BEIJING, February 21. /TASS/. The ice hockey team of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) failed to show the level of the game, which the national teams of Russia had always displayed, at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, President of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) Vladislav Tretiak told TASS on Monday.
"If we take a look at all of the games played, we will unfortunately see that the defense and goalkeeper acted much better than the offensive line," Tretiak, who also serves as a lawmaker with the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, since 2003 said in an interview with TASS.
"The offensive line did not give the result while we expected something more - just count how many goals we scored," he continued. "Moreover, it was a standstill for the most of the time on power-plays for our team. I believe that our team did not work quite well on the offensive as we all expected to see them acting."
"We did not show the offensive level, which had been always a trademark of the Russian and Soviet ice hockey," Tretiak noted. "We have been always strong on the offensive and our forwards were always among the best scorers making later into a list of symbolic teams. It didn’t happen there."
Tretiak also said that ROC’s team’s goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov was the best player during the ice hockey tournament for his national team at the 2022 Olympics.
Fedotov, the 25-year-old Russian goalkeeper, currently plays for CSKA Moscow hockey club.
"He is very tall and he is playing at the same level with the rest of goalkeepers," Tretiak said. "The most importantly is that he is a very composed player, he has a mental ability and he is always in the right position to guard the net. It is important that he is very stoic."
The Finnish national ice hockey squad defeated reigning Olympic champions Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) 2-1 on February 20 in the final of the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. The goals in the final Olympics ice hockey match in Beijing were scored by ROC’s Mikhail Grigorenko (on the 8th minute of the opening period), by Finland’s Ville Pokka and Hannes Bjorninen (on the 24th and 41st minutes of the match respectively).
At the previous Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang in 2018, the Russian national ice hockey team played under the status of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and eventually won the Olympic gold defeating Germany 4-3 in sudden death overtime in the final match.
Russian ice hockey players reached the final of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games after defeating the Swedish national squad in a penalty shootout during their semifinal encounter on February 18. The national ice hockey team of Finland advanced to the final match of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China with the 2-0 win over Slovakia earlier that day.
The bronze of the Olympics 2022 ice hockey tournament went to Slovakia, who devastated Sweden 4-0 in the match for the 3rd place on February 19.
The national team of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) finished the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China in the 9th place of the medal standings having bagged six gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals (32 in total).
Russia’s ice hockey goaltender Tretiak
In December 2020, Tretiak was awarded a certificate of the World Olympians Association (WOA) for his contribution to the Olympic movement development as well as the promotion of values of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The certificate was presented to Tretiak by IOC President Thomas Bach at an IIHF meeting on December 6 at the IOC headquarters.
Tretiak, born on April 25, 1952, is a former goaltender for the Soviet Union’s national ice hockey team. The legendary player has been recognized as one of the best hockey players of the 20th century by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As a player of CSKA ice hockey club and the Soviet national squad, he won 10 world championships (1970-71, 1973-75, 1978-79, and 1981-83) and three Olympic gold medals (1972, 1976, and 1984).