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Datsyuk says Russians were fired up for Norway

Ice Hockey - Winter Olympics Day 11 - Russia v Norway

during the Men’s Ice Hockey Qualification Playoff game on day eleven of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Bolshoy Ice Dome on February 18, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Streeter Lecka

It seems Canada isn’t the only team that has to deal with dissatisfied fans even in the face of victory.

Russia’s 4-0 win against Norway on Tuesday helped move them into the quarterfinals and a pair of goals in the closing minutes helped pad the lead. One critique they faced was that they weren’t fired up to face a non-rival like Norway.

Russian captain Pavel Datsyuk doesn’t agree with that at all as Russia’s RSport shares.

“Everyone played well, everyone did their job,” said Datsyuk. “A very tough game. I don’t agree that we weren’t fired up for the Norwegians,” he added, but conceded: “It probably looked that way from the back-row seats.”

Take that, people sitting far away.

You’d have to almost forgive Russia if they were looking ahead to the next round against Finland. Norway performed the worst of the 12 teams during the preliminary round and didn’t look thrilling doing so.

As it was, Russia outshot Norway 31-22 and poured it on in the second period by a 14-6 margin. They may not be succeeding with flash and dash with superstars scoring all over the place, but with the goal to win gold, the Russians keep marching along whether they look fired up or not.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT