Russian Federation ice hockey coach Zinetula Bilyaletdin has revealed his bemusement at his side's exit from the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The host nation were favoured to win the gold medal, but crashed out in the quarter-finals as they were defeated 3-1 by Finland on Wednesday.

Bilyaletdin was at a loss to explain why his side, who have so many stars in their team - including the Washington Cardinals' Alex Ovechkin - exited the competition without winning a medal.

He told reporters: "Tough to explain the loss, of course, why [we] scored so little. Players who score so many goals for their clubs, like Alex Ovechkin who scored 40 goals for his club [didn't score]. Right now I cannot explain that."

Russia were also defeated in the quarter-final stage in Vancouver four years ago.