Several countries in this Olympic tournament, including Kazakhstan, are putting a scare into their favored opponents.

Beware of the little
clubs, they sting
By Rich Libero | NHL.com
Feb. 18, 2006

TORINO, Italy - Anyone seeking consistency in this Olympic hockey tournament will quickly discover one thing: it's elusive.

Just when you figured Russia would blow out tiny Kazakhstan, you get a 1-0 thriller that featured great chances, heavy hitting and lots of saves. The Russians out-shot their former Soviet cousins, 49-24, but could only beat former New York Rangers farmhand Vitaly Yeremeyev once.

Russian goaltender Evgeni Nabokov earned his second shutout in as many starts. He's now gone 120 Olympic minutes without allowing a goal after blanking a powerful Swedeish side in Russia's opener.

When pressed for answers as to why this tournament is so close Nabokov quipped: "Don't you guys like that?"

Indeed, the parity has made for some intriguing games, but prognosticators in the media are getting frustrated that so many of their predictions are turning out to be off.

Kazakhstan's performance was excellent, but not strong enough to pull off the upset.

"I thought it was a good game," Maple Leafs forward Nik Antropov said. "Like I said a few days ago, we once again had too many penalties. That's the unfortunate for us. We lost the game and there's nothing we can do about it. We have two games and no points. We definitely have to win our next two games against Slovakia and Latvia. They are really tough teams."

"We have to be ready, Latvia (Russia's next opponent) is a good team," Nabokov said. "We can't play the way we played today."

Latvia forged a tie against the Americans in their opener and Switzerland stunned the Czechs Thursday for the first true upset of the tournament. Games that figure to be blowouts are turning out quite a bit different.

The usual suspects -- the Americans, Canadians, Czechs, Finns, Russians, Slovaks and Swedes -- are as strong as ever, but some of the smaller countries such as Latvia, Germany, Switzerland and Kazakhstan are getting strong enough to make life difficult.

The marked improvement can be credited to the fact that some of the European leagues are getting stronger, particularly in Russia, where free-flowing cash is making that league more attractive to players.

Yeremeyev is a prime example. The Rangers selected him in the ninth round of the 1994 Entry Draft. During his first pro season in North America, he split time between the Rangers farm clubs in Charlotte (ECHL) and Hartford (AHL). In 36 games for Hartford he sported a 2.97 GAA and .903 save percentage while going 16-15-3. The Rangers gave him a four-game tryout during the 2000-01 campaign where he went 0-4-0 with a 4.53 GAA and .846 save percentage. New York dispatched him to Charlotte for the start of the 2002-03 season. Many teams will send the No. 5 goaltender in their organization to the ECHL because it's better for them to receive the bulk of playing time in that league instead of sitting behind their No. 4 prospect in the AHL.

Yeremeyev wasn't happy with sitting two levels below the NHL.

Former New York Rangers farmhand Vitaly Yeremeyev stopped 48 Russia shots in the loss.

"They sent me back to their second farm club and I didn't like staying there," Yeremeyev said.

So he headed back to Russia where he performed well for Moscow Dynamo during the 2003-04 season recording a 1.89 GAA and .918 save percentage.

The combination of playing experience and the strengthening of some of the European domestic leagues has given many of the international teams more choices, quality and familiarity.

"Hockey is so even," Russian defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "We play Italy and Switzerland and it's going to be tough. They all can skate and play hockey."

And then you have all the former Soviet Republics such as Latvia and Kazakhstan in this tournament and others in Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and Estonia.

"The former Soviet Republic teams are going to come out and play physical because everyone wants to beat the Russians," Kasparaitis said.

"We were preparing very seriously for this game and we tried our best to give them a good fight," Yeremeyev said. "We wanted to save our best game against Russia."

In the end, Kasparaitis thinks that discipline and patience will be the key to finding form in this wacky tournament.

"Everybody is struggling a little bit," Kasparaitis said. "The team that gets a hot goaltender and plays defense if going to win."

And, the team that keeps its head.

"The ice is too big to run around," Kasparaitis said. "You run around and try to hit somebody and by the time you get back to the net, it's going to be the second period."