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VANCOUVER – It was exactly 50 years ago that Canada last beat the Russians in the Olympics – the one and only time in fact. And seldom have they ever beaten the Russians quite the way they did Wednesday night in any competition.

Just the second victory ever over the Russians was a thing of beauty for Team Canada, who assembled a compelling and convincing 7-3 victory over the No. 1  ranked team in the world in their quarter-final matchup.

 

All of a sudden, too, the grim Games – as they had been become for the Canadians – are looking considerably more inspiring. One more win for a guaranteed medal, two more wins for gold. Next up, the winner of Sweden-Slovakia on Friday.

Hands up all you who were supremely confident that was going to happen? You are no doubt the same ones who believed they would win the way they did Wednesday.

Of course, Team Canada had insisted all along they believed, that their game was getting better and whatever worries that were being held across the land were perhaps understandable, but in their minds were also unfounded.

Whatever, the Canadians clearly saved their best game in the tournament for the when it mattered most – against a skilled Soviet team that had a ton of firepower, but never really showed it in this tournament. Canada exposed the soft underbelly of the Russian bear, its shaky goaltending and defensive play. Who knows? This one might have been similar to that first one a half century ago in Squaw Valley, when the Canadians won 8-5.

The first period Wednesday was an absolute gem for Canada and the second wasn’t terrible, either. They were as close to perfect as you could get.

From the opening faceoff, the Canadians were relentless, intense and physical, moving the puck smartly and avoiding any perilous plays. They did a brilliant job of working the puck down low, had several highlight reel passing plays and they led 4-1 after one period, 7-3 after two.

All the talk of a Sidney Crosby versus Alexander Ovechkin subplot was just that. Crosby played a solid, physical game, while Ovechkin was kept in close check. Seldom did they see the ice against each other.

It was a handful of players who coach Mike Babcock had suggested earlier were underperforming accounted for much of the offensive hurt early. Canada had tweaked its lines previously to try and get more out of Cory Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Well, the latter opened the scoring in first period.

Perry finished up with a couple of goals, while the left-winger on that line, Brenden Morrow, had one and was impressive working the corners.

Another player who hadn’t quite found his game, defenceman Dan Boyle, made a nice rush to set up the Getzlaf goal. Boyle then made it 2-0 with a rare power-play goal midway through the first period with Patrick Marleau providing a nice screen.

That was another improvement by the Canadians. They got lots of traffic in front of the Russian goal and avoided misplays in the middle of the offensive zone.

Boyle and defence partner Chris Pronger had both admitted to struggling in the tournament, but both played well against the Russians, albeit in more limited roles. As Babcock place it the other day, leaders can’t really lead until they get their own game in order.

Anyway, just 46 seconds after the Boyle goal, a newly formed line of Jonathan Toews, Mike Richards and Rick Nash passed the puck around like it was on a string, with Nash making it 3-0. That line was place together to go up against the Russians huge line of Ovechkin, Evegni Malkin and Alexander Semin, a matchup Babcock got despite not having last change.

Through two periods, Ovechkin managed just three shots and was minus-2, his line a collective minus-6.

Credit to the coach, too, because all of the line juggling he did paid off huge time.

The Russians, who were on the heels for much of the first period, finally got on the board a few minutes later, Dmitri Kalinin beating Roberto Luongo with a screen shot from the point.

But Morrow, barging out from behind the goal, jammed the puck past Evgeni Nabokov, who was playing like it was spring time in San Jose, to restore the three-goal lead. Imagine what Sharks fans are thinking today.

Anyway, the Canadians continued the assault in the second with Perry and defenceman Shea Weber, who was a physical force against Ovechkin, making it 6-1 before Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov chose he had seen enough of Nabokov, who wasn’t very excellent. But neither was his defence.

Perry added his second before that second period was over, sandwiched between a couple of Russian goals. On the night, Luongo made a handful of really excellent saves, including a breakaway save on Malkin in the third, but he also allowed a couple of stoppable goals. But then, goaltending was only an issue at one end of the rink.