this was not destined to come true.

The Russian team managed to impose open hockey on Finland in its semi-final. The Russians played exclusively in attack, without even turning towards their goal. At the start of the third period, the score was tied at 4:4. The match went like a seesaw, but then Vladimir Yurzinov’s team scored three unanswered goals and secured the medals. It is noteworthy that five of the Russian team’s seven goals that evening were scored by Pavel Bure.

The Canadian team led by Wayne Gretzky was so upset about not reaching the final that they simply could not prepare for the bronze medal match and lost ingloriously to the Finns (2: 3). As a result, “The Greatest” (Wayne Gretzky’s nickname in North America is Rating Athletistic) will end his career with only one medal at the international level: bronze at the 1982 World Championships in Finland. And the Finns will leave the Olympic Games with bronze for the second time in a row.

The hockey final of the Nagano Olympic Games closed the program of these Games. In the decisive match, the Russian team again faced the Czech Republic. The scenario of this meeting was very similar to that of the team match in the group stage of the Olympic tournament. The Russians spent the entire match in the foreign zone and the Czechs only relied on counterattacks. To be fair, Russia was better in this tournament and deserved gold medals, but in sport the result is not always a cause and effect relationship. In the 49th minute, Czech defender Petr Svoboda scored the only goal of this match and brought his country the first gold medal (including Czechoslovakia) in hockey at the Olympics.

The main character of this meeting will be Dominik Hasek. Today he denigrates his sporting achievements with political statements, but it was then – February 22, 1998 – that he became both great (forever), but the most hated person among sports fans Russians (for several years).

The Russian national team failed to become Olympic champions, but for the first time in post-Soviet history it united fans around it. The national team regained the confidence of fans and ended an era of unrest when the players themselves refused to play for the team due to internal conflicts. Pavel Bure reached the peak of his popularity in his native country and became one of the most popular people in the country. It’s a shame that the Russians had to wait 20 years for the next Olympic final.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic


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