2014 Sochi Olympics: Team Russia's Collapse One For The Ages

Every player on Team Russia knew going into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi that they would be carrying the hopes — and burden — of an entire nation’s lofty expectations. Well, the weight of said burden appears to have been too great. A combination of a cohesive, determined Team Finland and Team Russia’s collective psyche apparently being made of glass caused the host nation’s most cherished darlings to instantly become a national embarrassment, falling to the Finnish 3-1. This loss on the shores of the Black Sea will forever be a black mark on Russia’s hockey resume.

The debacle was completely avoidable, however. Going into the tournament, hardly any analyst or expert out there did not have Russia  at least medaling, with many picking them to win coveted gold. On paper, they looked like world beaters, especially at forward. They had Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Ovechkin, just to name a few; goals should have come by the bucket loads. They also had two hot NHL goaltenders to rely on in Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky and Semyon Varlamov. The only question people had was, how would a so-so Olympic blue line hold?

Turns out, problems would creep up all the way from the crease to the top of the Kremlin.

When one says Russia was putting a lot of pressure on its players, they’re not just talking about the civilian population. Russia’s president, Vladimire Putin, made it publicly known how much he wanted Team Russia to win the gold for and in the Motherland. Putin also had another huge dog in the fight outside of a national feel good story and athletic prestige, the KHL. Putin has used an awful lot of clout and arm twisting to make owners invest copious amount of money to elevate the KHL’s facilities, players and global profile. He’s essentially the KHL’s Gary Bettman, but with presidential powers he uses on the league in a very hands-on way.

Just how much the political and KHL factors played into the collapse is hard to say, but they certainly had a role. Russia’s head coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, put together some questionable lines that elevated KHLers to roles that perhaps should have been exclusively staffed with NHLers, Kovalchuk notwithstanding. It was also curious to see some KHLers getting more ice time than their NHL counterparts. How much of this was Bilyaletdinov’s own decision making and how much of it was strongly “encouraged” from others in positions of power will never be truly known.

Bilyaletdinov’s most controversial decision against Finland will always be his choosing Varlamov to start over Bobrovsky, even though Bobrovsky pitched a shutout their last game against Norway and was simply stellar against America, minus the shootout. Why he didn’t ride the hot hand until Varlamov had already surrendered three goals is a curious choice, to say the least.

The coach, KHL and Kremlin aside, the players are the ones who are most culpable for the collapse; they were the ones playing on the ice, after all.

This sounds like an overused cliche’ uttered over and over again by every NHL coach after each game, win or lose, but it’s a mantra that will forever and always be true — hockey is a team sport. America doesn’t have the best players on paper, but they play as the best team, one that clearly knows its capabilities and identity. Outside of Russia’s game against America, there was hardly any sign of a group of men jelling into one, productive unit. Other than Kovalchuk, there seemed to be little to no chemistry when the NHLers and KHLers were mixed.

However, their problems ran much deeper than that. How many shots did Russians sacrifice their body to block? Why did they look so listless in their game against Team Slovakia that needlessly went to a shootout? Why were so many NHL All-Stars passengers during an elimination game that ultimately saw a solid, but injury-riddled Finnish team bounce them from a tournament on their own soil? Why did such a skilled squad fail to produce on home ice?

All of that elite talent on Team Russia couldn’t overcome the lack of mental toughness and self sacrifice demonstrated by the vast majority of their individual players. That’s why, for the second Winter Olympics in a row, Russian players will have to look within themselves for answers, and their countrymen will now have to rest their hopes on figure skaters.