The Russian Hockey Federation has named the preliminary composition of the national team for the Beijing Olympics, which again (as in 2018) will be missed by NHL players.
On Monday, the pre-Olympic gathering of the national team began. The preliminary composition of 37 people is as follows:
goalkeepers: Yaroslav Askarov, Alexander Samonov (both SKA), Ivan Fedotov (CSKA), Timur Bilyalov (Ak Bars), Dmitry Shugaev (Severstal);
defenders: Vyacheslav Voinov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Vishnevsky, Alexander Nikishin (both Spartak), Daniil Pylenkov (SKA), Nikita Nesterov (CSKA), Alexander Elesin (Lokomotiv), Artem Minulin, Yegor Yakovlev (both - "Metallurg"), Shakir Mukhamadullin ("Salavat Yulaev"), Sergey Telegin ("Tractor"), Semyon Chistyakov, Damir Sharipzyanov (both - "Vanguard");
forwards: Sergey Andronov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Pavel Karnaukhov, Sergey Plotnikov, Anton Slepyshev (all - CSKA), Anton Burdasov, Nikita Gusev, Andrey Kuzmenko, Kirill Marchenko (all - SKA), Stanislav Galiev, Vadim Shipachev (both - Dynamo) , Moscow), Artem Galimov, Dmitry Voronkov (both Ak Bars), Arseniy Gritsyuk, Kirill Semenov (both Avangard), Alexander Kadeikin (Salavat Yulaev), Artur Kayumov, Artem Anisimov (both Lokomotiv ”), Vladimir Tkachev (“Tractor”), Andrey Chibisov (“Metallurg”).
Zhamnov expressed concern about anti-covid rules at the Olympics
Shipachev is the top scorer of the current KHL season. In 48 games, the forward scored 24 goals and made 43 assists.
The Beijing Olympic Games will be held February 4-20. The Russian team at the group stage will meet with the national teams of the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Denmark. The first rival of the Russian national team will be the Swiss, the meeting will take place on February 9.
The second consecutive Olympics will be held without NHL players.
Initially, the North American League approved the participation of its hockey players in the Games, after which all teams named three players each, who are guaranteed to get into the squad if they do not experience health problems. The FHR included forwards Alexander Ovechkin (Washington) and Nikita Kucherov, as well as goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky (both Tampa Bay) in such a trio.
However, due to the spread of the coronavirus and numerous outbreaks of the disease, the NHL and the players' union have decided not to travel to the Olympics. Also, the International Ice Hockey Federation banned individual league players from traveling to Beijing bypassing the NHL.
In 2018, the Olympic tournament in Pyeongchang was won by Russian hockey players under the leadership of Oleg Znark, who acted in the status of "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR).
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