Congrads to Sweden! You guys have a great team, great players, a great system and most of all you deserved the win. Go on and get your second gold!
As for team Russia..where to even start.
The system:
...or lack there of. Varnakov is an idiot. Plain and simple. The mark of stupidity is not not knowing how to do something but not learning from your mistakes, and that is Varnakov's problem. There was no direction, no organization and the coaching staff tried the same play over and over and over and over. They tried the same thing against every opponent in every situation regardless of what was going on in the game. This is not 1980, you can't just say, "We will bait their pitiful offense in our zone, counter quickly and let our superior talent and conditioning win the game".
Yakupov:
This is the future of Russian hockey? This is the next Ovechkin? A half speed, dumber than a bag of rocks Afinogenov? This guy should be on the 4th line cycling and grinding, not wasting offensive opportunity after offensive opportunity with his predictable puck hogging play. He was our worst forward. If this is the kind of player he is then I am fine with never seeing him in a Team Russia jersey ever again. I hope he proves me wrong but right now it looks like Edmonton wasted a draft pick.
The Good:
-Our goalies are heroes. Plain and simple. Real warriors with ice in their veins. Makarov and Vasilevsky are amazing talents. Def something to be happy about.
-Grigorenko is a very talented player with great vision. The game slows down for this guy. He will be a great player.
-Despite the terrible showing this year I think the team was very decent. I think many of the players did very well despite the terrible system Varnakov had. Other then Yakupov, I liked every other player's individual performances. I thought a lot of guys showed up and showed heart and ability.
All that said im still looking forward to playing Canada in the loser bowl for the bronze medal. Always exciting when our two teams meet.
