The Russian men's Olympic hockey team got a chance to shine in front of their home country during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but rather than fulfilling a dream of winning the gold medal in front of the Russian faithful, the team burned out and was forced to try and explain an early exit of the tournament following a quarterfinal loss to Finland. Alex Ovechkin tried to explain the team's woes but was at a loss for words.
Following a 3-1 loss to Finland at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi, the Washington Capitals captain was left to try and explain what went wrong for him and his country mates during the tournament. Ovechkin notched just one goal through the five games in the Olympics.
"We had a good start and scored a power play goal and felt pretty good," a disheartened Ovechkin, who had three shots on goal in 18:30 ice time, told CBC after the game. "Then two mistakes, we gave them the belief. I have nothing to say, we try, we fight, we play until the end but we lost."
Russia played well in Group A but couldn't clinch the top spot and an automatic bye into the quarterfinals due to the fact that it lost to the United States in an eight-round shootout and the U.S. went on to win all three of its games to clinch the group. Russia was able to earn a win in its qualification game on Tuesday by beating Norway 4-0 only to fall to Finland just one day later.
Russia came into the Games hoping to clinch a gold medal on home ice, but ended up having to answer questions of their failures such as why a team full of talent couldn't score big goals when it needed to.
"That's a big question and it's tough," Ovechkin said about the team's lack of scoring via CBC. "It's the second Olympic game we lost...and it's bad. The team fight and play until the end and nobody gave up but we didn't score a second goal and it was pretty hard."
Ovechkin discussed the highs and lows of his career.
"I haven't realized it yet," Ovechkin told CBC when asked if this was the lowest point of his career. "I know we have lots of pressure on the coaching staff and the team but I don't know what to say."
Ovechkin leads the NHL with 40 goals and has added 20 assists for 60 points thus far this season with the Capitals. Ovechkin will now look to avoid more disappointment this season in the NHL as the Caps have made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons but have not been able to make it past the second round.
The Olympics will continue in Sochi, but it will do so without the hometown men's ice hockey team.
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