Russian hockey fans tricked into thinking their team won gold

Jan 6 2020, 9:20 pm

Following a thrilling third period comeback victory in the World Junior Championship gold medal game, Canadians celebrated.

And so did Russians, it appears.

While Team Canada scored three times in the last 11 minutes of the game to win 4-3, many people in Russia were watching a different result on television.

Russia’s top sports channel, Match TV, decided to show the 2011 World Junior Championship gold medal game at the same time as this year’s final. The live broadcast, which also took place between Canada and Russia, was shown on another station (Channel One).

The results of each game were quite different of course.

In 2011, Russia stormed back from a 3-0 deficit against Canada to win the gold medal game 5-3. It was Canada who trailed (3-1) this year, with Russia blowing the lead to lose 4-3.

It appears many Russian fans didn’t notice that the game they were watching took place nine years ago, featuring future NHL stars like Vladimir Tarasenko, Artemi Panarin, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Many people in Russia were completely fooled by the old broadcast, taking to social media to congratulate their team for winning. Among the people duped were pro soccer player Dmitry Tarasov and Russian lawmakerĀ Mikhail Degtyarev, according to a report out of Russia.

It was likely extra embarrassing for Degtyarev, who isĀ the chairman of the State Duma committee on physical education, sports, tourism, and youth affairs — whoops.

Just how so many people could be fooled by this is best told by former Russian sports writer Slava Malamud in this thread he posted to Twitter:

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