Russia beats Norway 4-0 to advance to sledge hockey finals
Host country to meet winner of Canada-USA game
The Russian sledge hockey team is heading to the gold medal game after beating Norway 4-0 in the semifinal at the Sochi Paralympics on Thursday.
Dmitrii Lisov opened scoring 5:40 into the first period. At 12:55, Alexey Amosov added another goal to double the lead.
The Russians, in their first sledge hockey Paralympic tournament, put on a clinic of puck control, outshooting their opponents 20-6.
Nikolay Terentyev made it 3-0 early in the third period, and Evgeny Petrov took advantage of the desperate Norwegians by scoring Russia's fourth and final goal to secure the victory.
Forward Konstantin Shikhov had assists on each of the first three goals.
"We had a good start in the first period, we hoped we could get chances," Norwegian coach Morten Haglund said after the game. "Russia gave a hard press, they played a good game. They deserve to win."
Russia now awaits the winner of the Canada vs. U.S. contest, which will be played on Thursday at noon ET (streaming live on cbc.ca/paralympics.)
"Canada is the world champions," said Russian defenceman Vasilii Varlakov. "I would give 60 per cent to Canada [to win] and 40 per cent to the USA. We'll support Canada."