SOCHI SCENE: Russia dejected, Finland hungry

Published Feb. 19, 2014 11:15 a.m. ET

foxsports

SOCHI, Russia (AP) After Russia's men's hockey loss in the quarterfinals to Finland, most of Russia's players rushed through a mixed zone with TV cameras and reporters without stopping, waving off requests to verbalize their disappointment in losing their medal chances in the Sochi Games.

The players who did stop were brief. And Finland, not surprisingly, had a little more to say, with many sentiments summed up by forward Teemu Selanne:

''The experts are wrong many times - and I love it.''

Still, as happy as the Finns were, they did show some sympathy for a Russian team that was carrying such high expectations. Here are some more reactions by players on both teams to Finland's 3-1 win Wednesday night:

- Alex Ovechkin, Russia: ''No emotion right now.''

- Selanne: ''I'm a little bit sad, also for them. Obviously, they had a big dream to win the gold medal here and then it doesn't work so it's kind of disappointing in many ways because that would be a great story. But again, it's proving to the hockey world that you never know.''

- Sergei Bobrovski, Russia: ''It's hard to say something now, just emptiness.''

- Olli Jokinen, Finland: ''I think they were a little bit tired, to be honest. ... Leading up to the tournament you read papers how they kind of were talking about everybody's afraid of them and stuff like that. It gives motivation to countries like us.''

- By Oskar Garcia - Twitter http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu