1998 Winter Olympic Games

Host City: Nagano, Japan
February 13-22, 1998
RESULT: SILVER

These Olympic Games marked the first time that the NHL took a break and allowed its stars to join their national teams to try and win gold. Canada and the United States were the obvious favourites going into the Games, considering Canada’s depth at every position and the Americans’ victory at the 1996 World Cup. From the 1994 Olympics to 1997, Russia’s hockey team never made it past the semifinals. For the Nagano Olympics, coach Vladimir Yurzinov compiled a roster of big defensemen and mostly small forwards, with unspectacular goaltenders. However, Russia went undefeated until the final, with Pavel Bure leading Russia’s charge and Mikhail Shtalenkov demonstrating the best goaltending of his career. Russia lost the gold medal by only one goal, scored by Petr Svoboda for the Czechs. However, the real hero of the final was goaltender Dominik Hasek, who shut out Russia to bring Czech Republic their biggest sporting victory ever.

Game 1: Russia 9 – Kazakhstan 2
Goals: Fedorov (Kovalenko), Yashin (Fedorov), Yashin (Kasparaitis), P. Bure (D. Mironov), P. Bure, Kovalenko, Titov (Kamensky, Morozov), Kovalenko (B. Mironov), Zelepukin (Morozov) – Sagymbaev (Pchelyakov), E. Koreshkov (Shafranov, A. Koreshkov)
Shots: Russia 31 – Kazakhstan 18
Saves: Shtalenkov 12, Trefilov 4 – Yeremeyev 13, Shimin 9
PIM: Russia 8 – Kazakhstan 6

Game 2: Russia 4 – Finland 3
Goals: P. Bure (Fedorov, Kamensky), Nemchinov (Gonchar, Kravchuk), Yashin (Fedorov, Zhitnik), Morozov (Zelepukin) – Koivu (Lehtinen, Selanne), Lehtinen (Koivu, Selanne), Lehtinen (Selanne)
Shots: Russia 28 – Finland 33
Saves: Trefilov 30 – Myllys 24
PIM: Russia 22 – Finland 29

Game 3: Russia 2 – Czech Republic 1
Goals: V. Bure (Kravchuk, Gonchar), Zhamnov – Reichel (Patera)
Shots: Russia 31 – Czech Republic 23
Saves: Shtalenkov 22 – Hasek 29
PIM: Russia 9 – Czech Republic 14

Quarterfinal: Russia 4 – Belarus 1
Goals: Kamensky (Yashin), Kovalenko (Fedorov, Yashin), P. Bure, Morozov (Zelepukin, Kasparaitis) – Erkovich (Khmyl, Roshchin)
Shots: Russia 35 – Belarus 26
Saves: Shtalenkov 25 – Mezin 31
PIM: Russia 14 – Belarus 10

Semifinal: Russia 7 – Finland 4
Goals: P. Bure (Zhamnov), P. Bure (D. Mironov), P. Bure, Zhamnov (Zhitnik), Kovalenko (Fedorov), P. Bure, P. Bure – Helminen (Lind), Rintanen (Kurri, Timonen), Selanne (Kurri, Koivu), Koivu (Selanne)
Shots: Russia 21 – Finland 31
Saves: Shtalenkov 27 – Myllys 14
PIM: Russia 12 – Finland 6

Final: Russia 0 – Czech Republic 1
Goals: Svoboda (Prochazka, Patera)
Shots: Russia 20 – Czech Republic 21
Saves: Shtalenkov 20 – Hasek 20
PIM: Russia 4 – Czech Republic 10

Roster:

Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
D Sergei Gonchar	6	0	2	2	2
D Alexei Gusarov	6	0	0	0	8
D Darius Kasparaitis	6	0	2	2	6
D Igor Kravchuk	6	0	2	2	2
D Boris Mironov	6	0	1	1	2
D Dmitry Mironov	6	0	2	2	0
D Dmitry Yushkevich	6	0	0	0	2
D Alexei Zhitnik	6	0	2	2	2
F Pavel Bure	6	9	0	9	2
F Valeri Bure	6	1	0	1	0
F Sergei Fedorov	6	1	5	6	8
F Valeri Kamensky	6	1	2	3	0
F Andrei Kovalenko	6	4	1	5	14
F Sergei Krivokrasov	6	0	0	0	4
F Alexei Morozov	6	2	2	4	0
F Sergei Nemchinov	6	1	0	1	0
F German Titov	6	1	0	1	6
F Alexei Yashin	6	3	3	6	0
F Valeri Zelepukin	6	1	2	3	0
F Alexei Zhamnov	6	1	2	3	2

Goaltender	GP	W	L	GAA	SO
G Oleg Shevtsov	0	0	0	0	0
G Mikhail Shtalenkov	5	4	1	1.95	0
G Andrei Trefilov	2	1	0	3.45	0

Photo Gallery:

Russia found ways to beat Hasek in the round-robin game, but not in the final

Gold medal final

Pavel and Valeri Bure with their silver medals

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