Give us a little creative licence and we’ll provide you the tale of Russia shocking Canada right in the latter’s own backyard.
Canada leads 3-0 in the third period. The gold medals are getting shined up. Then, just like in Adam West’s campy 1960’s Batman: Zing! Bam! Bonk! Boom! All of a sudden, the smiles had switched faces. In fact, Vladimir Tarasenko still grins recalling the shocking final of the 2011 World Junior Championship.
“It’s a good memory for me,” he said, “for us.”
For those who need a refresher, Russia scored five unanswered goals to win 5-3 that night in Buffalo, which is practically Canada both in terms of geography and love of hockey. Tarasenko was the captain of that squad and scored the final-frame equalizer. Evgeny Kuznetsov drew an assist on the play. About eight minutes later, Artemi Panarin scored his second of the period to give Russia the lead.
Starting to get the picture?
In addition to those three offensive dynamos, two defecemen from Russia’s 2016 World Cup team — Nikita Zaitsev and Dmitry Orlov — were also on that resilient WJC squad. And though we don’t recommend falling into a three-goal hole against any team with Carey Price on it, if Russia is to pull off the semifinal upset against Canada on Saturday, it might have to be in some similar, quick-strike fashion.
While they remain a traditional hockey heavyweight, Russia simply doesn’t have the horses to overwhelm Canada for 60 minutes. But if there’s one thing we know about the children of the Big Red Machine, it’s that they’re capable of transforming a sliver of light into one that flashes red behind the goal. It’s the ol’ puncher’s chance, and Russia has some guys who can really swat.
“The whole word know the best players play here and [Canada is] always favourite in every tournament,” said Kuznetsov. “So what we have to do is accept the challenge and show these guys what we got.”
Surely, some of what they have is baggage from recent best-on-best events. Sochi 2014 was a disaster and the only thing that made Vancouver 2010 any better is the fact that the quarterfinal crash didn’t happen on home soil. The bear, no doubt, is wounded, and flipping the script in Toronto would mean so much. Forget playing in Buffalo, Kuznetsov gets emotional recalling the 2008 World Championship in Quebec City when, after another third-period Russian comeback, Ilya Kovalchuk delivered an overtime dagger versus the Canucks.
“I almost cried,” Kuznetsov recalls. “It’s a good feeling.”
The mere fact that Russia is in the final four should be heartening for hockey fans. In the same way the NHL has benefited from signature clubs like the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins winning Stanley Cups the past decade, the international hockey scene gets more interesting when Russia is a player.
“Everybody going to be crazy,” said captain Alex Ovechkin. “Atmosphere’s going to be unbelievable. It’s going to be a great match to play and be involved and be in the stands and be on TV watch this kind of rivalry.”
And remember, if you look away for a second, you might miss Russia winning it.
