Andrey SenchenkoSport correspondentAll materialsEmail to the authorAfter two inexpressive matches, but successful in terms of the result, the Russian team completed the group round of the Olympic hockey tournament in Beijing with a spectacular defeat from the Czechs in overtime. Seven points for the team of Alexei Zhamnov was enough for a direct exit to the quarterfinals, where the Russians met with Denmark. With the Danes, the best, according to the coaching staff, Russian hockey players who were able to arrive in Beijing, have already met just in the group, and that meeting ended in a “dry” victory — 2:0. Compared to that match, significant changes took place in both teams. For example, Denmark lost one of its best scorers, Niklas Jensen. The forward was injured in the qualifying game with Latvia (3:2). The injury turned out to be so serious that he was unable to meet with journalists after the match because of it, and his appearance on the ice against the Russians was unlikely. In the first meeting with Russia, Jensen, by the way, stood out: he made four shots on target — more than all his compatriots. Aleksey Zhamnov’s headquarters managed to try out new attacking combinations for the new confrontation, where the key changes were the transfer of Nikita Gusev to the second link, Mikhail Grigorenko to the fourth, and Stanislav Galiev and Andrey Chibisov were transferred to captain Vadim Shipachev.
