The Russians are one of the strongest teams in the Olympic tournament, blessed with great goaltending in Nikolai Khabibulin and a high octane offence led by the likes of the Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure.
The team has rid itself of past distractions surrounding the power brokerage of hockey control in Mother Russia. With a former star player coaching the team in Slava Fetisov, the Russian star players have wrestled control from the bureaucracy at home, and are truly playing for themselves.
| NO. |
PLAYER |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Birth
Date |
Team |
| 2 |
Boris Mironov |
D |
6'3 |
223 |
3/21/72 |
Chicago (NHL) |
| 5 |
Danny Markov |
D |
6'1 |
190 |
7/30/76 |
Phoenix (NHL_ |
| 7 |
Oleg Tverdovsky |
D |
6'1 |
204 |
5/18/76 |
Anaheim (NHL) |
| 8 |
Igor Larionov |
C |
5'11 |
170 |
12/3/60 |
Detroit (NHL) |
| 10 |
Pavel Bure |
RW |
5'10 |
189 |
3/31/71 |
Florida (NHL) |
| 11 |
Darius Kasparaitis |
D |
5'11 |
212 |
10/16/72 |
Pittsburgh (NHL) |
| 12 |
Oleg Kvasha |
C |
6'5 |
230 |
7/26/78 |
NY Islanders (NHL) |
| 14 |
Sergei Samsonov |
LW |
5'8 |
180 |
10/27/78 |
Boston (NHL) |
| 19 |
Alexei Yashin |
C |
6'3 |
225 |
11/5/73 |
NY
Islanders (NHL) |
| 20 |
Valeri Bure |
RW |
5'10 |
187 |
6/13/74 |
Florida (NHL) |
| 23 |
Vladimir Malakhov |
D |
6'5 |
230 |
8/30/68 |
NY Rangers (NHL) |
| 25 |
Viktor Kozlov |
C |
6'5 |
232 |
2/14/75 |
Florida (NHL) |
| 27 |
Alexei Kovalev |
RW |
6'1 |
215 |
2/24/73 |
Pittsburgh (NHL) |
| 31 |
Yegor Podomatsky |
G |
- |
- |
- |
Lokomitiv Yaroslavl |
| 33 |
Alexei Zhamnov |
C |
6'1 |
200 |
10/1/70 |
Chicago (NHL) |
| 35 |
Nikolai Khabibulin |
G |
6'1 |
195 |
1/13/73 |
Tampa Bay (NHL) |
| 36 |
Dmitry Yushkevich |
D |
5'11 |
208 |
11/19/71 |
Toronto (NHL) |
| 55 |
Sergei Gonchar |
D |
6'2 |
212 |
4/13/74 |
Washington (NHL) |
| 61 |
Maxim Afinogenov |
RW |
6'0 |
195 |
9/4/79 |
Buffalo (NHL) |
| 71 |
Ilya Kovalchuk |
RW |
6'1 |
220 |
4/15/83 |
Atlanta (NHL) |
| 73 |
Andrei Nikolishin |
C |
6'0 |
206 |
3/25/73 |
Washington (NHL) |
| 91 |
Sergei Fedorov |
C |
6'2 |
200 |
12/13/69 |
Detroit (NHL) |
| - |
Evgeni Nabokov |
G |
6'0 |
200 |
7/25/75 |
San Jose (NHL) |
Weaknesses
The defensive core.
The Russians are stacked up front and in goal, but after the first pairing, their defence gets shaky very fast. Sergei Gonchar and Darius Kasparaitis are a formidable duo at the top of the depth list, but after that the rest of the group (Malakhov, Markov, Kravchuk, Mironov, Tverdovsky) are wildly inconsistent, and prone to defensive errors.
History
Team Russia has been the most successful country in the history of the Olympic hockey tournament. They lead all countries in total gold medal victories with seven in the nation's visits to the Games. They lead Canada by one gold medal overall.
Historically the Russians have had a huge advantage at the Winter Olympics with the now antiquates amateur participation rules. Prior to the 1998 Olympics in Nagano only amateur hockey players were allowed to play, meaning Russian military personnel were in but NHL players were out. In the 1970's and 1980's this gave Russia a huge advantage.
Today Russia is still a very serious gold medal threat, but they may have to work a little harder to get it done.
Flames Players/Prospects
Igor Kravchuk - Kravchuk was added to the squad when Toronto Maple Leaf Dmitri Yuskevich came down with a blood clot in his leg. Kravchuk will likely act as a 7th defenceman, not seeing a lot of ice.
Keys to Victory
The key to a Russian gold medal victory will be to use the large ice to their offensive advantage, and hope that Khabibulin can bail them out when they break down.
Referees will play a large role with the Russian squad as well, as their powerplay could be a sight to behold with their star power.
The Russians are likely built to beat teams like Canada and the United States, but could run into trouble against trapping European teams.
Team Russia
