Alexander Ovechkin gets Kharlamov Trophy (Photo © Getty Images)

Alexander Ovechkin won the Valeri Kharlamov Trophy awarded by Sovietskiy Sport to the best Russian player in the NHL.

It’s the fifth consecutive win for the Washington Capitals’ superstar.

“I’m very happy to get the trophy named after Kharlamov for the fifth time. Deserved or not deserved, I’ve got it and I’m glad that the NHL guys voted for me. Now I’ve got to try to win it for the sixth time”, said Ovechkin after the ceremony.

“It’s great that Alexander won the award for the fifth time”, added Ovechkin’s mom Tatiana. “Valeri Kharlamov was a great player and it’s great that Ovechkin won the trophy named after him. It’s sad that Kharlamov’s father passed away, we miss him.”

2010 WC: Czech Republic gets the Gold (Photo © REUTERS/Grigory Dukor)

Team Czech Republic won the Gold Medal in the 2010 WC Finals. The Czechs prevailed 2-1 after an early goal by Jakub Klepis assisted by Jaromir Jagr and a marker from Tomas Rolinek late in the second period. Pavel Datsyuk cut down the Czech advantage with a third period goal, but Bykov’s team didn’t manage to revert the score. Surely this wasn’t the best season for Team Russia.

Ovechkin and other Russian players didn’t manage to tie it up despite a couple of powerplay chances in the second half of the first period as Tomas Vokoun played solidly between the pipes. Pavel Datsyuk managed to put the puck in the back of the net during a last second rush, but the clock hit the zero before the puck went in.

During the second period Team Russia pushed the gas trying to tie it up, but without much luck. At the eighteenth minute Ovechkin and Fedorov collided deep in the zone, Karel Rachunek got the puck and brought it up, then centering for the rushing Tomas Rolinek, who deflected the puck in with the skates, but the refs ruled the goal valid.

In the final stanza the Czechs controlled the game and kept playing a slow tempo hockey. Team Russia looked tired and couldn’t build good offensive rushes until a late goal by Pavel Datsyuk with the man advantage and Varlamov sitting on the bench. Bykov’s team kept on pushing, but the clock ran out, gifting Czech Republic a well deserved win.

Semyon Varlamov had a good game between the pipes, with 23 players. But his good performance and a roster with 13 Olympians wasn’t enough to get past a well organized Team Czech Republic.

2010 WC: Russian preliminary roster is out (Photo © Sport-Express)

Team Russia released the preliminary roster for the upcoming 2010 World Championship, that will be played in Germany from May 7th to 23rd.. Bykov and Zakharkin made some changes from the LG Hockey Games line-up. The roster is made up of 11 NHL players and 12 KHL players. The team’s captain isn’t decided yet. Most likely the starting goaltender duties will be shared between Eremenko and Varlamov, with Koshechkin acting as third goalie.

Goalkeepers:
Alexander Eremenko (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Vasily Koshechkin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Semyon Varlamov (Washington Capitals)

Defencemen:
Konstantin Korneev (CSKA Moscow)
Vitaly Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Dmitriy Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan)
Alexei Emelin (Ak Bars Kazan)
Denis Grebeshkov (Nashville Predators)
Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers)

Forwards:
Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta Thrashers)
Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers)
Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals)
Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan)
Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers)
Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils)
Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Maxim Sushinsky (SKA St. Petersburg)
Sergei Mozyakin (Atlant Mytischi)
Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa)
Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles Kings)
Alexander Svitov (Avangard Omsk)

2010 Olympics: Team Russia aftermath (Photo © sovsport.ru)

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.

Goalkeepers

Ilya Bryzgalov: B+
He played a good game against Slovakia, but he got a L and thus he got benched in the following matches. He should have get more chances.

Evgeny Nabokov: D
In the first match against Latvia he didn’t look too good, but it was an easy game. Against the Czechs he did his job, but in the quarterfinals he had just a terrible night. He should have been benched earlier. He was really disappointing.

Defencemen

Andrei Markov: C+
Unfortunately he wasn’t in his best shape. He tried hard being useful for his team but he didn’t play his best and also he didn’t get enough ice time.

Anton Volchenkov: C+
One of the best blueliners for this team. He always tried hard, blocked a lot of shots, played physically. But against Canada he didn’t particularly stand out .

Dmitriy Kalinin: C
He didn’t look out of place. He wasn’t team Russia’s best blueliner but he did his job.

Sergei Gonchar: C
Just like Markov he didn’t get too much ice time. And he appeared in the score sheet only once.

Fedor Tyutin: C-
He didn’t do anything special. As a NHL player he should have bring more to the team.

Ilya Nikulin: C-
He didn’t make disasters, but it showed that he’s not used to face elite level competition and he faced some hard time in the own zone.

Denis Grebeshkov: C-
He didn’t impress, even in the round robin games. He still has a lot of room for improvements, but he has to deliver better performances.

Konstantin Korneev: C-
He didn’t look bad, but he was the only pointless player on the roster. The CSKA captain didn’t look out of place in the round robin, even if he has been played most of times in an unusual and unexpected role. His ice time has been limited in the game against Canada.

Forwards

Sergei Fedorov: C+
The proof that you can be a good player even at 40. Even if he looked a bit slow, he played well throughout the whole tournament and despite the infamous quarterfinal game he was one of the best players in Team Russia jersey.

Evgeni Malkin: C
Malkin, just like most of the forwards, played fairly well in the round robin matches, but he didn’t show up when it mattered more.

Pavel Datsyuk: C
Maybe he didn’t gel with his linemates, but Datsyuk didn’t really impress during these Olympic games, he didn’t look the key player he is for the Red Wings, just think about the shoot out attempt against Slovakia.

Alexei Morozov: C
Team Russia’s captain tried hard, but didn’t impress too much. He scored an important goal against the Slovaks, but that’s pretty much all.

Maxim Afinogenov: C
He went unpleasantly unnoticed in the first couple of games, then he improved a bit and scored a nice, yet unuseful, goal against the Canadians.

Danis Zaripov: C-
The ZZM line has always had good chemistry, too bad in Vancouver they played on small ice…He did fairly well in the first couple of games, then he slept away.

Viktor Kozlov: C-
His call was questionable, and he didn’t do too much to make people change idea. That being said, he could have get a chance in the shootouts against Slovakia.

Alexander Radulov: C-
Radulov didn’t play bad, but not great either. He almost spoiled the party against the Slovaks when he missed a chance, got a penalty and then injured Zinoviev, but he probably deserved more ice time.

Sergei Zinoviev: C-
Kudos for playing in the quarterfinals on one leg, but he should have sat on the bench, especially after that terrible turnover in the neutral zone that led Canadians to a goal.

Alexander Ovechkin: D
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the tournament as he was the most awaited player. He was a no factor against Canada and overall lost the phenom fight against Crosby.

Ilya Kovalchuk: D
What a difference between the Kovalchuk we admired at the last two WC in Quebec and Switzerland. He looked more the player on ice at the Turin Olympics. One goal is definitely not enough for a player of his caliber.

Alexander Semin: D
Just like other Russian superstar forwards, he didn’t show up.

Ovechkin, Gonchar, Kovalchuk, Volchenkov talk about Czech Republic, hit on Jagr (Photo © Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

After the 4-2 victory against Czech Republic many players agreed that the Ovechkin hit on Jagr turned the momentum in Russia‘s favor. Team Russia players felt that this was the key event of the game and it helped their team getting the edge over Czech Republic.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of short quotes taken right after the game from Sergei Gonchar, Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeny Nabokov, Alexander Ovechkin and Anton Volchenkov.

“Ovechkin has a very good physical play, that’s why he always tries to pressure the opponents”, Sergei Gonchar told Sport-Express. “Successful actions are always reflected to the team’s morale. This was the case of today’s game. I think the first line played very well.”

Ilya Kovalchuk agrees with him: “It was good when Ovechkin hit Jagr”, Kovalchuk said to Sovietskiy Sport. “He played hard, we got the puck and quickly scored the 3-1 goal. That helped us a lot. Hopefully Zinoviev will be allright. We will play for him too.”

Also Evgeny Nabokov felt that Ovechkin’s hit changed the flow of the game. “The hit on Jagr by Ovechkin was one of the most important moments of the game. Ovechkin is Ovechkin. In any situation he shows who he is and why he’s different from any other player”, he told Sovietskiy Sport. “These games are never easy. It was a very important game for us. We wanted to get the first seed in the Group B and get a bye for the quarterfinals. The game was very intense. It had plenty of shots on goal and battles in the slot. On the powerplays, the Czechs put two players in front of me so to cover my vision. A couple of times they managed to do so that I lost the puck from my field of vision, but the defensemen manage to clear it. The hardest moment was when we were up 3-2 as in such situations usually the opponents give you a good pressure.”

But Alexander Ovechkin himself played down the event a little bit, stating through Sovietskiy Sport that “every shift is important as it’s part of the game. When you want to help your team and play harder, and you are successful in that, you can wake up your team. I wasn’t the only one to play hard, all my team mates fought hard and did everything they could.”

Also Anton Volchenkov wanted to share his opinion, published at Sovietskiy Sport: “The most important part of the game was Kozlov’s goal. We finished the second period ahead. And in the third period Ovechkin had a great hit on Jagr. I know what hits are. That was an outstanding hit and after it we even scored. This too was a really important moment of the game.”

Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com

Alexander Ovechkin: “Jagr made a move to my side and I just hit him” (Photo © Gene J. Puskar, AP)

Team Russia forward Alexander Ovechkin commented on his hit on Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic in a game between Russia and Czech Republic at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver.

“I see him coming and my first reaction was to play the puck,” Ovechkin said to NHL.com . “He made a move to my side and I just hit him.”

Alexander Ovechkin switched the moment in favor of Russia with a bone crushing, open ice hit on Jaromir Jagr in the first few minutes of the final stanza. The puck then ended up on Alexander Semin’s stick, who served Evgeni Malkin with a great cross ice pass. Malkin one-timed the puck in for the game winning goal in Russia’s 4-2 win over Czech Republic.

Ovechkin told Russian site sports.ru, “I hit Jagr automatically. I’m happy that we managed to score a few seconds later. We hugged each other after the game. Jagr bears no grudge at me. This is hockey, this is the Olympics, anything can happen here.”

After the game Jagr told SovSport, “I wish I had a concussion, I would forget Ovechkin sooner. I don’t think the hit was legal.”

Jagr, quoted by Craig Custance of SportingNews.com, acted like a true teamplayer, not looking for excuses after losing the puck to Russia in the neutral zone. “The hit I don’t really care, the mistake, the turnover I made…that hurts. That hurt me the most.”

Kovalchuk, quoted by Craig Custance, added: “That’s a great hit. It’s a clean hit… It was a big moment for us.”

Video of Ovechkin’s hit on Jagr.

Russia defeats Czech Republic 4-2 (Photo © REUTERS/ Scott Audette)

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.

At the start of the second period Alexander Semin had a great chance during a delayed penalty against the Czechs, but his backhander went wide of the crease despite the open net. In the consequent powerplay Team Russia pressured well the opponents, but without creating havoc.

Five minutes to the second horn Viktor Kozlov broke the tie, scored the 2-1 goal for Russia after a scramble in the high slot.

Later at the end of the second period Sergei Zinoviev suffered from a knee injury after a play on the board caused by Alexander Radulov and had to be helped out of the ice.

Right on the start of the third period team Russia scored the third goal: after a big hit by Ovechkin on Jagr, Alexander Semin run down the left and with a great pass served Malkin right in front of the goalie. One-timer and 3-1.

But the Czech Republic didn’t give up and scored the 3-2 goal with Milan Michalek five minutes to the end of the regulation. The Czechs eventually pulled the goalie, but Pavel Datsyuk scored the emtpy netter with thirteen seconds to go.

“We were hungry for the win after the defeat against Slovakia”, Malkin told Russian TV channel Russia-2 after the game. “All the four lines played very well and I think we got a well deserved win. I like this new line I’m playing in, we are three quick players and we played very well today. We played very actively. Ovechkin played a great game, we really wanted to win. We still make some errors in the defensive zone, we will work on them in the next practices.”

Evgeny Nabokov finished the match with 23 saves.

2010 Olympics: Russia – Czech Republic preview (Photo © Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Team Russia‘s opponent in the third round robin match of the 2010 Olympic Tournament will be team Czech Republic. The Czechs, lead by the evergreen Jaromir Jagr, feature a very good lineup with plenty of NHL caliber players.

Russia has to skate past Czech Republic in order to secure the first seed in the Group B and get a bye into the quarterfinals. The Czechs are on the top of the standings with six points in two games. The Slovaks follow with five points, but they played three games.

Team Russia will try hard to put the 1-2 defeat against Slovakia in the past. “It’s always tough to lose, but it’s good to have it happen now in the tournament,” Alexander Ovechkin told espn.com.

Most likely team Russia’s lineup will undergo many changes. Vyacheslav Bykov will swap Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk. “We try different combinations”, said Bykov to sportbox.ru, “so that it would be possible to vary the lines if necessary.”

With this changes Ovechkin and Malkin will be paired together. “I think that now in our line there will be more speed and physical play”, Ovechkin told Sovietskiy Sport. “We have to play our game and try not to do too much, or we won’t be successfull.”

Evgeny Nabokov is going to get another start after the first win over Latvia, while Sergei Fedorov is going to play after missing a practice.

The puck is going to be dropped at the local 12 AM.

Russia loses to Slovakia in shootout, 1-2 (Photo © AP Photo)

A shootout goal by Pavol Demitra gave Slovakia the edge over Team Russia in the Olympic Hockey tournament‘s round robin. In the Group B standings Russia retains the lead with 4 points, but with one game more than Czech Republic, who beaten team Slovakia yesterday.

Bykov’s team had some chances at the start, especially with a shot from the high slot by Alexander Ovechkin, but Jaroslav Halak saved all the 10 opponents’ attempts. 8 saves so far for Ilya Bryzgalov.

In the second period Alexei Morozov scored the 1-0 goal with a good one time from the right circle after another bad powerplay show by Team Russia. Bykov’s team controlled most of the play in the middle stanza and got twice near to the second goalie, first with Maxim Afinogenov, then with a great rush by Evgeni Malkin, but Halak was ready in both plays. Team Slovakia had some chances too, but Bryzgalov has been steady and kept Russia up by one goal.

In the third period’s start Team Russia killed a double powerplay for the Slovaks. With the teams back on even strength Ovechkin had a good counterattack chance, but Halak once again saved his team.

Midway through the period Slovakia tied it up with a shot by superstar Marian Hossa, who put the puck between Bryzgalov’s pads. The match was played at good pace, but it didn’t see any other big chance.

The third period ended with the teams tied at one and thus the match is going to the overtime, in which the teams didn’t manage to be dangerous.

In the shootout Jozef Stumpel and Ovechkin scored in the first three attempts. Bykov tried different shooters later, Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk, but it didn’t work out. Thanks to Halak’s saves and Demitra’s goal Slovakia could celebrate a deserved win.

Here is the video of Demitra’s game-winning shootout attempt.

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Russia gets the first Olympic win over Latvia (Photo © Getty Images)

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.