Photo credit: Sport-Express

While the Washington Capitals season ended painfully last night after a 5-0 game seven loss to the New York Rangers, Alex Ovechkin will continue playing hockey. The Capitals revealed before his final press conference of the season that Ovi has been invited to Finland to join his comrades on the Russian National team competing in the 2013 World Championships. He will be flying over this afternoon.

“This morning they just called me and asked if I’m healthy and ready to go,” Ovi told reporters at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. “I said ‘Yeah, I’m ready to go.’ I’m still wanting to play. I don’t want to take off, I don’t want to watch games. I want to play hockey.”

“I’m in good shape,” he added. “Mentally I think I’m ready.”

Ovechkin will join top prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov, who plans to begin his professional career with the Capitals at some point after the Olympics next season.

Kuznetsov, despite matching or surpassing his goal and point totals from last season, has drawn some criticism from the Russian media for his struggles. He even got a verbal smack down from Vladislav Tretiak, the greatest Russian goalie of all-time before the World Championships.

“We want Kuznetsov to take responsibility,” Tretiak told Andrey Kuznetsov of Sport-Express. “There’s a lot of talk about with him, but I haven’t seen Evgeny playing like a leader with the national team. Though at his age, it’s time to take over the leadership role.”

“It’s time to understand that gold medal of Buffalo WJC is history and that you need to show yourself right now,” Tretiak continued. “Amazing chances like a World Championship roster spot won’t last forever.”

Kuzya wasn’t given a roster spot initially. The team lost their first three games before falling meekly to France and Finland. Against Slovakia on Sunday, Kuznetsov was finally given his chance, playing on the third line with Artem Anisimov  of the Blue Jackets and Islanders prospect Kirill Petrov. On Tuesday after scoring two goals for the gold medal winning Russia in last year’s World Championships, Kuznetsov tallied his first goal of this season’s tournament, a blistering one timer from the top of the left circle.

Kuznetsov scores at the 1:50 mark.

While Ovechkin and Kuznetsov are friends, Ovechkin has criticized the 21-year-old hometown hero of Chelyabinsk for staying in Russia, saying “I think he’s outgrown the KHL level” and “he needs to move on.”

However, when asked Tuesday about what he thinks Kuznetsov might bring to the Caps in the future, Ovi was terse.

“To be honest with you I didn’t see his game, but I’m going to watch his game soon,” he told RMNB’s Chris Gordon.

They will now try to win gold together for the second time in two years. Russia will play the USA on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin and Chris Gordon.

Evgeny Kuznetsov in Team Russia practice facility. (Photo credit: Sovetsky Sport)

4PM UPDATE: A few days ago Team Russia head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov announced three goalies and 25 skaters, including Kuznetsov, who “would be travelling to Helsinki and Stockholm for the Worlds Championship tournament.” Not all of the players named by the coach will be on the Team Russia’s final roster. IIHF rules allow for the minimum of 15 skaters and 2 goalies to be named no later than today; players can be added to the roster at any time during the tournament, up to the maximum of 22 skaters and 3 goalies. While some teams have filed their full rosters, Team Russia is taking an incremental approach. They announced today the first group of players – 3 goalies, 5 defensemen, and 11 forwards. Evgeny Kuznetsov does not appear on the list. Kuzya may make the team later, especially if some of the Russian players currently involved in the Stanley Cup playoffs do not make a quick 1st round exit.

ORIGINAL STORY: Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov has been named to Team Russia for the 2013 IIHF World Championships, which begin Friday in Sweden and Finland.

Kuznetsov won gold in last year’s World Champs while playing in a limited role. Kuzya has been less than impressive in the last few months, earning Joey Crabb treatment by national team coach Zinetula “Bill” Bilyaletdinov, playing on the fourth line at the EuroHockeyTour tournament in Czech Republic. To his credit, Kuznetsov looked impressive in his limited ice time, which probably secured him a spot on the national team. After the tournament, Kuznetsov, who has been encouraged to tweak his game to a less flashy, more steady team style by Traktor coach Valery Belousov, complained about the “black cat on his shoulder” that’s been bringing him bad luck for the last half of the season. He told reporters that he has set a conditioning program for the off-season to come back in a better shape for the beginning of next season.

Traktor will sure need it. Despite retaining star goalie Michael Garnett, top line forwards Jan Bulis and Stanislav Chistov and second-line center Petri Kontiola, there are still a lot of question marks surrounding future of the Traktor squad. Despite being far from the richest team in the league, the club from hockey-obsessed Chelyabinsk has had two long playoff runs in the last couple years. Now they’ve lost their top all-situation defenseman Deron Quint, veteran forward Maxim Yakutsenya as well as few of the youngest members of the squad: defenseman Nikita Nesterov and forwards Maxim Karpov and Valery Nichushkin.

In slightly less important Kuzya news, Hockey’s Future has named him their Prospect of the Year. If you’re the world’s prospect even in your ‘down’ year, that’s quite impressive.

Photo via: photo.khl.ru

The entire Russian national team was clearly elated to win World Championship gold this year, dominating their competition along the way and winning their final game 6-2. While there was a lot of the expected hugging and jumping around, former Cap Semyon Varlamov was especially overexcited, which led to a small mishap when he was handed the trophy.

Gif created by sashabarkov.tumblr.com

Luckily Varlamov and the trophy both seemed to be unharmed, but that wasn’t the only spill during the celebration.

The entire Russian team decided at one point after the win that they should pick up their coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, and throw him in the air, while wearing skates on a sheet of ice. Surprisingly, this did not end in disaster, except a minor one for Alex Ovechkin, who promptly fell down. You can make him out in the bottom left corner of the first photo, mid-fall.

Alex Semin has been relatively quiet since joining the Russian national team for the World Championships, recording only assists in his two games played before the final gold-medal round. Semin showed up for Team Russia in a big way today, scoring twice and recording one assist to lead the team to a 6-2 win, securing their first World Championship gold medal since 2009.

Slovakia came out strong at the beginning of the game, Zdeno Chara scoring within the first two minutes to take an early lead. It didn’t take long for Russia to push back — a goal from Semin tied up the game, and Russia went on to score four more unanswered goals from Alexander Perezhogin, Alexei Tereshenko, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, and Semin again. Alex Ovechkin took a slashing penalty late in the third, allowing Zdeno Chara the opportunity to score again on the power play.

Ovechkin notched two assists in the win, playing on a line with Datsyuk and Semin. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who has seen his ice time dwindle since Ovechkin and Semin joined the team in Sweden, only had one shift during the game, on the fourth line.

The Russian national team won all ten of its games this year, with a combined score of 44-14. This is Team Russia’s third World Championship gold medal in five years.

The game will be re-aired on NBCSN at 9:00 PM EST.

Video of Semin’s Goals

Photos

Photo credit: photo.khl.ru

Semin scores. (Photo via sashastolemyheart.tumblr.com)

“We did it!” (Photo via sashastolemyheart.tumblr.com)

Photo via merkitheperfectionist.tumblr.com

Photo via h0ckey-l0ve.tumblr.com

Photo via sashastolemyheart.tumblr.com

Varly celebrates his first ever World Championship gold medal. (Photo via veronikacw.tumblr.com)

Photo via chinchillin67.tumblr.com

Check out Ovi on the bottom right!

The Russians toss Head Coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov in the air to celebrate.

Photo credit: championat.com

Alex Semin and Zdeno Chara receive their player of the game awards. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette)

Zdeno Chara wears a Pavol Demitra jersey backwards in tribute. (Photo via milanlucheck.tumblr.com)

Ilya Nikulin holds up the World Championships trophy. (Photo via russianhockeyplayers.tumblr.com)

Photo credit: championat.com

Ovechkin kisses the trophy. (Photo credit: championat.com)

Photo credit: championat.com

Photo via ovechkate.tumblr.com

The Sashas carry the Russian flag around the ice. (Photo credit: championat.com)

Photo credit: championat.com

Team picture! (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette)

Ovi drinks champagne from the cup. (Photo credit: @hockeyreview)

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Peter Bondra holds up the 2002 World Championships’ trophy.

By beating the Czech Republic 3-1 in the second semifinal of the World Champs, Slovakia earned the right to play Russia, who defeated Finland earlier Saturday, for the gold medal. The Slovakians have won the Worlds once, in 2002, when they upset Russia in the final. Capitals legend Peter Bondra scored twice in that game, including the game winner with less than two minutes left in the third period of play.

Video is below the jump.

Peter Bondra scores the late game-winning goal to give Slovakia its only World Championship… so far. Check out full highlights, including another Bondra goal.

With that last goal, Bondra also won the goal-scoring race. Also in top-10 were then-Caps Ulf Dahlen (fourth) and Jaromir Jagr (tenth). Six Capitals who played in the World Championships that year, including Steve Konowalchuk, Joe Sacco, and Todd Rohloff, who played for Team USA.

Pavel Datsyuk seemed tired, but satisfied, following Russia’s dominant 6-2 win over the Finnish national team. He did not score in the game, but with the victory, Russia will now have the opportunity to win its first World Championship gold medal since 2009.

His good mood did not mean, however, that he wanted microphones in his grill. “Don’t too close,” he said, watching the microphones. “It’s not ice cream, guys.”

Video

The quote’s at the 1:26 mark. (S/t copperboom.tumblr.com for the video.)

Indeed, Pavel. Indeed it is not.

GIF

Created by @broflacco.

Ovi celebrates his goal. (Photo credit: Championat.com/Getty Images)

Despite allowing the first goal, the Russians dominated the Finns for almost the whole game, winning 6-2. Evgeny Malkin scored a hat trick, while Alex Ovechkin, Denis Kokarev and Sergei Shirokov each added a goal of their own.

Ovechkin scored in the second period through a screen set by teammate Alexander Perezhogin, eluding several defenders to put the puck over Finnish goalie Petri Vehanen’s shoulder. It’s his second goal in two games played since joining the national team in Sweden.

Alex Semin did not appear on the scoresheet, and had no shots on goal. Evgeny Kuznetsov played in 2:26 TOI in three shifts, all in the third period. Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves in the win.

The Russian team will play Slovakia in the gold medal game on Sunday. It begins at 12:15 EST tomorrow.

Video of Alex Ovechkin’s Goal

Photos

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

More Hunter Hockey from Alex Semin. (Photo credit: Championat.com/Getty Images)

Varly makes a pad save on a shot by Mikael Granlund, as Sasha Minor looks on. (Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick)

Ovi goes for a big hit. (Photo credit: Championat.com/Getty Images)

Malkin in pain. (Photo credit: rsport.ru)

Malkin scores. (Photo credit: rsport.ru)

Malkin celebrates his hat trick. (Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick)

The ice crew collects the hats thrown by fans. (Photo credit: rsport.ru)

Varly celebrates the win. (Photo credit: Championat.com/Getty Images)

Semin hugs Varly. Angry Bird comes onto the ice! (Photo credit: rsport.ru)

The hand-shake line. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette)

Ovi and Malkin watch the Russian flag rise as their National Anthem is played. (Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick)

Ovi speaks to reporters after the game. (Photo credit: photo.khl.ru)

Semin too! (Photo credit: photo.khl.ru)

Photo credit: ria.ru

Top-seeded Team Russia defeated Team Norway today with a score of 5-2 to advance to the semifinals of the World Championship being held in Stockholm. Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin joined their national team on the ice for the first time and had an immediate impact, with Ovechkin scoring the first goal of the night and Semin providing two assists.

Ovechkin broke a World Championships pointless streak stretching back through all five games of last year’s tournament, scoring nearly eight minutes into the game. His tally began with teammate Alex Semin going strong to the net with the puck, allowing the Russian superstar to collect a rebound behind Norwegian goalie Lars Haugen. Ovechkin then knocked the puck in when he attempted to center the puck.

Ovi, Semin, Kuznetsov, and the rest of Team Russia will play Finland in the semifinals, which will take place on Saturday.

Video of Ovechkin’s Goal

Photos

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Photo credit: championat.com

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF

Ovi celebrates his goal with Kuzya and the rest of Team Russia. (Photo credit: championat.com)

Ovi smiles with Team Captain Ilya Nikulin after the game. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Hunter Hockey from AS28? (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Ovechkin shakes hands with Norwegian goalie Lars Volden. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Ovechkin and Malkin stand during the national anthem after the game. (Photo credit: Andre Ringuette/IIHF)

Kuznetsov poses with the second-place silver platter. (Photo credit: Francois Laplante)

After defeating Canada 6-5 Tuesday, Team Russia returned to Calgary’s Saddledome on Thursday night to take on Sweden in the WJC’s gold medal game. Russia struggled from the get-go and only found their game in spurts during the third period.

The shot statistics tell the tale. Russia went without a shot on goal for the first 12:34 of the game, and at the end of the first period Sweden had outshot them 17 to 3.

The second period was even worse, as Russia managed to throw only one puck on net. By the end of the third period, Sweden held a 50 to 16 shot advantage. The game, however, remained scoreless.

In overtime, after outshooting Russia 8-1, Mika Zibanejad scored the golden goal on a breakaway, giving Sweden its first U-20 championship in 31 years. Caps prospect and captain of the Russian WJC team, Evgeny Kuznetsov, returned to the bench, crouched over, and weeped.

Despite the loss, Kuznetsov was named most valuable player of the tournament and was added to the WJC All-Star team for the second year in a row. His 13 points in Calgary and Edmonton led all scorers.

Due to age restrictions, this will be Evgeny’s last year playing on the junior circuit. During his three years playing on Russia’s WJC team, Kuznetsov was historically great:*

• During his three years on Team Russia, Kuznetsov scored or assisted on 29% (16 of 56) of his team’s goals during the preliminary stage and 42% (10 of 24) of the team’s goals in the playoffs.
• He has the second most career points among all skaters who have played in the WJC since 2000. Only Jordan Schroeder had more. Kuznetsov’s 26 career points (12 goals, 24 assists) leaves him tied with Jordan Eberle, Nikita Filatov, Brayden Schenn, and Henrik Sedin.
• Kuzetsov’s 26 career points ties him for the most points ever in U-20 Team Russia history with Filatov.
• Kuznetsov’s 26 career points ties him for most points scored ever by a player drafted by the Capitals (Michal Pivonka).
• His 13 points in this year’s tournament was the most a Russian has ever scored. His 11 points in 2011 tied him for second all-time with Filatov, Alex Ovechkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko in U-20 Team Russia history.

Kuznetsov will now return home to Chelyabinsk and play out the rest of the KHL season where his hometown team Traktor is in first place in the Eastern Conference. Kuznetsov is eligible to sign with the Capitals during the summer and play for them next season.

*Note: Russian stats do not include USSR.

Photos and Video

The Swedes’ call of the golden goal. (Via Puck Daddy)

Kuznetsov’s near goal in the third period. Off the post!

Sick pass from Kuznetsov to Gusev which almost results in a goal.

Evgeny Kuznetsov’s first period roughing penalty.

Sweden’s Mika Zibanejad scores on Russia goaltender Andrei Makarov in OT. (Photo credit: Nathan Denette)

Zibanejad celebrates his goal. (Photo credit: Andy Devlin)

Kuznetsov goes through the handshake line. (Photo credit: Richard Wolowicz)

Team Russia’s three MVP’s of the game. Kuzya (far right) not happy. (Photo credit: Francois Laplante)

Captain Johan Larsson celebrates Team Sweden’s gold medal win with the championship trophy. (Photo credit: Canadian Press)

Sweden players pose for a team photo. (Photo credit: Richard Wolowicz)

And finally… Ovi.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.

“Canada, I can’t hear you.” (Photo credit: Elena Rusko)

One year ago in the WJC gold medal game, Canada held what seemed to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Team Russia heading into the third period. During the second intermission, Head Coach Valery Bragin pleaded with his team to respond, and respond they did. Russia stormed back– riding three assists by Evgeny Kuznetsov to win the gold medal game 5-3 and shock the hockey world.

But antipathy between the Russian team and North American fans and media was high, and the situation degraded even further after the Russians were kicked off their flight home for being rowdy.  Kuznetsov says the incident was “absolute nonsense,” but the tension has only gotten worse since.

Entering the 2012 WJC, Russia intended to prove that last year’s win over Canada was no fluke. Despite being the defending champions, the team still held underdog status. Kuznetsov, Russia’s captain and the only returning player from 2011, netted his second WJC hat trick in three games, pushing Russia to a 6-5 win.

After the game, Allhockey.ru’s Andrey Osadchenko spoke to Kuznetsov and filmed his entire Q/A with reporters. Below the jump, I offer a translation.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: We needed to kill the game off calmly, but, after all, [the Canadians] aren’t the Russians, they can’t be heroes.

Question: Zhenya, are you incapable of scoring less than three goals?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: It just happened to turn out this way. My linemates did everything for me and I scored three.

Question: What happened with the score 6-1 in the third?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: You know, it’s Team Canada and we’re playing them in Canada. When they scored first, that second goal was really hard to take, but thank God we held on. We need to forget this game and move on. The Swedes are waiting for us and we need to prepare.

Question: In the third, did you feel tired?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: You know, in a game like this, it’s difficult to be tired because of your emotions.

Kuznetsov laughs off taunts from Canadian fans. (S/T to Valtteri Kivinen)

Question: Did you see Canadian fans leaving the arena when it was 6-1?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: No, I was focused completely on the game and it’s a pity that we’ve allowed so many goals. Honestly, we wanted to win 6-1. But it’s okay, we’ll move on.

Question: What can you say about Makarov?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Makarov’s done a great job. Valery Nikolaevich [Bragin] made a goalie change at the right time. Vasya [Vasilevsky] was nervous a bit, and I hope he’ll be OK. We’ll support him. He’ll make all the saves on Thursday.

Question: Do you think you gave Russia more holiday time?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I don’t know, but I hope people will have a good time and will celebrate our win as it’s supposed to be celebrated.

Question: Do you understand that for many people in Russia, the World Junior Championships are over? Canada is beaten, your goal is achieved.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: We still have the main goal that we came here for. It will be a difficult game against the Swedes, but we need to go out there and win. We have a day off tomorrow. We’ll get some rest, we’ll prepare for the game hard and we will have a renewed force.

Question: Zhenya, Thursday will be your last game for the junior team. What are your feelings?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I haven’t thought about it yet. If we win I’ll have positive feelings. Otherwise… it’s impossible.

Question: Do you think your critics will shut up now? They said you can only score against Latvia.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I have no right telling them to do so. They’re mature people. I have no business in saying anything. Last year, I could say something, but now I have no business. They’re mature people, they may have their own opinion, live their own lives. I play for the team, it doesn’t matter to me if I or my partners score. The main thing is that we’ve made it to the finals. I don’t care who’s scored.

Question: Do you understand you’re public enemy number one in Canada right now? You offended them with your comments and now you’ve offended them with your play.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I never offended anyone…

Question: But they are offended…

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I just said what is true here. I admit, I wanted to win very badly. I came here wanting to play against Canada.

Question: Is it important to you that you beat Canada in this stage and not in the finals?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yeah.

Question: Do you think you’ll avenge your earlier loss against Sweden? Last year, [Russia] beat everyone who beat them on the group stage.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yeah, I know that in this tournament the same team has never won the same match-up twice. We’ll try to continue this tradition on Thursday.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.