YT Files – Blog by Yuliya Talmazan Blogging about Russia

Russians Lose IIHF Title: Vancouver Olympics Nightmare Re-lived

So, it happened. Russia lost to Czech Republic 2-1 in the finals of the IIHF world championships in Germany.

But, is all lost? As in, will Russia lose again in Sochi in 2014? Because winning the hockey title seems to be the ultimate goal for the Russians in Sochi, part of the "if we lose hockey, doing well in any other sport does not really matter" mentality. Hockey is the king of winter sports in the minds of Russians, so losing in Sochi is technically not an option, but is it?

After the Olympics here in Vancouver, one of the Canadian reporters covering hockey during the winter games was complaining to me about the unwillingness of the Russian players to talk to the English-speaking media after the matches. He also told me one thing that really stuck in my mind -- he said Russian players have this "world against us" attitude. An attitude that they have now extended to include the Russian media after videos showing key Russian players smoking at a restaurant after the game with Kazakhstan popped up on the Internet, causing a massive outrage at home. After learning about the videos, the Russian team went on an organized "media strike" when the entire team shunned the reporters, leaving many important tactical questions answered in the midst of the tournament.

Ilya Kovalchuk devastated after loss. Photo credit: Martin Rose, Bongarts/Getty Images

But, if the team can "organize" themselves against Russian media in the wake of the allegations of discipline violations, they can "organize" themselves against anyone else, including coaches, staff, and management. One thing they sure could not organize themselves against today were the Czechs who wanted the victory ... badly. The last time that the Czechs won was in 2005, and the spark with which they played today was akin to the spark with which Ovechkin, Kovalcuk and others ended the 15-year title drought in the gold game victory over Canadians in 2008. That spark was not even remotely present in the game against the Czechs today.

So what is next? Well, fixing attitudes does not come easy. Hiring coaches that can make their players leave all the drama on the bench, concentrate on the game and convince them to be open and polite with media might be more attainable.

Meanwhile, Russia is ending a disastrous Olympic season with a silver IIHF world medal. Not too shabby if you really think about it.