IIHF WC: Quarterfinals Day 2 Open Thread
by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 8:01 AM EDT
in IIHF World Championship
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Yesterday, the favourites prevailed, with the Czech Republic and Sweden winning their quarterfinals convincingly. They'll meet in the semifinals on Friday at 4:15 PM Bratislava time. I guess I should've went with no upsets... Sweden is now into their 11th straight World Championship semifinal, which is incredible. More on that matchup tomorrow, we've got some more pressing games to cover:
Finland 
vs. Norway 
- 4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST
This on paper looks like the biggest mismatch of all the quarterfinals, but Norway has surprised a lot of nations with their very structured style. Norway's game revolves around playing a short bench, as team captain Ole-Kristian Tollefson has played over 30 minutes a game so far, and really only ten forwards and four defensemen play significant minutes. So if this is your first chance to see Norway, well, you'll get used to a few names in a hurry, like Anders Bastiansen, Morten Ask, Marius Holtet, and of course, Mathis Olimb and Jonas Holos. Finland will have to avoid taking too many penalties, because Norway's power play has been very impressive to date. Finland has also been using all-world centre Mikko Koivu pretty much as much as possible, while getting good offensive production out of Tuomo Ruutu, Janne Pensonen, Jarkko Immonen and budding star Mikael Granlund. Suomi's Leijonat have missed the semifinals the past two years, and this is as good of a chance to get back into a medal game as they're likely going to get. Expect them to not let it slip away.
Canada 
vs. Russia 
- 8:15PM local, 2:15 PM EST
Hmm... Canada, Russia... Anyone got anything here? Have they played each other before?
Uh, yeah. Its what Canadian fans and Russian fans live for in international competition. Even with the emergence of other powers, who at times take the spotlight for their own (Czech Republic, Sweden, United States), the largest and most traditional hockey rivalry of them all involves the world's two largest nations. At the World Championships, its not quite at the level of the World Juniors, and definitely not at the Olympics, but these are always grudge matches, and the winner will get to rub it in the loser's face until the next time. Russian forward Vladimir Tarasenko was involved in the most recent epic clash between the countries, the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championship final, courageously returning from what seemed like a significant injury to help lead a comeback for the ages in front of a large pro-Canadian crowd in Buffalo. He'll be playing a support role here, taking backstage to Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov. The Russians haven't played their best game yet at this tournament, a fact that is worrying to Canadian fans. Ken Hitchcock will be looking to exploit weaknesses in the Russian game, but he'll need more out of the likes of Matt Duchene and Travis Zajac than he's gotten so far. Canada's leaders are Rick Nash, Jason Spezza, and James Neal, and then the dropoff is to the U21 power play specialists known as John Tavares, Jeff Skinner and Jordan Eberle. The goaltending matchup is Konstantin Barulin vs. Jonathan Bernier, which certainly is interesting if lacking the epic goaltending duels that have often defined this rivalry.
My picks for today are Finland and Canada moving on, but in Canada/Russia in a one game knockoff... yeah, anything can and likely will happen. Join the discussion in the comments throughout the day's games. They should be on TSN and Versus in North America, and they'll be on somewhere wherever you happen to be in Europe.
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GO CANADA
Today we need a big game from Bernier, not to mention Spezza and Nash.
Were gona have to be good defensivly cause we all know the Russians have fire power.
CHANGES IN WORLDS STRUCTURE
link.
More years to climb on the Top.
So confusing, seems just to save face. In the women’s categories, they call them like they are: Division 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In the men’s, it’s Division 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3. Same structure, but apparently the men are more sensitive about these things. :)
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions
Very confused by the IIHF’s numbers on there. They’re claiming they give up close to $400m USD to host non-elite level tournaments. That raises questions about how much revenue they generate at the top level.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions
That last PP for Norway was exactly why Finland shouldn’t be taking penalties.
Finland was dominating the period in terms of possession, than had a lapse under some rare Norwegian pressure and took a penalty. Shots went from 14-5 Finland to 14-14 in three minutes. Score is still tied at 0.
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Next shift, Norway keeps up the pressure and Lepisto takes a penalty.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions
0-0 FIN/NOR after 1
Period over. 1:16 left of PP time for Norway to start 2nd.
This game changed in a hurry, but still no goals.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Heia Norge (Go Norway!!)
Keep the pressure up on the PP and get a goal next please..
Norway penalty shot! Oh boy.
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1-0 NOR
Ken Andre Olimb on the penalty shot. WOW.
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1:0 NOR
K.A. Olimb getting the crowd pumped up!
Missed the penalty call… saw the goal, though.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
And Ruutu makes him pay. 2-1 Finland
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Good PP for Norway. Really like their movement on it. Always seem to have 3 players up high, and therefore are willing to skate in with the puck a bit to find an angle they like.
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Dumb penalty there by Bastiansen. On first look I thought it was on Ruutu, but definitely was not.
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3:1 FIN
Talk about falling for the set play. Again.
3-1 FIN
Wow. That was quick. Nearly identical to the first goal. Immonen with his second.
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Did Lepisto get cut there by the skate?
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That was a pretty goal by Lajunen.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
4-1 after 2
Special teams play heavily favours Finland. Didn’t predict that.
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Great perspective tweet on Norway’s final placement if they don’t win (fifth!). Regardless of result today, this tournament result can only mean good things about the Norwegian program.
I think Norway was the 3rd highest scoring team in the tournament… they’re going to need a lot of that right now! There was a neat article on iihf.com about how there are almost never any upsets in the quarters at the WHC. Pointing out the 2004 Czech loss as the biggest one (we’re very proud to have such a distinction) and then not much else unless you count Germany beating Switzerland last year.
If the score holds up the final 4 will be sensational with all having a very good chance of winning gold… both gold and bronze games on Sunday should be great.
BTW, Frolov just signed with Avangard Omsk for 3 years. Not surprised by the fact he’s going to the KHL, surprised by the term, though.
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And Slovakian WJC star Richard Panik signed with Tampa today as well.
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Another talented Russian gone.. it really is a shame. I wonder if that is the signal for Jagr to leave as the doesn’t have a contract yet. Seems like there is always a lot of speculation this time of year.
Awesome news for Panik! Happy to see a Slovak making the jump to the big leagues… hope he does well and he’s going to a great organization… they’d be better if they could sort out all their lousy contracts though!
The one thing a strong KHL is doing is making it tough to justify further NHL expansion. For the most part, the good Russian and Czech players are being replaced admirably by the increase in strength amongst North Americans. Sucks for NHL diversity, but at least everyone is finding a place to play high level hockey. It’d be higher once the KHL gets out of some of its weaker markets… the Euro expansion push should eliminate some of those.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions
There’s a lot of conflict with the national federations involved in the Swedish proposal.
KHL is already targeting Germany, but haven’t targeted a major German hockey market yet (Liepzig has no DEL team). Whoever can get the bigger markets (Berlin, Bern, etc.) would have more success.
I think there is more logic in having a second league. The IIHF dropped the ball on the Champions League and now its up to the clubs to proceed from there.
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Interesting…. apparently at the Lev Poprad announcement Medvedev completely killed the Liepzig rumours. There will be no Liepzig KHL team, they don’t meet any of the 3 conditions to hold a team (infrastructure, budget, competitive team to build from).
Milan will be announced next week. No word on Kiev yet.
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I really hope that Kyiv gets their arena developments together. A KHL team there would help Ukrainian hockey develop in the same way that we’re seeing positive developments out of Latvia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
Shame about Leipzig (not Liepzig!), but, then again, the German program seems to be doing just fine on its own. Strong showings at the IHWC will certainly help them generate even more interest in the sport.
I’’ve given up on ie vs. ei names. I seem to get them all wrong. lol
DEL gets better every year. Ukraine, Italy, Slovakia, etc. just aren’t getting any better. Something new needs to be done in those countries, maybe the KHL can help.
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Dynamo Kyiv actually used to be my favourite soccer club about a decade ago. Back when they had players like Andriy Shevchenko, Serhiy Rebrov, Vladyslav Vaschyuk, Alexander Holovko, Andriy Husin, Kakha Kaladze, Valeriy Kozovskiy, Yuriy Dmytrulin and Valentin Bialkevich.
All of those players were so much fun to watch. I still remember when they beat Real Madrid in the quarters in the 1998 Champions League. They narrowly lost to Bayern Munich in the semis on a goal by Mario Basler. A year or two the entire team was more or less scattered to the winds with at least of them sold off to larger European clubs like AC Milan, which took on Shevchenko and Kaladze.
A lot of them continued to play on relative anonymity but I still consider Dmytrulin-Holovko-Vaschyuk-Kaladze to be one of the best defensive lines in Europe. Vaschyuk was a a beast. At one point he was the top scorer in the Champions League despite being a centre defenseman. Holovko was calm extremely sound defensively and Kaladze and Dmytrulin were fast offensively gifted wingers.
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
3rd period here has been kind of dull. Tough hit on Pesonen there, but that’s about it.
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4-1 Finland wins
Its a final. Norway still kept trying to the end, pulled their goalie even though they were down by 3. Gotta admire that.
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World Ranking going into 2012, by my count
This is after discounting every result by 25%, so it’s not the official world ranking at the end of the tournament. It’s more like the race to the Olympics. Anyhoo:
6) USA 2045
7) SUI 1990
8) GER 1985
9) NOR 1960
10) SVK 1940
11) BEL 1845
12) DEN 1830
13) LAT 1825
14) FRA 1700
15) KAZ 1605
16) ITA 1600
Norway and Germany could still pick up an additional 15 points if Canada defeats Russia.
Jens! doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
by dees ees en drama on May 12, 2011 12:41 PM EDT reply actions
Lamens terms: If Russia wins, Slovakia would have to beat Norway by just one spot in 2012 Worlds to gain Olympic qualification. If Canada wins, Slovakia would have to beat them by two spots.
A bad result in 2012 (like playing in relegation round) would put the Swiss and Germans in jeopardy of losing spot, but would require both Norway and Slovakia to pass them, so not likely.
Almost impossible for Belarus, Denmark or Latvia to make up that kind of ground.
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by Bruce Peter on May 12, 2011 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Word is Russia is going to host the 2016 Worlds. Too bad, the Denmark bid sounded great.
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Why I didn’t like the Russian bid: they already have huge investments in Sochi and for the World Cup (football). Hockey Worlds will just be the ‘opening act’ to the football World Cup in 2016.
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KHL needs at least 2 new arenas in Moscow(Spartak, CSKA). One normal but not so good is arena on bid – Megasport. 2016 real terms for construction one modern (10000 seats or more) arena for sure like did in Minsk.
KHL has an awkward situation in Moscow. They have traditional teams but a new league, and the arena demands are unique. Maybe the teams will have to share arenas.
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Canada-Russia 0-0
Canada-Russia 0-0 after the first period. Canada carried the play in the first 10 minutes or so but then took a too many men penalty and the Russians gained some momentum.Their passing plays split open the Canadian defense a few times. Bernier has been making key saves.
Great game so far.
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
Canada really dominated early, but Russia had a good pushback. Getting chances in the slot is very tough. Canada has been in great defensive position.
Very physical game so far, but very clean.
Russia will keep playing patient, and hope for Canada to get frustrated and take some penalties when they inevitably have a couple of bad shifts in a row.
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Why the heck did Radulov not try a wraparound there?
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1-0 CAN
Spezza cherrypicks, gets a breakaway and beats Barulin. Nice pass by Pietrangelo.
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Denmark to get 2017 Worlds
Apparently a deal was struck. Russia gets 2016 Worlds, Denmark 2017.
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Artyukhin’s first Canadian victim is Andrew Ladd. Hit him hard on the boards, Ladd’s visor cut his nose, was also grabbing his wrist.
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Jeff Skinner draws a slashing penalty with some great puck protection. Kalinin goes off.
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Stick got up on Kovalchuk in the post-whistle scrum.
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And Tavares gets 4 minutes for it.
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Marc Methot gets a puck in the face. Russia scores, but play was blown dead.
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Canada is just not giving Russia many good looks at the net.
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Sloppy penalty by Afinogenov
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
1-0 CAN after 2
I’d say Canada will play tighter defensively to protect the lead, but that’d probably be impossible.
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In or not? Boy, that’s close.
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They don’t explain like in the NHL, but I assume if they did they’d simply say no conclusive proof and call on the ice stands.
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No conclusive proof was my impression as well
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
Wow. That was a hell of a goal by Kaigodorov
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
1-1
Alexei Kaigrodov. Both goals so far on breakaways, this one shorthanded.
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2-1 RUS
Kovalchuk picks a hell of a time to get his first.
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2:1 RUS
More atrocious defending from Canada. And what the hell is that thing on Kovalchuk’s top lip?
Not looking good for Canada to tie it up here.
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2-1 Russia Final
After a terrible first, Russia came back.
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Was I the only one that thought Burns really fucked up that last shot with 4 seconds left.. he completely missed the net and cleared the zone… he really did the Russians a favour there. I can’t believe Russia pulled off another 3rd period come back against Canada. I predicted it but was really routing for Canada as they have a sensational team.
Yep
Jens! doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
by dees ees en drama on May 12, 2011 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
That was a great game. . Great goals. Great goa-tending. Great physical play but nothing dirty. The durability of the boards really got tested. Evgeni Artyukhin continues to be a one-man wrecking crew at this tournament.
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
Russia retains #1 spot in the world for now. Would have lost it if they lost. If they win one more game, they’ll keep the #1 spot.
Canada likely to drop to 3rd, though there’s one scenario which will put them in 4th (Finland beats Czechs in final). Whoever wins the Czech/Sweden game will pass Canada. That winner could only become the World #1 if Russia finishes 4th and they beat Finland for the gold.
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The rankings are not that important IMO… the top 6 are all evenly matched up and there are no upsets among them. If Finland beats Canada or the Czechs beat the Russians it is an underdog victory but not a massive upset.
I think Canada’s discipline did them in and I’m picking the Finns to beat Russia tomorrow based on better team discipline. The Sweden Czech game will be ridiculously close but I’ll pick the Czechs for no other reason that I am a very biased fan of the team!
Top five, maybe
Unless the NHL players are all playing, USA really doesn’t stack up. Which oddly makes it a small disadvantage to be in Pool A as the 1 seed.
Jens! doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
by dees ees en drama on May 13, 2011 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions
Red Machine
Congratulations Red Machine, the most feared team yesterday, today and forever!
The international size ice rink provides spectacle and skills,
instead of brawl, concussions and physical strength!
As most of the time, Russia has overcome the canadian arrogance!
Russian unrivaled technical (Soviet legacy) defeated the Canadian petulance!
When the Canadians will admit that they only feel comfortable playing in
North America and the small ice surface?
A great victory on the 65th Anniversary (1946-2011)
of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia!
As always, 35 million broken hearts,
35 million nightmares and
35 billion lame excuses!
They are accustomed!
Since 1954, the Canadians try to distort the history!
But the numbers and achievements do not lie!
The greatest team of all time was and will be the Soviet Union/Russia!
T
he Greatest Hockey Machine in the History of the World!
Soviet Union dominated the world of hockey for almost 40 years!
Any game involving “The Big Six Nations” is sensational!
International Hockey is awesome!
Soviet/Russian Hockey Legacy
Russia Roster – 2011 IIHF World Championship:
24 Players –
18 from KHL &
6 from NHL
Salavat Yulaev Ufa – KHL Gagarian Cup Champion 2010-11
2010 Budget/Revenue $ 66 million
Tampa Bay Lightning 76
San Jose Sharks 88
Boston Bruins 110
Vancouver Canucks 119
Detroit Red Wings 119
Super Series (1975-1991)
18 Series – Soviet teams 14 wins,
2 ties and 2 NHL wins
USSR Team vs. Canada Team
GP W-L-T
139 95-32-12
IIHF Centennial All-Star Team
Four Soviet Players and only
one player from Canada
Russia terrifies! Canadian embarrassment!
Countdown to another canadian disappointment:
One – Canada 4 vs. 1 Belarus
Two – Canada 9 vs. 1 France
Three – Canada 4 vs. 3 Switzerland (OT)
Four – Canada 4 vs. 3 USA (SO)
Five – Canada 3 vs. 2 Norway
Six – Canada 3 vs. 2 Sweden
Seven Exploded again – Canada 1 vs. 2 Russia
You win one quarter final and ...
Your 3 posts are classic! You do realize your Canadian ‘embarassment’ shows they only lost 1 game the whole tourney, right? I’m not even cheering for Canada and found this a bit overbearing. Coincidentally, since pro’s have been in the Olympics (16 years now)… how many golds does Russia have? How many medals? Look it up…
Also, just for fun… in the last 15 years… here are your Gold Medal Winners at the World Championships:
Czech Republic 6 (of 15)
Canada 4 (of 15)
Russia 2 (of 15)
Sweden 2 (of 15)
Slovakia 1 (of 15)
Dominant my ass.lol But you guys are doing better than Slovakia and Finland (who actually won it 16 years ago). But I suppose if you don’t include the last 4 Olympics or 15 World Championships you really got something :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IIHF_World_Championship_medalists
neat stat out of that...
Czechoslovakia has competed since 1920 and won 6 Gold Medals… the Czech Republic has competed since 1993 and also won 6 Gold Medals.
Olympic medalists in that time span:
Canada 2 golds
Czechs 1 gold 1 bronze
Sweden 1 gold
USA 2 silvers
Finland 1 silver 2 bronze
Russia 1 silver 1 bronze
Jens! doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
by dees ees en drama on May 13, 2011 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s not very fair to compare this period of time because political and social situation in Russia at this period. Do you really think that USSR national team would have been so poor in “pro era”?
an anekdot about ussr
In Sweden there is a TV-show called Master of Masters. Ten former champions in their sports compete against eachother in various events. Stamina, tactics and teamwork is a few of them. This year one of the masters was Peter “Pekka” Lindmark, Goalie in Team Sweden during the 80´s. IIHF WCgoldwinner 1987. The show has a part when every one tells a bit about their time as active, “Pekka” spoke about USSR and how when he played his first games in Team Sweden. -At that time, as a golie, you told yourself, I wont let in more then ten goals.
Didn’t the Czechs go through something very similar in the same time period?
Transition from Communism to Democracy
Separation from Slovakia (population cut into 2/3rds)
Even with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were still considerable more stable countries than the USSR or the Russian Federation. For one, they did not have an attempted military coup led by the KGB.
"In the depths of winter, I learned there was in me an invincible summer" ~Albert Camus
I still think my point stands… some guy, not Mihal, pointed out how Russia has just dominated for the last 40 years… it was a stupid statement! I just pointed out the last 15 to make a point. And, to be honest, I like all the international teams. I have nothing against the Russians at all. But if you’re going to make a comment about ‘40 years of dominance’ I will reply!lol
Since 1993?
If that`s the timespan you looking at I´ll have to correct you. Sweden has 2 Gold. 1994 and 2006.
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