This week, many are remembering moments from the career of legendary Russian coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. The fact is that he left the post of coach of Ak Bars. We recently looked at how he led the Russian team to success at the 2012 World Cup. However, there is an unfortunate page in his career. These are the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. We invite you to remember how the hockey tournament took place there.

Events before the Olympics

The last major tournament before the 2014 Olympics was the 2013 World Championship, held in Stockholm and Helsinki. The Russian team got off to a pretty quick start, beating Lavtia, Germany and, most importantly, the United States. However, unthinkable things began to happen. On May 9, the Russian team lost to the French team with a score of 1:2, then the Finnish team lost (2:3). After that, the Russians were able to beat Slovakia and Austria and take second place in the group. However, in the quarterfinals, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team lost overwhelmingly to the USA with a score of 3: 8. Despite the unsuccessful result, the FHR expressed confidence in the coach and did not made no changes on the eve of the home Olympics.

Composition of the Russian national team

The 2014 Olympic Games were held in the best traditions of these competitions. That is, with the possibility of calling up any NHL player to the national teams. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov immediately took advantage of this. While many remember Semyon Varlamov for the successful 2012 World Cup, many saw Sergei Bobrovsky playing for the national team for the first time.

Among the defenders, the coach relied on two of his usual defenders from Ak Bars – Ilya Nikulin and Evgeny Medvedev. The remaining six players were from the NHL. They are Nikita Nikitin, Fyodor Tyutin, Vyacheslav Voinov, Alexey Emelin, Anton Belov and Andrey Markov.

Among the forwards, six KHL players were called up to the national team. These are Alexander Radulov and Ilya Kovalchuk, who can be considered NHL-level hockey players. Also
It is difficult to imagine Zinetul Bilyaletdinov’s team without Avangard forwards Alexander Popov and Alexander Perezhogin. Alexei Tereshchenko
“Ak Barsa” and Viktor Tikhonov from SKA.

The rest of the forwards came from the NHL. The most unexpected was the inclusion of 18-year-old Valery Nichushkin in the nomination. The other names are well known: Pavel Datsyuk, who became captain, Evgeny Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nikolai Kulemin, Artyom Anisimov and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Group stage

All matches of the hockey tournament of the Sochi Olympic Games took place on the ice of the Bolshoi Arena. The 12 teams are divided into three groups of four teams each. All first-place teams and the best second-place team advance to the quarterfinals. The remaining eight teams participate in an additional qualifying round.

The Russian national team beat Slovenia quite evenly in the first match – 5:2. Quite quickly, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin scored their goals. At the start of the second period, Žiga Jeglic pulled back a goal. Towards the end of the 20 minutes, Ilya Kovalchuk gave the Russians the lead again. However, Ziga Eglich immediately scored a double. In the third period, goals from Valery Nichushkin and Anton Belov ended the match.

In the second match, Russia faced a dangerous confrontation with the American team. After all, with NHL stars, this team becomes one of the tournament favorites. Midway through the second period, Pavel Datsyuk gave the Russians the lead. Shortly before the break, Cam Fowler equalized the score, and during the third period of the match, Joe Pavelski gave the Americans the advantage. Three minutes later, Pavel Datsyuk equalized the score.

Later in that match there was a scandal. In one of the episodes, the goalkeeper of the American team moved the goal. However, the game continued and the episode ended with a goal from Fedor Tyutin. After watching the video replay, the referees did not count the puck, which caused a negative reaction from all Russian fans.
As a result, the match had to continue. This led to a shootout. After three throws, it was not possible to determine the winner. Then there was a “shootout” between TJ Oshie and Sergei Bobrovsky. As a result, the American team won in a shootout.

In the last match of the group stage, the Russian team showed not the most intelligible game against the Slovak team. Three periods went completely scoreless. As a result, the game once again ended in a shootout. However, in this case everything turned out to be two shots – Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov converted their attempts, and the Slovaks failed to clear Semyon Varlamov.

Playoffs

The Russian team took only second place in Group A, gaining six points. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team therefore had to play an additional round. The opponent was the Norwegian national team. The Russians won a crushing victory with a score of 4:0. Among the winners, Alexander Radulov made a double, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexey Tereshchenko also scored.

In the quarterfinals, the Russian team met the Finnish team, which rose to this stage as the best team among the second places in the groups. Even in the first half, Ilya Kovalchuk managed to push our country’s team forward. However, the ensuing match was unsuccessful. Quite quickly, Juhamatti Aaltonen equalized the score, then shortly before the break, Teemu Selanne took the advantage over the Finns. In the second period, Mikael Granlund scored another goal. The Russian team failed to win back. Among other things, the replacement of Semyon Varlamov with Sergei Bobrovsky in the second half did not bring success.

The Russian team’s result at the home Olympics was disappointing. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team did not win any medals. We can assume that the denied puck episode against the United States played a key role. If the Russians had succeeded in their match against Slovenia and had made a good impression against
In the United States, then everything got much worse. And even the match against Norway, despite a confident result, did not turn out to be as brilliant.

It is possible that Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s ideas have ceased to work in the Russian national team. If in 2012 many of the hockey players he used brought something new to the national team’s game, many later learned to adapt to it.

However, the unsuccessful result at the 2014 Olympics does not detract from the merits of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. He remains one of the main legends of Russian hockey. And the Russian team, as we know, will improve in the future. In 2018, the team will win Olympic gold in Pyeongchang.

Yaroslav Piatykh, Athletistic



Athletistic