The new millennium for Russia began with the home ice hockey world championship, which was hosted by St. Petersburg. An atmosphere of grandiose celebration reigned around this event. Especially for the tournament, a new ice arena was built, a commemorative coin was issued, and real stars were called up to the national team: Pavel Bure, Sergey Gonchar, Valery Kamensky and other prominent representatives of the NHL. The team was headed by Alexander Yakushev.

Everything seemed to be in our hands. With such a line-up, and even at home, the team claimed at least a medal. And the first game in the group stage only confirmed these intentions.

But what happened next is hard to explain. The Russian team failed, setting several anti-records at once.

Photo: © Tony Marshall – EMPICS / Contributor / PA Images / Gettyimages.ru

“We will have time to find mutual understanding”

National team forward Pavel Bure, who arrived in St. Petersburg from Florida, immediately inspired great hope in the team’s fans. The NHL star was confident that there would be plenty of time for networking.

– I promise: we will do our best to become champions in seven years. Although this World Cup will not be easy: Swedes, Finns, Canadians, Czechs, Americans gather decent teams. But in the end it all depends on us. Fortunately, there are passing matches, we will have time to find mutual understanding, said Bure.

The passing match, as Pavel put it, really went off with a bang. Our squad trampled the French team with a score of 8:1, and Bure scored a double. But this was the last victory that the spectators in the home stands rejoiced at. Further down the arena, only shock and disappointment echoed.

Vladimir Petrov / Photo: © Melchior DiGiacomo / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Embarrassing loss to Switzerland and third place in the group

In the second game, our guys fought with the USA, which were many times stronger than the French. And then Bure and the company ran into a wall: 44 shots on goal by American Robert Ash, and zero goals scored! And Russia, in turn, missed three. It was very unpleasant, but far from a tragedy.

But the match with Switzerland was a shock for everyone. At that time, the alpine team was nothing of itself and was listed among the outsiders of the tournament, but the star Russians managed to lose with a score of 2:3. Moreover, the owners had the entire third period to equalize, however, from the hail of shots on goal by the Swiss, not a single puck was in the goal.

Russia took third place in a group of four and advanced to the next stage only thanks to additional indicators. Thanks to the crushing victory over France.

Photo: © Glenn Cratty / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The main shock awaited the Russian team ahead

In the next stage, the Russian team needed only victories, and the rivals were suitable for this – Latvia, Belarus and Sweden. But already in the first match with the Latvians, the hosts of the championship were disgraced. Like the Swiss, Russia flew 2:3, and Latvia, in turn, beat the Russians for the first time in history. Latvian goalkeeper Artur Irbe made a scandalous statement after that game that he avenged his grandfather, who fought for the Germans in World War II, with his victory.

The Russians lost access to the playoffs, the audience came to the matches with posters “RUS does not play hockey” and “HOLE-team”. The atmosphere around the team was hopelessly scandalous. Fans ridiculed the failures of the Red Machine.

But the anti-records did not end there either – following the Latvians, the Russian team lost to Belarus 0: 1. Here it is worth recalling once again who played in our line-up: Bure, Kamensky, Zhamnov, Petrov, Yashin, Kozlov. These single strong names completely disappeared into the national team.

The championship for Russia ended with a victory over the Swedes with a score of 4:2. It did not affect our prospects at all, but a loss on May 9 would be too symbolic. A small spoon of honey in a huge barrel of tar ended the shameful home tournament for Russia, which was won by the Czechs.