Ukraine Turns It Around in a Hurry

Valentyn Oletsky scored two goals Monday for Ukraine, which kept alive its hopes for advancement from the Olympic men’s hockey preliminary round with a 5-2 victory over Switzerland.

Looking completely changed from the undisciplined team that was shut out by Belarus in its first game, Ukraine (1-1-0) relentlessly hit and attacked in a victory that likely eliminated the Swiss (0-1-1), the pre-tournament favorites in Group B.

In perhaps the most physical game of the tournament, both teams played tight-checking, bad-tempered hockey, with several minor skirmishes and even a first-period fight with actual punches -- a rarity in international play.

Switzerland was thought most likely to advance from the weaker of the two preliminary round groups because of its commitment to team play, but the Swiss, who tied France in their first game, simply couldn’t match Ukraine’s physical play.

Ukraine got a boost with the addition of two NHL players -- St. Louis’ Sergei Varlamov and Philadelphia’s Ruslan Fedetenko.

Oletsky got the lead for Ukraine just 2:08 in when he put his own rebound past Colorado Avalanche backup goalie David Aebischer.

In the other men’s game Monday night, Vladimir Tsyplakov redirected a slap shot between French goalie Cristobal Huet’s pads for the decisive goal, putting Belarus into the final round of Olympic hockey with a 3-1 victory.

Belarus (2-0) is assured of winning its four-team preliminary round pool even if it loses Wednesday to Switzerland (0-1-1).

Belarus and the winner of Tuesday’s Latvia-Germany game will join Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland and Sweden in the final round beginning Friday.

France took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Maurice Rozenthal’s third goal in two games, but Andrei Rasolko’s goal tied it later in the period.

Women

Ann-Louise Edstrand scored a power play goal in the first period on Monday as Sweden opened a three-goal lead and held on to beat Russia 3-2 on the first day of the Olympic women’s tournament at Provo, Utah.

Sweden outshot Russia 44-14 to put the Russians on the verge of elimination. With the loss, Russia needs a victory or tie over top-seeded Canada (1-0) on Thursday to have any chance of advancing to the medal round.

Lotta Almblad and Kristina Bergstrand also scored for Sweden.