Undefeated after seven games, and boasting an All-Star lineup of Evgeni Malkin [1], Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Semin, and Alexander Ovechkin [2], the Russian national team will face Norway in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 World Ice Hockey Championship, tomorrow on May 17.
The 2012 World Ice Hockey Championship [3] is being held in Stockholm and Helsinki. Both cities hosted tournaments during the preliminary round [4], where eight teams competed for the four slots advancing to the single-elimination quarterfinals. Helsinki's group consisted of: Belarus, Canada, Finland, France, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the U.S., while Stockholm's had: the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
Russia started the tournament on Saturday, May 5, with a 5-2 victory over Latvia, before going on to beat Norway 4-2 on Sunday, Germany 2-0 on Tuesday, and Denmark 3-1 on Thursday.
Russia's Emotional 7-3 Victory Over Sweden
Dmitry Mikhaylov announced [5] in his bilinguial blog how the Russian team came from behind to beat the host country on Friday, May 11.
STOCKHOLM – In a highly anticipated match-up, Russia and Sweden met tonight at the Globe Arena in an emotional battle of undefeated teams at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Down 3-1, Russia scored six unanswered goals to win 7-3.
In response to this highly emotional victory, both the mainstream and citizen media outlets of the Russian Internet devoted dramatically increased coverage to the tournament.
Bloggers Respond to Russia's 2-0 Victory Over the Czech Republic
Planet's Sporting World discussed [6] [ru] how, although Russia scored after only 24 seconds of play, the Czech Republic dominated much of the game, but could not capitalize. NHL Pittsburgh Penguins player Evgeni Malkin [1] scored for Russia in the third period, before he and two of his teammates — Pavel Datsyuk and Milan Mikhalek — were charged with minor penalties.
As is often the case when mainstream outlets build attention on an event, many Russian bloggers quoted their reportage, as a way of spreading popular analyses. Ruslan's News reposted [7] [ru] a quote from Evgeni Malkin, taken from a Vesti article [8]:
Тяжело всё выполнить. Но, конечно, здорово сыграли. И в обороне пять минут выстояли в третьем периоде. Это, наверное, дало всплеск эмоций, и после этого мы забили быстрый гол.
News Spreads of the Return of Alexander Ovechkin & Alexander Semin
Similarly, news of the return of Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin from the NHL, following the Washington Capitals’ 2-1 loss [9] to the New York Rangers, spread rapidly in both mainstream and citizen media outlets. (Evgeni Malkin's Pittsburgh Penguins [10] and Pavel Datsyuk's Detriot Red Wings [11] were eliminated even earlier, in the previous round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.)
Most bloggers framed the story as a homecoming for Ovechkin and Semin, while some Twitter users indicated their familiarity with mainstream journalism, such as Sport.rbc [12] and Lenta.ru [13].
Lisbeth Armel: [14]
Прочитала, что овечкин любит хип-хоп и r'n'b. представила. 5 минут сидела с фейспалмом.
Sanya Belovka: [16]
Овечкина и Семина Ждем с нетерпением….В россии….2-1 Вашингтон домои)!!!А Овечкин В ШВЕЦИЮ!!!!
Ilgiz Taipov: [17]
Приезд Овечкина и Семина по разному комментируют, кто то вспоминает его прошлогоднюю игру за сборную, и пишут типа зачем он нужен и т.п.. Надо уметь использовать потенциал этого игрока, а мы то знаем что он может играть, что потенциал у него огромный. Семин тоже хороший игрок, то что с Вашингтонгом Кэпиталз случилось это чисто тренерский просчет.