At an exhibition game in Sochi, Russian president Vladimir Putin and current and former professional players, inclduing Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Bure, defeated a team of children 9-5 in an exhibition game to celebrate the beginning of the school year. Putin scored two goals.
Whenever a team of seasoned professional players takes on a team of children, one would expect the kids to put up a fight and, in all likelihood, be allowed to beat their veteran opponents. If that veteran team has Russian president Vladimir Putin, however, those kids don’t stand a chance.
Tuesday, Putin and a number of current and former Russian stars, including the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Bure and Slava Fetisov, took on a team of players from the Sirius academy for gifted children in Sochi.
For those wondering how the 63-year-old Putin performed, you’re in luck. In a clip posted by Russian RT, Putin forgets the puck while stickhandling and then flutters a clearcut breakaway attempt on goal.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNXph1kfZRA[/embed]
Skating on one of the ice surfaces that hosted the 2014 Sochi Olympic games, Putin’s team of all-stars could have easily thrown the game to the children, but instead nearly doubled up their younger rivals by a score of 9-5.
According to RT, Putin scored twice in the game. One of his goals, a weak wrist shot that trickled to the back of the net, can be seen in a second clip of the game uploaded by the news site.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5aXthGncdI[/embed]
It should come as no shock that Putin was able to knock home a few goals. After all, this past May, Putin played a game alongside a number of retired NHL players and scored eight goals in an 18-6 victory. One year earlier in May 2014, at another exhibition, Putin netted six goals and 11 points in a 21-4 victory at the gala game for the Russian amateur team’s festival in Sochi.