In Olympic debut, hockey team is highlight of Ukraine's effort (02/17/02)

In Olympic debut, hockey team is highlight of Ukraine's effort

by Andrew Nynka

PROVO, Utah - Since its 70-plus athletes entered the Olympic stadium in Salt Lake City to participate in Ukraine's third Winter Games as an independent state, its best results thus far have been in the sport in which Ukraine this year made its Olympic debut: ice hockey.

With two wins and one loss in Group B of the hockey competition's preliminary round, Ukraine's record was equal to that of the Belarusian team that emerged atop the group that also included Switzerland and France.

In the end, the deciding match-up was Team Ukraine's first game, played against Belarus on February 9. Ukraine lost to Belarus 1-0.

In that game goalie Sergei Shabanov of Belarus stopped 17 shots, and Oleg Mikulchik scored during a two-man advantage with 12:11 left to play in the third period. Ukraine's netminder Kostiantyn Simchuk stopped 29 of 30 shots on goal. The result - a one-goal difference - turned out to be the key factor in Belarus' advancement to the next round and Ukraine's relegation to play for ninth place against Latvia.

Ukraine won its next two games against Switzerland and France to tie Belarus with four points at the conclusion of Group B preliminary round competition, which is played in a round robin. Belarus won its game against France (3-1), but lost to Switzerland (2-1). Thus, Belarus' victory over Ukraine allowed the Belarusians to move on to play the Russian Federation in the next round.

Belarus' Shabanov won the tense duel with Ukrainian goalie Simchuk, a veteran of four North American minor leagues. Shabanov made several outstanding saves in the third period as both teams' offenses emerged from two dull periods for an outstanding series of scoring chances in the third, while Simchuk kept the Ukrainian side in the game with several acrobatic stops in the first.

The Belarusians came out strong in the first period as the Ukrainians seemed flat and on their heels in front of the crowd of 6,306. However, Ukraine may have been taking a decidedly more defensive approach, admitted head coach Anatolii Bohdanov, pointing to several international competitions between the two teams in which Ukraine had tried to outscore the Belarusian side but was severely outplayed.

This time, however, Ukraine's players took several bad penalties, putting themselves in two five-on-three situations that ultimately cost them not only the game against Belarus, but also their shot at play in the next tier of competition.

Mikulchik, who played 37 NHL games for Winnipeg and Anaheim from 1993 to 1996, broke the scoreless tie during the only effective power play offered by either team. Sergei Stas made a pass from behind the goal line to Mikulchik, who fired a wrist shot over Simchuk's glove into the top corner of the net.

Coach Bohdanov commented after the game: "The Belarusian side smothered us in the first period and did not allow us to use our speed," and "there were several times where we were short-handed and this hurt us."

The teams' most recognizable NHL players weren't with their respective sides for that first match. Anaheim Mighty Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei didn't join Belarus until February 11, while the Washington Capitals' Dmitri Khristich missed Ukraine's first two matches and played only on February 13 against France. Ruslan Fedotenko of the Philadelphia Flyers and Sergei Varlamov of the St. Louis Blues played in Ukraine's match against Switzerland.

Ukraine vs. Switzerland

Team Ukraine scored a 5-2 upset of Switzerland on February 11 in front of 8,387 spectators, with Valentyn Oletskyi scoring two of Ukraine's goals.

Looking completely changed from the undisciplined team that had been shut out by Belarus in its first game, Ukraine relentlessly hit and attacked in a victory that also eliminated the Swiss, the pre-tournament favorites in Group B.

In perhaps the most physical game of the tournament, Ukraine and Switzerland played tight-checking, bad-tempered hockey, with several minor skirmishes and even a first-period fight with punches thrown - a rarity in international play.

Ukraine got a boost with the addition of two NHL players - St. Louis' Varlamov and Philadelphia's Fedotenko, who played through a sprained knee he suffered Saturday night but nonetheless managed to score Ukraine's second goal of the game at the 14:20 mark of the first period.

Varlamov, speaking at a press conference following the game, said: "The team talked about the physical aspect of the Belarusian game. We knew we needed to hit more. I mentioned it to the guys on my line, and we knew that if we'd come out strong and physical that they'd start missing checks."

Switzerland had been thought most likely to advance from the weaker of the two groups because of its commitment to team play, but the Swiss, who had tied France 3-3 in their first game, simply couldn't match Ukraine's physical play.

Oletskyi got the lead for Ukraine just 2:08 into the game on a short-handed goal when he put his own rebound past Colorado Avalanche back-up goalie David Aebischer, who posted his second straight dismal game.

Varlamov and Fedotenko skated together with Toronto minor leaguer Alex Ponikarovsky, a six-foot-one-inch, 196-pound heavyweight, on an active line. It was Ponikarovsky's pass to Fedotenko late in the first period that set up the 23-year-old Ukrainian-turned Philadelphian for Team Ukraine's second goal.

Sandy Jeannin, scored Switzerland's first goal at even strength 16:02 into the first period. He later commented that "Ukraine played very physically and put us under pressure - this gave us problems."

Swiss goaltender Aebischer was pulled early in the second period after he lost sight of the puck and never saw Varlamov's weak backhand as it slid slowly over the line for Ukraine's third goal. Martin Gerber, who plays for the Swedish club Farjestad BK, replaced Aebischer, who allowed six goals on 31 shots in slightly more than four periods of action in two successive games.

Switzerland pulled to 3-2 midway through the second period when Ivo Ruthemann scored on a power play, but Vadym Shakhraichuk and Oletskyi padded Ukraine's lead to the final score of 5-2. Shots on goal in the game were almost even, with 26 for Ukraine and 29 for Switzerland.

Ukraine vs. France

Continuing its physical play, Ukraine jumped out to a 2-0 lead over France on February 13 in front of a 6,019-strong crowd, capitalizing on power-play opportunities, and held on for a 4-2 win.

The game started somewhat tentatively, with only one shot taken in the first five minutes, and the opening goal came at the 12:00 minute mark by Ukraine's Ihor Chybirev, with assists posted by Roman Salnikov and Valerii Shyriayev during a power play.

Salnikov added his second assist on a power-play goal by Washington Capital Khristich at 18:36 of the first. Khristich said before the game that, even though Ukraine was already out of the medals race, he had decided to play that night because he's never played in the Olympics and was proud to represent his country.

Team France turned up the heat at the start of the second period, during which it outshot Ukraine 12-6 in the first 10 minutes and scored both of its even-strength goals.

Four-time Olympian Philippe Bozon scored an unassisted goal at 2:42 of the second period. Ukraine answered almost immediately, however, as Shakhraichuk found the net at 3:39 with Andrii Sriubko and Bohdan Savenko adding the assists.

However, Ukraine managed to keep pace, scoring its third power-play goal of the night at 4:38 of the second period, when a shot from Salnikov was deflected into the net by Ponikarovsky, with the other assist credited to Shyriayev.

A veteran of five professional leagues including the NHL, Bozon scored his second goal as he beat two defenders to gain a breakaway and shot at 5:59 of the second to keep France seemingly within reach of victory as it trailed Ukraine 4-2.

That turned out to be the end of the game, however, as France outshot Ukraine 10-5 in the third period but was unable to get anything more past the superb play of goaltender Simchuk, who tallied 29 saves for the game. Shots on goal were 32 for Ukraine and 31 for France.

France had a huge advantage with a total of 12 power play minutes, compared to Ukraine's 5:57, but was unable to make them pay off. Ukraine, however, capitalized on its chances, scoring three power-play goals, with Salnikov providing the assists on all of them.

A final game

Ukraine was to determine its final standing in its first Olympic hockey competition by meeting Latvia at 8 p.m. on February 14 to decide the ninth and 10th places.

Group B's Belarus and Group A's Germany will join Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland and Sweden in the final round, which was to begin February 15.

Commenting on his team's failure to make it to the next round of Olympic hockey competition, Khristich said:

"Obviously, everyone on the team is disappointed about the situation and that the guys from the NHL couldn't help the team. But they knew that was what was going to happen [that the NHL players wouldn't be able to make all of the preliminary games]. And they lost the game and everyone wasn't happy about it.

"In the last game against Switzerland with the guys from the NHL it gave the guys a better feeling about themselves and it showed in the end result. And the same thing happened in this game [against France]."

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