News of the… woeful

Hockey players of Russia team have departed from the ice immediately after losing the final match of World Cup 2015, which took place in Prague (the Czech Republic), not waiting for the Canadian anthem to be performed. To put it mildly, it is not a good sportsmanship. There were no instances in ice hockey of a losing team leaving in a hurry before the winner’s anthem had been played… that is, before this Russian etiquette breach. Having received their silver medals, the Russians did not bother to remain on the rink while their opponents were being awarded; neither did they stand by for the winner’s anthem   – and by this they had shown disrespect both to their opponents and to the entire ice hockey community. Only a handful of players, including forward Aleksandr Ovechkin, were asking their teammates not to go. In the World Cup final, Canada has crushed Russia with a score of 6:1.

The central Russian media either kept their silence on this matter, or engaged in some ridiculous excuses on the part of the players, like them supposedly being disoriented on not knowing what to do next. “It is a weird situation, I don’t know why this happened; one group of players started leaving, the other stayed,” said Dmitri Kulikov, Russian player. “Naturally, when the majority of our guys departed, the others followed them.” There were even absurd explanations in blaming the Canadians for deliberately opening a gate in the boards to force the Russians out.

Even as the official media were quiet, the blogosphere had voiced their opinions on this incident. And the opinions were radically different – just as the thoughts of Russians about the current events in     their country in general. As some with full seriousness wrote about the necessity of bringing… gunmen to the ice, the others admitted that they never had experienced so much shame for their country.

“Unprecedented misconduct of the Russian team had shocked everyone. Never before there had been such rudeness towards the opponents or the organizers at the World Cup closing ceremonies,” one blogger has written in “Drugoi’s magazine.”

Thousands of ironic or sarcastic comments and collages literally blew up the Internet these days; we offer The Day’s reader some witty remarks on this situation.

Variag @pyci4b

“After #RussiaCanada a criminal liability has been introduced in Russia for the public simultaneous mention of numbers 6 and 1.”

Koroleva #44 #72 @gaysmyweakness

“#RussiaCanada GUYS, GRAB THE CUP AND RUN. RUN AND DON’T LOOK BACK!”

IT Sector Kharkiv @itsector

“Putin: There are no Russian hockey players on the rink.”

Ayder Muzhdabaev

“NEWS OF THE WOEFUL. Russians departed the ice before the Canadian anthem.”

Valentyn MISHKOVSKY

“It’s the intrigues of the Americans, with the sanctions on the ice!”

Mikhail Roskin @Roskin_M

“The tolerant Vladimir Soloviev recommends. Should the gunmen shoot our guys or theirs?”

Larysa IVSHYNA

“Slaves – they do not play hockey!..”

Vladimir SOLOVIEV @VRSoloviev

“It’s time to bring gunmen on the ice.”

Anton Dolgikh @AntonDolgih

“23 players came on the ice – only THREE left for the Canadian anthem: Ovechkin, Malkin, Tikhonov. 87 percent of assholes vs. 13 percent normal people.”

Oleg PSHENICHNY

“In connection with the recent events, my Facebook friends have reminded me of a dramatic episode in the Soviet-Canadian hockey relationship.

In 1981 Soviet team has sensationally beaten the Canadians 8:1 in the Canada Cup final, shocking the entire Canadian hockey community – that is, the entire Canada. Alan Eagleson, NHL Players Association director, apparently, was so nervous that he literally forced the trophy back from the hands of Soviet players at the arena exit and said that the Cup belongs to Canada and may not leave the country.

“So, in response to this excess on the part of the bureaucrat, the fans had held a fundraising, produced the several thousand dollars worth exact replica of the Cup and brought it to the USSR!

“By the way, when during the same Canada Cup, Valery Kharlamov, a universal hockey idol and the leader of our hockey, was killed in an accident in Moscow, none of his friends were allowed to fly back to Moscow for his funeral. However, the farewell took place in Canada as well: all the TV channels showed excerpts of his matches, and our players were supported not only by their Canadian colleagues, but by common people as well – complete strangers approached them to express their condolences.

“When I took a glance on the Canadian fans’ tweets, I noticed no resentment or anger for this misconduct: rather a complete lack of comprehension of what had happened, as if they had just observed some mysterious gestures from some aliens. But all of them had notices Ovechkin’s efforts to prevent the embarrassment. Thus, in the end they decided that Russian players in the person of Ovechkin are great!”