OAR Thrash Norway in Olympics Ice Hockey 2018 Quarter-Finals

The Olympic Athletes from Russia team cruised to victory in the quarter-finals of the ice hockey at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, with a 6-1 victory over Norway on Wednesday.

The Russians came into the tournament in South Korea as the favourites to clinch the gold medal, and they put in a dominant display as they booked their spot in the last four of the competition.

It was a strong start from the Russian team, with Mikhail Grigorenko opening the scoring midway through the first period. Nikita Gusev added a second, during a power play, before a first goal of the tournament from Vyacheslav Voinov made it 3-0 at the end of the first period.

The Russians also heavily outshot their Norwegian opponents in the first period by 19-2, per the IIHF:

A defensive mistake allowed Alexander Bonsaksen to pull one back for Norway, but Sergei Kalinin quickly restored their two-goal lead. Nikita Nesterov then added another as he made it 5-1 at the end of the second period.

James Ellingworth at the Associated Press said their thoughts had already turned to the semi-final:

However, they still managed a sixth goal, as Grigorenko set up Ivan Telegin to complete the rout in the third period.

BBC reporter Seth Bennett highlighted just how impressive a victory it was:

Norway simply had no answer to the superior Russian quality, and they also looked jaded from their exploits in beating Slovenia a day earlier to earn their first Olympic quarter-final spot.

The Russian team will now meet the Czech Republic in the semi-finals, after they beat the United States in a shootout to secure a 3-2 win. The Russian team look to have the strongest squad at the tournament and will be eyeing a final spot, but the Czech Republic are yet to taste defeat and will prove a far tougher test than Norway.