The 2010 Olympic Hockey Tournament has probably been the biggest disappointing ever for Team Russia. The early quarterfinal elimination against Team Canada was the worst result ever.
As soon as the tournament was over for Russia, we published the Top 5 reasons for this fail, now RussianHockeyFans.com judged all the players on the roster.
In the round robin's last game Team Russia defeated Team Czech Republic 4-2 and got a bye to the quarterfinals as they finished the Group B on the top of the standings with seven points against Czech Republic's six, Slovakia's five and Latvia's zero. Team Russia's first game of the medal round is scheduled for wednesday.
During the first period of the game the teams are still 0-0. Alexander Ovechkin had a couple of good chances, but Tomas Vokoun saved both attempts. Later on the Russians wasted a powerplay opportunity.
At the fifteenth minute Evgeni Malkin scored the 1-0 goal for Russia tapping in a rebound after a shot from the point by Sergei Gonchar.
At the end of the first period the Czechs tied it up with Tomas Plekanec taking full advantage of a double powerplay.
The Russian team practiced for the second time in Vancouver.
According to the Russian channel "Russia 2" the lines were:
Ovechkin - Datsyuk - Semin, Grebeshkov - Korneev.
Kovalchuk - Malkin - Afinogenov, Gonchar - Tyutin.
Zaripov - Zinoviev - Morozov, Markov - Nikulin.
Radulov - Fedorov - Kozlov, Kalinin - Volchenkov.
"I was sure that our line would look like that", said Evgeni Malkin to Russia 2. "I agree with the coaches, it's an optimal combination".
"I supposed that our line would look like that because we played together during the Olympic camp", Ilya Kovalcuk told Russia 2. "It is a good, interesting and dynamic line. I think if we try hard we can be very useful to the team."
Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com
The KHL is going to send 60 players to the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games. Latvia is topping the list with 17 players from the KHL, Belarus is 2nd with 14 and Russia is 3rd with 9 players. They only teams that don't have players from the KHL are Canada, the USA and Germany.
Among the players are Alexander Radulov, Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov for Russia, Jaromir Jagr, Petr Cajanek and Josef Vasicek for Czech Republic, Richard Zednik and Jozef Stumpel for Slovakia, as well as Mattias Weinhandl for Sweden and Martin Gerber for Switzerland.
The team that will send the most players is Dinamo Riga, with 16. Dynamo Minsk follows at 10, with Salavat Yulaev Ufa takes the third place in this classification sending seven players to Vancouver. The Olympic hockey tournament will start of February 16th, with the final match being scheduled for February 28th.
RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a breakdown of the KHL players at the next Olympics.
The official Russian Hockey Federation site has released Team Russia's roster for the Olympics in Vancouver.
Goalkeepers
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks, NHL
Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes, NHL
Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals, NHL
Defencemen
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens, NHL
Ilya Nikulin, Ak Bars, KHL,
Dmitriy Kalinin, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Konstantin Korneev, CSKA, KHL,
Denis Grebeshkov, Edmonton Oilers, NHL
Fedor Tyutin, Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL
Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL
Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa Senators, NHL
Forwards
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings, NHL
Sergei Fedorov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers, NHL
Maxim Afinogenov, Atlanta Thrashers, NHL
Danis Zaripov, Ak Bars, KHL
Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals, NHL
Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Viktor Kozlov, Salavat Yulaev, KHL
Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, NHL
Alexei Morozov, Ak Bars, KHL
Russia's coaches Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin call this roster 'preliminary' and say that the final roster will be known on the 15th of February.
9 out of 23 players represent the KHL which makes its slightly less than 40%.
4 players come from Salavat Yulaev of the KHL, the team coached by Bykov and Zakharkin.
Kuznetsov: "If we had won, it would have been unfair"