Igor Zakharkin News and Interviews

Today the Russian Hockey Federation announced that the team coaches Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin will continue working with the Russian National team.

"Their work with the team was found to be satisfactory," said Vladislav Tretiak to Sovetskiy Sport. "Soon we will meet to discuss the details of the new contract."

This season was very unsuccessful for Russia as it suffered two major losses: in the Olympics' quarterfinal against Canada (3:7) and in the World Championship final against the Czech Republic (1:2).

Here is the latest news from the Russian team at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver.

Evgeny Nabokov will start in the game against the Czech Republic
Igor Zakharkin, Russian coach to Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport: "We think that with Nabokov in the net our players feel more confident."

Sergei Fedorov missed a practice
Zakharkin: "Fedorov has an individual program. But he's alright, there is no injury."

New lines in the game against the Czech Republic
Zakharkin: "Maybe we are going to switch the center forwards. We think that Kovalchuk's efficiency should be higher. We remember what chemistry Malkin and Kovalchuk had at the World Championship 2008, but two years have passed and they are different players now, their styles changed too. There is a bit of imbalance on the Kovalchuk-Malkin-Afinogenov line. We hope to fix it."

It seems like the food they serve in the Olympic village in Vancouver is really bad.

First it were Alexei Morozov and Semyon Varlamov who complained about the food in the village. According to Morozov the players had to eat in McDonald's. He also said that with food like this they would "turn up their toes".

Then it was Ilya Bryzgalov who called the food "terrible".

Now it's Team Russia coach Igor Zakharkin who calls Russian officials for help.

"We can't stand it anymore. It is time for our officials to step in. Our players can't recover eating the food they serve in the village. It's not tasty and low in calories. It's some semi prepared foods! We don't want it to have an impact on our team", said Zakharkin to Vitaliy Slavin of Sovetskiy Sport.

After stating that the Olympic starter should be Evgeny Nabokov, team Russia assistant coach Igor Zakharkin makes an u-turn and says that the first goalie will be known in February only.
Russian Hockey Fans offers you a translation of an interview with Sovietskiy Sport interview in with Zakharkin speaks about goalies' chances and about Ovechkin's need not to change his style.

In this interview with Sovietskiy Sport, Team Russia's assistant coach Igor Zakharkin stated that Evgeny Nabokov will most likely be the starting goalkeeper in Vancouver. He also indicated that they plan to reunite the famous ZZM (Zaripov, Zinoviev, Morozov) line.

- Did you have talks with Evgeny Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov? Did you talk with Evgeny Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov? Who of them will have to be a backup goalie and resign himself to this decision?
- There can't be two first goalies in a game and there is no doubt that Evgeny Nabokov should be the starter. He's a great goalkeeper with undeniable qualities. He excellently commands the defense. He’s a player with a winning soul who can turn up the team’s spirit. All this makes in my sight Evgeny Nabokov a first goalie.