SOCHI– Ashley’s Aventinus failed to muster up enough excitement and energy Sunday night in what obviously had to be the medal game against Belarus’s Leafs, losing 2-5 and settling for the silver medal.
The Belarus National team (known as the Leafs) celebrate their shorthanded goal en route to a gold medal in the D2 division at the Sochi Games
“When the guy at the point is beating our defenseman to the puck behind the net…” said goalie Ryan Bidwell, his voice trailing off.
The Belorussians were more like “bellow” Russians, cheering wildly for each goal, even when the game was no longer in doubt. “Daaaa!” shouted Scott Kulhanekov following his 2-on-1 pass to one of the two #12 skaters (maybe Al “Pasha”Labarriekov for the goal.
“It’s hard to tell the numbers apart, since they are in Cyrillic,” explained defenseman Mark Woods.
Winger Chris Boulter and Jeff Meden did their best to keep Aventinus in the game, each scoring a goal, but it wasn’t enough against the former Soviet republic, who have a proud tradition of playing big in the big games. “It was almost as if guys who play in higher leagues descended down from who knows where to completely dominate a team who otherwise haven’t lost a game,” said a fan, John Q. Hintstoabram.
“We didn’t play like we deserved a gold medal tonight,” said GM Mark Woods. “In fact, we didn’t know that there was a podium to receive our silver medals until we heard weird music (Belarus national anthem) playing.”
Added Woods: “I think it was the muzak version of ‘Is This Love?‘ by Whitesnake.”