Here’s What Happened In The Canada-Russia Women’s Olympic Hockey Game, At Least According To The Russians

Content of the article

BEIJING — The long history of hockey between Canada and Russia has had its highlights over the decades, but never so dramatic in the women’s game.

Content of the article

But after a bizarre afternoon at the Wukesong Sports Center, there’s a new chapter of swashbuckling, with KN95 face masks for everyone involved. Yes, a restricted breathing mask was required for world class athletes in a high endurance sport.

For part of the game, anyway.

At an Olympics where we’ve been warned to expect a number of twists and turns – and always the possibility of a COVID calamity – we certainly got a dose ahead of Canada’s 6-1 victory over entertainers known as the name of Team Russian Olympic Committee.

The match was initially delayed because the Canadians were awaiting communication of Russian COVID test results, a must before any competition here.

But even with that, there was mystery – on the Canadian side, anyway.

Content of the article

No one from Hockey Canada, including coach Troy Ryan, would confirm that was the cause. Team general manager Gina Kingsbury was in the mixed zone after the game but refused to speak to the media, turning her back when asked.

“I don’t have that information,” Ryan said when asked what caused the delayed start. “Everything I was told, for health and safety reasons, that there would be a delay.”

Of course, all bets are off when we await clarification from the International Ice Hockey Federation, which was once again the case with this near-debacle. All official updates were belated and vague at best.

So it was chaos from start to finish, in other words. And if you can believe it, the Russians seemed to be the most reliable source of all information clearing up the mess.

Content of the article

Some members of the Russian contingent hinted that the forfeit was a possibility at some point between the scheduled 12:10 p.m. start and the actual puck drop at 1:15 a.m. Canadian officials would not acknowledge this account.

Eventually, the IOC, IIHF and officials from both teams agreed that the game would be played with all participants – including the four on-ice officials – wearing masks.

What Ryan admitted was that striker Emily Clark was taken out of play during warm-ups after her daily COVID test came back inconclusive. These are two separate pandemic-related issues in a game, for those who score at home.

As for the forfeit potential, the Russians clearly believed it was on the table at some point but wanted to avoid it at all costs.

Content of the article

“If it were like that, it would be really upsetting for us because we are athletes,” Russian Alexandra Vafina said through an interpreter. “We came here to play and that’s the most important thing for us.

“It doesn’t matter if we wear the mask or not, as long as we play.”

Russian coach Yevgeni Bobariko admitted that there had been a control error on his side, a fault of ignorance and not of deception. The Russians, he claimed, were unaware of an early test deadline for the start of local time at noon, which made it impossible to get the results reported by face-off. .

“We weren’t considering the possibility (of a withdrawal) because we respect every team we play against and Canada are no exception,” Bobariko said through an interpreter. “We were ready to play this game whenever they said – 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., midnight. We were going to play the game because the outcome has to be decided on the ice.

Content of the article

It was eventually played, including a third period in which the Russians dropped that mask after their test results came back with no issues.

“With limited information at the time, our team have reached an agreement with ROC to delay the start of today’s game. This delay has been extended to one hour after the original start time of 12:10 p.m. It was further agreed that, as a precaution, all players would wear masks for the game,” Hockey Canada said in a statement after the game.

“Prior to the third period, both teams received the necessary negative COVID-19 test results. Teams were given the option to remove their masks for the final period, but Canada’s players opted to finish the game wearing masks.

Content of the article

As high as the drama surrounding the start is, such developments should probably be expected of a pandemic Olympiad.

To their credit, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have been diligent in preparing their athletes to be ready to fire should the circumstances arise. No doubt caution dictated some of Monday’s precautions.

As for the eclipsed part of history – what happened when the ice was finally reached – the Canadians went 3-0 on the eve of the opener in what should be two clashes with the defending champions. Americans.

Ryan’s group have now beaten their opponents 29-3 in three games and showed collective power in doing so.

“I think they handled it very well,” Ryan said of Monday’s bizarre circumstances. “You could see them in the locker room as they prepared that this group loves being with each other.

Content of the article

“It’s water on the back of a duck for some of them. I don’t think it affected them much negatively.

Sarah Fillier, with her fifth goal of the tournament, and Sarah Nurse with her fourth, led the prolific Canadian offense which is occurring at an Olympic record pace.

And they did so with the inconvenience of wearing masks, although they did add some gear that they trained with on occasion before being shipped to China.

“I think we were ready not to play, to play in five minutes, to play in two hours,” Canadian forward Brianne Jenner said. “Everything was on the table. We are so used to taking the hits with this team. We were just keeping the light.

As for developments taking place in and around test labs, Jenner offered a vintage hockey player response.

“That’s a question for our medical team,” a deadpan Jenner said. “I’m just a right winger.