By Steve Keating
BEIJING (Reuters) -The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) opened the defence of their men’s Olympic ice hockey title with a tight 1-0 win over Switzerland on Wednesday that hinted at how unpredictable the competition could be without National Hockey League players.
Before North America’s NHL pulled out of the Beijing Games due to a COVID-19 surge that created havoc with its schedule, there had been clear medal favourites with Canada and the United States at the top of the list.
Play got underway at the National Indoor Stadium on Wednesday with the ROC rated slight favourites but with uncertainty hanging over a wide open tournament.
Eighth-ranked Switzerland gave the Olympic champions a real fright.
“Their goal was extremely lucky,” Swiss defenceman Yannick Weber told reporters. “We realized there was a chance for us to win this game.
“We kind of got a rhythm going … in the second I thought we were the better team and in the third we kept pressing but unfortunately it just wouldn’t go in.”
The Swiss out-shot the ROC 33-30 but could not put a puck past netminder Ivan Fedotov, and Anton Slepyshev’s goal with 2.7 seconds left in the opening period was enough to secure victory.
“We understood it would be a hard game,” said Fedotov. “After today we will be stronger, better and we keep going our way.”
NHLers also missed the 2018 Pyeongchang Games when owners decided not to shut down for an Olympic break, leaving that competition also wide open.
Germany arrived in South Korea as rank outsiders, won just a single game in group play then knocked out traditional power Sweden in the quarter-finals and Canada in the semi-finals.
They narrowly missed skating home with gold after losing to the ROC in overtime in the final.
The competition should be just as fickle in Beijing with even 32nd-ranked China believing that with NHL players back in North America they are in with a chance.
“You show up at the Olympics, you want to win a gold medal,” said China’s Canadian born forward Brandon Yip, who goes by Ye Jinguang on the team roster. “I think we are going to turn some heads.”
China open play on Thursday against the U.S.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Beijing, additional reporting by Amy Tennery;Editing by Ed Osmond and Andrew Cawthorne)
