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52 WITH Russian President Vladimir Putin among the noisy, capacit y crowd at the gleaming Bolshoy Ice Dome, T.J. Oshie scored in the eighth round of an incredible shootout to end an electric heav y- weight clash. The atmosphere was fantastic and though the game was never going to be able to stand compari- son with 1980 Lake Placid Olym- pics when a group of American college players upset the former- Soviet Union's 'Big Red Machine' it will remain long in the memory, not least for the nerve-shredding shoot-out. "I did (feel pressure) a little bit, but then the puck hits your stick and you start skating," said Oshie, who took six of the eight shootout chances for the Americans. "It's just you and the goalie. "I was fortunate enough to keep Sergei (Bobrovski) guessing and Quickie(American netminder Jonathan Quick)did his great job." "My hands are a little tingling, my feet are tingling. It was prett y nerve-racking out there. "We knew it would take 65 min- utes and then some." The marquee match of the pre- liminary delivered in full on eve- rything it had promised; breath- taking pace, skill, intensit y, great goaltending, some controversy and plent y of edge-of-your seat drama. Everything except a win for the hosts. "Everything is OK, nothing ter- rible has happened," said Rus- sian forward Ilya Kovalchuk. "We played well and showed our char- acter by equalising at the end and now we will be getting ready for the future." "It's only a preliminary game, everything will be decided in the semi-final and the final." With the win the United States move to the top of the Group A standings with five points fol- lowed by Russia with four and Slovenia on three. After a leisurely but uninspiring start to the Olympic tournament against minnows Slovenia, the full weight of the country's gold medal expectations fell on the Russian team's shoulders as the country turned its attention to a rematch decades in the making. The Cold War tensions between the two world superpowers may have eased and the Soviet Union is no more but the hockey rivalry remains intact and, after 34 years, Russian players charged onto a gleaming sheet of ice to a thunder- ing roar at the seething Bolshoy in pursuit of long-awaited revenge. While no medals would be won or lost there was still enough po- litical tension and sporting hon- our on the line to turn the prelim- inary round clash into the hottest ticket on a sunny Saturday by the Black Sea. A scoreless opening period was played at lightning speed to a deafening soundtrack of cheers and jeers as the two teams show- cased why ice hockey is one of the Winter Games marquee sports. Pavel Datsyuk, one of just two players on the Russian roster alive when the Soviets lost in Lake Placid, scored twice in regulation while the United States got pow- erplay goals from Cam Fowler and Joe Pavelski to send the contest to overtime. Both netminders needed to pro- duce dazzling saves in the extra session to get the contest to a shootout, where Oshie too centre stage. Regarded as a shootout special- ist, coach Dan Bylsma sent Oshie out to take six of the eight U.S. chances, scoring on four. All the more heartbreaking for the hosts was a disallowed goal in the closing minute of the third pe- riod that was waved off by referees American Brad Meier and Marcus Vinnerborg because the net was slightly off its moorings. "I don't know what happened there but it was definitely a goal," said Alex Ovechkin. "Nobody touched the net but the goalie touched the net so that the net moved. The referee had to see it. He should have given him (Quick) two minutes (penalt y)." maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2014 WINTER OLYMPICS - HOCKEY FOOTBALL Download the MaltaToday App now Sport T.J. Oshie leads Team USA to dramatic shootout win over Russia YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt T.J. Oshie scores the winning goal for Team USA FA Cup - Jovetic and Nasri seal City win over Chelsea MANCHESTER City outplayed Bar- clays Premier League leaders Chel- sea to advance to the sixth round of the FA Cup on Saturday evening. Having lost to Jose Mourinho's Blues in a league encounter at the Etihad 12 days ago, City came out on top this time out as last year's beaten finalists thoroughly deserved their 2-0 victory. Things started well for the hosts as Stevan Jovetic scored his fourth goal of the season after 16 minutes to put Manuel Pellegrini's side in charge of the tie. Samir Nasri exchanged passes with David Silva to add the second just six minutes after coming on as a substitute, although Silva appeared to be just offside. Joleon Lescott turned home a third but was correctly flagged off- side as Chelsea failed to truly test Costel Pantilimon over the course of 90 minutes. Elsewhere, holders Wigan re- mained in the hunt for this year's competition after winning 2-1 away at Premier League strugglers Car- diff. Having already seen off top-flight opposition in round four when Crystal Palace were beaten at the DW Stadium, Uwe Rosler's side will now be in the draw for the last eight following a deserved victory in south Wales. Chris McCann put the Latics ahead in the first half with a cool finish from Jordi Gomez's cross, with Fraizer Campbell levelling be- fore the half hour mark after good work from Magnus Wolff Eikrem. But it was left to Ben Watson, the man who scored the only goal in last season's final victory over Man- chester City, to settle the tie as he thrashed home a winner before the break. Sunderland continued their tran- sition into a fine cup team as Craig Gardner's stunning finish proved to be the difference as they saw off fellow Premier League side Southampton 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Both sides made several changes and the quality of the game suffered as a result but Gardner's strike four minutes into the second half was enough for Capital One Cup final- ists Sunderland to advance. England striker Rickie Lambert missed a fantastic opportunity to take the tie to a replay as Mauricio Pochettino's side bowed out of the competition. Sheffield Wednesday's fifth- round tie with Charlton was post- poned due to a waterlogged pitch at Hillsborough, with both Sky Bet Championship sides going into the draw for the quarter-finals. Stevan Jovetic celebrates after opening the scoring at the Etihad