08.03 Under Putin’s Gaze, Russia Starts Paralympic Hockey With Defeat

SOCHI, March 8 (R-Sport) – Russia started the Sochi Paralympic sledge hockey tournament with a 3-2 shootout defeat to South Korea in the preliminary round as President Vladimir Putin looked on.

The opening loss for host nation Russia against 2018 Paralympic host South Korea continues a run of bad luck for Putin, a keen hockey fan, who has so far witnessed one Russian win and three defeats in the hockey tournaments at his home Olympics and Paralympics.

Russia led 2-0 early in the second period as Vasily Varlakov scored one goal and assisted Evgeny Petrov for the second, but the Koreans soon fought back.

Han Min-Su, 42, made it a one-goal game with a vicious slapshot before Cho Byeong-Seok tied up the game with a moment of individual skill, dekeing into the Russian crease before beating goaltender Mikhail Ivanov.

The shootout went to five rounds before Han beat Ivanov to secure the win for South Korea.

In the other game in Group B, youth was the key to victory for the U.S., which beat Italy 5-1 on two goals from 15-year-old Brody Roybal and a 1+1 game from 16-year-old Declan Farmer.

“Man, I was so excited,” Roybal said. “It was an amazing feeling to have my first goal here on the Paralympic stage.”

In Group A, Canada smashed Sweden 10-1 on a masterclass from Kevin Rempel, who finished with one goal and four assists, while Adam Dixon and Anthony Gale went 2+2.

Medal contender Norway narrowly avoided an embarrassing slip against outsider the Czech Republic, taking a 2-1 shootout win in the first game of the day at the Shayba arena in the Olympic Park.