- Date
- 20 Feb 2016
- Tags
- Lillehammer 2016 , YOG , Ice Hockey , Tournament , Men , IOC News
Russia takes bronze in men's ice hockey
Believe it or not, Russia’s Kirill Nizhnikov prefers bronze to silver. “Third is better than second because you have to win to get bronze, but you lose to get silver,’’ he said moments after Russia had beaten Finland 6-2 in the bronze-medal men’s ice hockey game at Kristins Hall.
The Russians broke the game open with three goals in a span of less than 90 seconds, starting with a pair late in the second period before scoring again early in the third.
“It is devastating,’’ Finland goaltender Jimi Uusitalo said. “I feel very bad at the moment.”
The Russians were coming off two straight losses to the United States and had scored only one goal in those two matches at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games.
They felt they were capable of better offense, and the Finns were the unfortunate team to discover that the Russians were correct in their belief.
Yesterday we were very sad,’’ Nizhnikov said about losing the second of back-to-back games against the USA. “It was a tough day. But we had a chance to win our last game and we did.”
The Finns opened the scoring in the first minute of play, but never really got their game on track.
Written by YIS / IOC Alan Adams
Alan Adams is a reporter for the Lillehammer Youth Information Service ‘YIS’. Based in Toronto, Canada, he has covered sports since the mid-1980s including covering five Winter Olympic Games.