Bilyaletdinov, Putin and the bulldozer

The day after the Olympic flame was snuffed out for the Russian men thanks to a 3-1 beating by Finland, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov found himself the whipping boy of commentators across Russia, his name smeared in newspapers across his country.

"The burning desire to fall through the ground, blush and wish that any other team was in Russia's place, was stronger than any other emotion," Andrei Kuznetsov, columnist at Sport-Express newspaper, wrote in his article 'We don't need hockey like this!' There has yet been no greater shame in our ice history"

Kuznetsov, along with a multitude of other journalists, put the brunt of the blame for Russia's failure on Bilyaletdinov, who was accused of being too conservative in his choices and destroying his players' natural ability to play an offensive game.

"When the final siren sounded, I felt no pain or anger. There was emptiness, a sense of inevitability as quiet, icy and impassive like the face of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov," wrote Igor Rabiner, observer at the popular Championat.com portal, under the headline 'End of an era'.

The questions lobbed after the official post-game press conference on Wednesday sounded more like accusations, with the coach virtually pushed against the wall by a crowd of Russian journalists, whose mood becoming increasingly menacing. "Well, eat me now," Bilyaletdinov said in exasperation as journalists pressed him about his performance at the Sochi Olympic Games. "You'll eat me and I'll be gone." Bilyaletdinov was eventually rescued from the media scrum by the team's press attache and flew out of Sochi on Thursday afternoon with players from the Kontinental Hockey League, though his future remains uncertain. The head coach is slated to meet with members of Russia's Ice Hockey Federation in early March to discuss the mistakes made at the Games. Bilyaletdinovhas said he wants to keep his job, but that the decision is not up to him.

Vladislav Tretiak, president of Russia's Ice Hockey Federation, defended chosing Bilyaletdinov for the role when he spoke to journalists on Thursday, and did not exclude the option of inviting back former coach Vyacheslav Bykov to lead the team in the next international tournaments. Bykov, coached the national team from 2006 to 2011, and was dismissed shortly after Russia were defeated 7-3 by Canada in a quarterfinal game at Vancouver 2010. Other name murmured is current Dynamo Moscow coach Oleg Znarok

Bilyaletdinov took over as head coach in June 2011 and led the team to a gold medal at the world championship in 2012. He was also expected to prepare the team for the next world championship, which starts in May in Minsk, Belarus.

Felix Zagrebnoi commentator at the state news agency R-Sport, argued that the blame for the loss should extend beyond the coaching staff. He said: "Bilyaletdinov and Vladislav Tretiak don't have any moral right to keep their posts a minute after the final siren that spread the news about the biggest failure in the history of our national team."

To underline the loss, journalists drew comparisons between Russia and the dogged Latvian team, who battled to the bitter end before losing 2-1 to Canada, the defending Olympic champion.

"Small Latvia showed big Russia how to fight, even if you are obviously inferior to the opponent," Mikhail Melnikov observed in his post-game piece on Championat.com.

Daniil Markov, former defenceman on Russia's national team, was even harsher in his criticism of the team's performance in Sochi. "Our result is a shame," Markov told Sovetsky Sport newspaper. "In Canada and USA, people are already saying that we're not a hockey superpower. For me personally, it's a shame. President Vladimir Putin should give the order for a bulldozer to raze everything down so that new construction can begin while we still have four years left until the next Olympics. That is all."

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