Latvia News

Russia got an easy win in the first game of the 2010 Olympics against Latvia. Team Russia didn't look overly impressive, most likely saving some energy for the games against better opponents. Alexander Ovechkin and Danis Zaripov scored two goals each in team Russia's 8-2 win.

KHL players got the first two goals of the match. Danis Zaripov opened the score after a couple of minutes thanks a great pass by Sergei Fedorov, while Alexander Radulov made it a 2-0 game at 7:46. Alexander Ovechkin scored the third goal for Russia with only thirty seconds to go in the first period.

In the second period Russia relaxed and left little room to Lavtia. They scored only one goal, with Evgeni Malkin.

The third stanza has been more frenetic, at least on its start. Latvia stripped out Evgeny Nabokov of the shut out with a goal by Herberts Vasiljevs. After this goal Russia pushed the gas and got three quick goals, with Ovechkin, Zaripov and Ilya Kovalchuk. A quick shot by Gints Ankipans surprised Nabokov for the 7-2. Alexei Morozov scored the eight goal for Russia with just about one minute to play.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 18 shots for Russia.

Team Russia's next match will be on February 18th against Team Slovakia.

Russian TV channel "Russia 2" is reporting that Evgeny Nabokov will be the starting goalie for Russia in tonight's game against Latvia at the Olympics.

Also it is said that Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov will be rotated after each game. It means that very likely Bryzgalov will start in the game against Slovakia on Feb. 18.

Semyon Varlamov is reported to sit in reserve and be the 3rd goalie.

The Olympic Hockey Tournament is about to start today. Team's Russia first game will be the clash against Latvia in the Group B. Group's other match between Slovakia and Czech Republic will be played tomorrow.

It's very hard to predict a win for team Latvia in this game and thus team Russia should take this one pretty easily, but probably not as easy as in the last Olympics, where Kovalchuk's four goals led the Krikunov-trained team to a 9-2 triumph.

The puck is going to be dropped at the local 9 PM.

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.

Russia's opponents in the preliminary round at the Olympic Games in Vancouver will be the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Latvia.

Games schedule:
Tuesday, 16 February. Russia - Latvia.
Thursday, 18 February. Slovakia - Russia.
Sunday, 21 February. Russia - Czech Republic.