Belarus upsets Sweden in ice hockey

AP Sports WriterWEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- In a stunning game reminiscent of the United States' "Miracle on Ice" victory over the Soviet Union in 1980, Belarus pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history with a 4-3 victory over Sweden on Wednesday.

Vladimir Kopat scored on a shot that bounced off goalie Tommy Salo's head with only 2:24 remaining for the game-winner in the quarterfinal-round matchup. In its previous two games, Belarus was outscored 16-2 and entering the games as a a 10-million-to-1 shot to win the gold medal.

After the game, the stunned Swedes -- easily the best team in the Olympics until now -- stood silent at their end of the ice as the Belarusian players mobbed goalie Andrei Mezin, who stopped 44 shots. Mezin has played for five U.S. minor league teams, but has never come close to playing in the NHL.

Sweden, an overwhelming favorite, had tied it at 3 on captain Mats Sundin's goal at 7:56 of the third. But the game-winning shot, which will be replayed countless times, came from the Olympic rings near midice and ricocheted off Salo's headgear, bounced behind him and into the net.

Despite Sweden coach Hardy Nilsson's prophetic admonition that "it's a quarterfinal and you never know," his players didn't seem to believe him, especially after the game started predictably with a Nicklas Lidstrom power-play goal with only 3:10 game.

But Sweden, so fast and efficient in beating both Canada and the Czech Republic in round-robin play, got sloppy and careless after that, once almost allowing a goal while on a 5-on-3 advantage.

Oleg Romanov did tie it shortly after that with Belarus still down a man, scoring short-handed on a slap shot from the top of the right circle at 7:47 of the first, and Dmitry Dudik scored on a power play later in the period to give Belarus an improbable 2-1 lead.

Right about then, Belarus began to play as if it could win.

Michael Nylander tied it for Sweden later in the period, but Belarus regained the lead when Andrei Kovalev stole the puck at midice and beat Salo -- the hero of the 1994 Sweden goal medal shootout victory -- at 2:47 of the third period.