TORINO, Italy — Wayne Gretzky couldn't stand to watch any longer, heading to the exit in the final minute.
Russia's youngsters were beating up his hand-picked old pros from Canada and, with 33 seconds left and his eyes red with tears, he bolted. No gold medal for mighty Canada, and no comfort at the Olympics for The Great One, who placed the blame for this failure squarely on himself.
Russia won 2-0 Wednesday in the Olympic men's quarterfinals to end another disappointing Winter Games for the country that invented the sport.
"This is special, very special, for our country," said Alexander Ovechkin, who scored the pivotal first goal early in the third period.
Not for Canada, it wasn't.
The Canadians arrived in Torino last week amid the distraction of Gretzky's link to an alleged sports gambling ring and will leave it with doubts about his personnel decisions. Doubts he himself seems to be having.
Before the games, Gretzky said he would be blamed if Canada lost because of the gambling probe. He will, too — but mostly for the decision to send aging legs such as 36-year-old Joe Sakic, 34-year-old Rob Blake and 34-year-old Adam Foote to a tournament that requires the gold medalist to play eight games in a demanding and energy-draining 12 days.
"I'll take all, deservedly so, the responsibility for not winning," said Gretzky, Team Canada's executive director. "That's the position I'm in and the responsibility I have."
Gretzky steered Canada to its first gold medal in 50 years in 2002, so he decided to go with a similar cast of veterans and old reliables in Torino rather than NHL youngsters such as Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Sidney Crosby.
But the older Canadians not only couldn't get goals — they scored in one of their final 12 periods — they couldn't skate with the rapid Russians.
Now, they'll head home again with no medal for the second time in the last three Olympics.
Asked why he left his private box with 33 seconds left, Gretzky said, his eyes red with tears, "I wanted to change our luck."
The Canadians needed a lot more than luck, the way the Russians were skating through them, generating rush after rush and controlling the tempo. Russia defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said the kids were the difference, especially Ovechkin, the top candidate for the NHL rookie of the year award with the Washington Capitals and soon-to-be-superstar.
"Our young players are very important," Kasparaitis said.
For Russia, the challenge now is to put a big victory behind them and get refocused on Finland on Friday, if it wins, the gold medal game against the Czechs or Sweden.
Canada, meanwhile, heads home.