Russian to Hockey Gold

Russia took its first step toward a try at its first Olympic gold medal, Monday. With just over six months to go until faceoff, 38 players have been named to the Russian Olympic hockey summer camp roster.

The camp will run from Aug 29 to Sept 1 in Moscow and almost all Russians from the 2009 world championship-winning team made the roster. Only Sergei Mozyakin, who led Europe's Kontinental Hockey League in scoring last season, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexander Perezhogin and Anton Kuryanov are missing.

Russia, expected to be one of Team Canada's biggest rivals at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, has won the past two consecutive world championship titles. While a team wearing a Russian jersey has never won an Olympic gold medal, the Soviet Union hockey team dominated at the Winter Games from 1956 to 1988, winning nine medals - seven gold - in as many years.

The list of invitees to the camp includes 19 players each from the National Hockey League and the KHL.

While some names, like Nikokai Khabibulin (Chicago Blackhawks), Vyacheslav Kozlov (Atlanta Thrashers) and Sergei Samsonov (Carolina Hurricanes), were absent, most Russian hockey players in the NHL received invitations.

Former NHL star Alexei Yashin, who played on the 2006 Olympic team, was also not included on the roster.

The Russian national team will practice at the CSKA Moscow facilities and play in the Euro Hockey Tour tournament in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, from Sept 3-6 shortly after the camp.

The roster for the tournament remains unannounced, but only KHL players are expected to attend.

Rosters for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games must be announced by Dec 31, 2009, but changes due to injuries will still be allowed until the first games of the men's tournament on Feb 15, 2010. At that point the teams will have to register their final roster of 20 skaters and three goaltenders.

The roster for Canada's hockey camp was unveiled early last month. 45 players are expected to attend the camp that will run from August 24-27 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary.

Russian camp roster:

Goaltenders: Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes, NHL), Simeon Varlamov (Washington Capitals, NHL), Alexander Eremenko (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose Sharks, NHL).

Defencemen: Vitali Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, RUS), Vitali Vishnevsky (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, RUS), Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa Senators, NHL), Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL), Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton Oilers, NHL), Alexei Zhitnik (Dynamo Moscow, RUS), Sergei Zubov (Dallas Stars, NHL), Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Maxim Kondratiev (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Konstantin Korneyev (CSKA Moscow, RUS), Andrei Markov (Montreal Canadiens, NHL), Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Vitali Proshkin (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Oleg Tverdovsky (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Fedor Tyutin (Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL).

Forwards: Evgeny Artyukhin (Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL), Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres, NHL), Konstantin Gorovikov (SKA St. Petersburg, RUS), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings, NHL), Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Alexei Kovalev (Ottawa Senators, NHL), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Trashers, NHL), Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL), Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals, NHL), Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Oleg Saprykin (Dynamo Moscow, RUS), Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals, NHL), Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, RUS), Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles Kings, NHL).

Wow – well, Team Canada will certainly have its work cut out for them. GO CANADA!

Source: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/