Canada has a surprisingly easy time beating Russia

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A dominating Canada ended 50 years of Olympic hockey frustration against Russia.

The Canadians took charge with four goals in the first period and went on to beat the world champions, 7-3, last night and surge into the Olympic semifinals.

A superpower showdown - one that may have been better suited for the gold-medal game than the quarterfinals - quickly became a super letdown.

The physical, focused Canadians took advantage of terrible goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov and superior depth and size to open leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period and 6-1 early in the second period, and the unexpected rout was on.

The resurgent Canadians will meet the Sweden-Slovakia winner in tomorrow's semifinals. The punishing win over Russia was their first since the same tournament in Squaw Valley and only the second in 11 Olympic games against the Russians or Soviets.

Corey Perry upstaged Russia's big-name, big-contract forwards with two goals, Shea Weber also scored and set the tone by upending Maxim Afinogenov with a board-rattling hit in the opening seconds. Dan Boyle frustrated Nabokov, his NHL teammate, by scoring a power-play goal and creating two others.

And that was only the start.

Almost as surprising as the score was how Canada pulled it off. Sidney Crosby went scoreless in a subordinate role, with less celebrated players and grit negating Russia's cast of stars and supposedly superior speed.

Nabokov, whose NHL San Jose Sharks are perennial playoff underachievers, allowed several soft goals early, one to Patrick Marleau, and the letdown was evident on a downcast Russian bench.

Coach Slava Bytov didn't pull Nabokov until Weber scored at 4:07 of the second to make it 6-1. Given the looks on the players' faces, the move came about two or three goals too late.

Russia, which beat Canada in each of the last two world championships, also seemed unprepared for Canada's aggression. Within the first few minutes, Russia quickly learned that speed isn't a factor when stars are being knocked off their skates before they can advance into the offensive zone.

Remarkably, the Canadians didn't need a huge game in goal from Roberto Luongo. Luongo, who took over for a benched Martin Brodeur after the U.S. loss, gave up goals to Dmitri Kalinin, Afinogenov and Sergei Gonchar, making 25 saves.