It’s chudesa, in case you’re wondering.
The Russian word for miracles, that is.
As in “Do you believe in …?”
Because in any language, that’s exactly what Belarus pulled off Wednesday against Sweden in the first game of the men’s hockey quarterfinals that served as a lesson to every other favorite.
In an upset that ranks with the U.S. stunning the Soviet Union in 1980, Belarus scored a lucky goal late in the third period and wiped out a top-ranked Swedish team 4-3 at the E Center.
“Yeah, for sure, it’s a miracle for us,” goalie Andre Mezin said after stopping 44 of 47 shots. “But sometimes even a gun without the bullet shoots, and that was us today.
“It is a new page of Belarus hockey. It’s short, but now it’s big too.”
And it is written next to the “Miracle on Ice” that was used as inspiration in the Belorussian dressing room the day before, thanks to captain Aleksandr Andrievsky, who played one NHL game, and it was as a Blackhawk.
“We were just talking [Tuesday],” said defenseman Ruslan Salei, the only NHL player on the Belarus roster. “Can we beat Sweden or not? It was just guys from the team, without coaches. We were just talking that there’s always the chance to beat anybody in one game. We talked about 1980, about how the U.S. beat [the Soviet Union].”
Salei said he was 6 or 7 then. He said he saw some of the famous Olympic game but has few memories of it.
He never will forget, however, the Belorussian version.
“It was like we won the medal,” Salei said. “Everybody was so excited. It was unbelievable.”
That’s exactly the word Swedish defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson used, only with a different meaning.
“It’s like a bad dream,” Ragnarsson said. “Maybe we were talking too much about the semifinals.”
Indeed, the Swedes came in with a 3-0 record and appeared to have an easy path to the semifinals. But the Swedes started slowly and trailed 2-1 in the first period and 3-2 in the third before Mats Sundin made it 3-3 with less than 13 minutes left in regulation. It stayed that way for almost 10 minutes.
Then came the miracle.
Defenseman Vladimir Kopat was going to the bench for a line change when he fired the puck at Swedish goalie Tommy Salo from just inside the center red line. The puck rose. Salo didn’t know whether to stop it with his glove or his mask or both, or just duck.
So he leaped. The puck hit his mask, then his glove, then his back.
And trickled behind him into the net.
Belarus, 4-3. Only 2:24 to go.
“What can I say?” said Salo, who faced only 19 shots. “It sneaked in. I didn’t know if I was going to take it with my head first. Then I changed my mind.
“It was one of those games where you don’t have much to do, and they shot at the goal and it sneaked in.”
“If I said I wanted to score that goal, nobody would believe me,” Kopat said.
Doesn’t matter. Game over. Miracle on.
In the yukfest that was the postgame interview room with Kopat and Mezin, the players were asked how many liters of vodka were likely to be consumed Wednesday night in Minsk.
“I think it’s all gone,” Mezin said.
Just like the Swedes.
