Pro Hockey Resume

Pavel Bure , newly appointed general manager of the Russian men's ice hockey team watches his team practice at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, February 13, 2006. REUTERS

By: Sport Express.ru

Today the Russian coaching staff of the ice hockey team is to decide the list of 23 players for the squad for the Olympics in Vancouver. The famous player, who worked as general manager of the Russian national team in the Turin-2006 Pavel Bure commented on the situation yesterday.
“The statement that the First Channel Cup was important for determining the squad is true for the KHL players only,” stated Bure. “But we must understand that 70-80% of the roster will be made up by the players from NHL clubs.”

“That is why caring in mind the coming Olympics it is worthless to estimate the performance of the team where there were no Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Datsyuk and Malkin.”

“Let’s not compare the First Channel Cup and the Vancouver-2010, these are two absolutely different tournaments. Two differently staffed teams are playing there.”

“On the Games everyone is on equal footing and the teams get together only 3-4 days before the start. Probably somebody really failed the recent Moscow tournament but we should not make serious decisions about it.”

“I think it does not matter where the management will get the players from KHL or NHL – main point is that these guys should play well. In KHL there are many good masters.”

“Four years ago when I was general manager of our national squad all our best players were playing in NHL but now the situation is different. Many strong hockey players perform at home.”

“Determining the squad one should watch and analyze a lot. But these cares are pleasant.”

“I can compare the current situation with the manning of the team with the way Brazil chooses footballers into its national squad. They also have a big choice of good masters. And they never get stuck on the place the player performs in – whether it is Europe or not. The criterion is level of mastery and preparedness.”

“It is a month and a half left before the Olympics it could have been inadequate to place a firm list of players. But as far as I understand we can make substitutions till the very moment of the final application is handed in, as somebody can get injury.”

“In the team balance is essential. One cannot do without veterans and their experience. These people can lead the team in deciding moments.”

“But the youth is also important, as they have great desire, excitement and passion. A team can only be good when it is well-balanced.”

Buffalo-born Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane suggested recently the hockey gods may be on Team USA’s side this February at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

“There is great talk about the ‘Miracle On Ice,’” he said of the United States’ upset victory over heavily favored Russia in the semifinal round of the 1980 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament at Lake Placid, N.Y.

“It’s the 30th anniversary of that… hopefully we can make that mean something.”

Told of Kane’s hope, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar suggested that perhaps the hockey gods will pay the karmic favor of returning Russia to the top of a sport its citizens once cherished and make it the defending Olympic champion when the Winter Games debut at his home country in 2016.

“This is going to be a big year for Russian hockey,” he said. “All of Russia will be watching, and it will be important for us to show our people something. It is important for Russia to remind everybody what we can do in hockey.”

Counting the loss in 1980, the then-Soviet Union won seven of nine gold medals in Olympic ice hockey from 1956-1988; but Russia’s best finish over the past four Games was second in 1998.

Russia and Canada will arrive at Vancouver as co-favorites to claim gold, and players for each country will face surreal external expectations to win. That pressure is also internal for Team Russia, which conceivably could deploy a top line centered by Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin (the reigning NHL scoring champion and playoff MVP) and wingers Alex Ovechkin (two-time defending MVP) and Ilya Kovalchuk (a former 50-goal scorer).

Hockey will rule in Canada no matter what its men’s ice hockey team does at these Games. That might not hold true in Russia, where Gonchar said soccer had ruled, especially in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, over the past few years.

Soccer’s popularity and lucrative, tax-fee contracts offered by the second-year Kontinetal Hockey League are two big reasons, he guessed, that the final NHL season of this decade began with 64 fewer Russians playing in the sport’s top league than at the turn of the century.

According to a USA Today report last week, only 23 Russians were currently on NHL rosters. Most of the Russians playing in the NHL are that country’s elite players, including Malkin, Ovechkin and Kovalchuk — and they are ready to lead Team Russia in February, Gonchar said.

“They’re old enough to recognize what is going on,” he said. “They realize what is at stake.”

Malkin stated that simply, and best.

“Pride for Russia,” he said, “is to win gold.

“Nothing else.”