Russia's blankings of France and Austria made a small slice of IIHF World Championship history. It is the first time a team has ever started off with back-to-back 7-0 shutouts.

It's hard to complain about that level of success at both ends of the ice. But what does this really mean?

Predictably, the Russians, who won Olympic gold in PyeongChang in February, aren't rhapsodizing about their consecutive goose eggs. After all, France ranks
twelfth in the IIHF World Rankings and newly promoted Austria is 17th.

"I hope we won't ease off after games like these, and that it will be good for the team," said forward Yevgeni Dadonov. "In any event, we'll keep doing our job. We'll try to get better, review the videos of our games. We still need to
tighten up some of our systems. It felt like it was harder against the French, but any team here can cause problems."

Realistically, two shutouts to start the tournament is nothing new. It doesn't necessarily augur a gold medal, or a medal of any shade. Just ask the Finns.

They were the last nation to do it, and it was on home ice at the 2012 IIHF World Championship in Helsinki: 1-0 over Belarus on 4 May, and 1-0 over Slovakia on 6 May. But Finland finished

emptyhanded, losing 3-2 to the Czechs in the bronze medal game.

Three years later, the Finns put together a more impressive shutout streak, albeit not from the start. At the 2015 Worlds in the Czech Republic, they had four straight clean sheets (3-0 over

Denmark on 3 May, 5-0 over Norway on 4 May, 4-0 over Slovenia on 7 May, 3-0 over Slovakia on 9 May).

Pekka Rinne, named Best Goalie, didn't allow a goal for 237:05, breaking a record previously held by Slovakia's Jan Lasak. In a puckish allusion to the birth of Princess Charlotte, the daughter of England's Prince William and Kate
Middleton, the IIHF Power Rankings noted: "Rinne hasn't let one in since Kate popped one out."

However, once again it didn't matter in terms of team success. The Finns said goodbye after falling 5-3 to the host Czechs in the quarter-finals.

What about the last time Russia opened with consecutive shutouts? It was the 2001 Worlds in Germany, and the Russians with the ever-available Maxim Sokolov in net, beat Italy 7-0 on 28 April and

Norway 4-0 the following day. But ultimately, while Russia's sixth-place finish
under coach Boris Mikhailov surpassed the eleventh-place shocker under Alexander Yakushev in St. Petersburg the year before, it wasn't a great achievement.

So there's no cause for Russian euphoria just yet.

If starting goalie Vasily Koshechkin and his understudy, Igor Shestyorkin, can perform flawlessly against the Czechs (10 May) or Sweden (15 May), Russia will have a better basis on which to rate

its goaltending. But another shutout in the quarter-finals, like last year's 3-0 dismissing of the Czechs, would be the ideal stepping stone toward Russia's
first World Championship gold since Minsk 2014.

LUCAS AYKROYD

http://https://www.new-iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm/news/2417/is-7-0-the-magic-formula
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