Today, the World Junior Championships are set to begin in Buffalo, New York, and RMNB’s Igor Kleyner has translated a fantastic one-on-one interview between Sport Express’s Yuriy Golyshak and Capitals 2010 First Round Pick Evgeny Kuznetsov. Warning: it’s another long one.

In the article translated below, we learn even more crucial information about Kuz including his nagging shoulder injury, his thoughts on the slash Braden Holtby delivered to him during Caps Development Camp, and his experience being drafted by Washington. On top of that, we also learn about Kuznetsov’s half a year of driving without a license, his love for McDonald’s food, and his embarrassment on never seeing Alex Ovechkin play live. Check out all of that and more below the jump.

Yuriy Golyshak – The 18 year-old forward of the Russian Junior National Team is likely to become one of the main stars of the World Junior Championship, which begins December 26th in Buffalo, having already become a revelation in the KHL.

Valery Belousov has told me, “As far as his talent goes, Kuznetsov is a second Malkin.”

Evgeny Kuznetsov – I read that. It was a great honor. Both for me and my grandmother. She buys all the newspapers that have even a single line about me. She collects them. Until this season the papers weren’t really praising me. And if I really have the abilities like Malkin – I should be playing in the NHL in two years.

YG – Do you want to leave for the NHL right now?

EK – Of course. But physically I am not ready yet to play in America. Washington is not a team where an eighteen year old can easily get a roster spot. To flounder on the fourth line – that is not my hockey.

YG – Malkin had to run away from Magnitogorsk to achieve his dream.

EK – I am definitely not running from Traktor. Here, we have good people. I was told: “If you decide to leave – come over and talk. You don’t need to run. If a make that decision, I will go and talk.

YG – If I ask you who the best junior player in Russia is, whose name comes to mind?

EK – Probably everyone would think of themselves… let’s skip this question?

YG – Let’s do that. In Chelyabinsk there was a buzz about you skating by yourself at night.

EK – That was some time ago. I quit night time skating. We have 13 games per month. I am never even at home anymore. But those practice sessions help me now. I even skated with a parachute last year.

YG – Andrei Nazarov is a creative coach. [Ed note: Nazarov coached Kuznetsov in 2009-10 with Traktor. He now is the Head Coach of Vityaz.]

EK – It wasn’t Nazarov, I came up with that myself. There is an open air skating rink in downtown Chelyabinsk, so my buddy and I tried it there. He found the parachute somewhere. You have no idea how hard it is – especially the first steps. You just keep shuffling your feet without even moving. You get used to it later.

YG – Did you keep the parachute?

EK – Of course. Maybe we’ll try it again. But that was not the toughest test I’ve ever had.

YG – What was it then?

EK – In America during the Scouting Combine testing, they put you on a bike and made you pedal until complete exhaustion. I was so exhausted, that I couldn’t get out of bed for two hours afterwards. I just felt sick.

YG – Wow…

EK – I wouldn’t say I lost consciousness – I was still breathing fine. But I had unbearable pain in my legs. That’s how they test you for the NHL. Turned out I am capable of something…

YG – Ukrainian Soccer Federation President Hryhoriy Surkis once told me, “I can still do a hundred pushups”.

EK – I am not sure how many I can do. Pushups aren’t easy for me because of my shoulder injury. I do better with abdominal exercises; I can do two hundred situps. During the Combine testing, I had to do pushups, and I was definitely not the worst. Although in my mind I was concentrating on the main one: the bike. With a 70 kg barbell, I did seven reps. I could keep going, they said enough.

~~~

YG – Do you have a lot of memories from the draft?

EK – Yes. The treatment of the players is simply terrific. But during the interviews, [GM's] started asking me questions that made my eyes pop: “You are Russian – so, do you like vodka? Girls? Late night parties?” I told them I don’t like vodka.

YG – And?

EK – They started persuading me that I do like all that stuff. I was close to losing my cool. I told them: “I am done talking about it.” But there was fun stuff as well. During [Caps Development Camp], we went to visit the White House. It was quite interesting. Not at all like the Kremlin.

YG – Have you been there as well?

EK – Yes. Actually, I was surprised there by a lot of things. Washington’s goalie Braden Holtby, who is on their first team now, slashed me when I scored. But that’s all right, all goalies are crazy, they have their own lives.

YG – Are all goalies really crazy?

EK – Some are normal, but a very few amount of them. Then, they took us for a photo session, I misunderstood something, made a funny face – and as a result, my picture was picked as the funniest. Now it’s on the wall at home.

YG – Next to what?

EK – Jaromir Jagr. I played in Omsk when he came over. Sadly, we never got to talk.

YG – You have some relatives in America, don’t you?

EK – My godfather. He is my father’s best friend since childhood. He was already in the US when I was born. He is like family. Now he is coming to the WJC in Buffalo. I will see him again.

YG – Is he rich?

EK – He is well-off. He lives in Manhattan, just a stone’s throw away from Brooklyn. When I came to New York, it was raining hard. But I went into the ocean for a swim. People were looking at me like I was crazy. But then, one after another, some people followed me into the water. It was so cool!

YG – Have you met Alex Ovechkin yet?

EK – When Washington picked me, Ovechkin called the Team GM. He passed the phone to me. Sasha congratulated me. I feel embarrassed to admit this, but I have never seen him play live.

YG – Did you get to keep the Washington jersey after the photosession?

EK – Of course, the jersey is at my parents place framed and up on their wall. I only wore it once.

YG – Which team did you dream to play for as a kid?

EK – The New York Rangers.

YG – Who is the best player in the world today?

EK – Pavel Datsyuk. His stickhandling and passing is out of this world. The distance between me and him as players – it’s like walking to China.

YG – Do you think that your stickhandling tricks make some of the veteran players mad in the KHL?

EK – Yes, I have been noticing that more and more lately! It started last year. The older the player is, the harder he takes being tricked. Some call me names, some threaten. Some just say, “You are young. Calm down.” During the warm-ups when we were playing in Chekhov, Vityaz’s tough guys started posturing in front of our bench, saying what they are going to do to us.

YG – Were you scared?

EK – No. It looked to me like they were mostly just talking. What would be the point for Gratton, Sugden, or Verot to fight me?

YG – Who is the best defenseman in the KHL right now?

EK – Sergei Zubov. He is not playing right now, but last year he was just relaxing on the ice. He did whatever he wanted to. He played like a genius.

YG – Who is the dirtiest player?

EK – Definitely someone from Vityaz. Both with their stickwork and fighting. The hardest hit I have ever received was in Canada when playing for our junior team. I had just gotten the puck, and didn’t see anybody near me. I had just started to move, and then I got hit. I didn’t even understand what happened. It took me about five seconds to realize that my nose was smashed and I had lost a tooth. I didn’t even feel the pain at first.

YG – Who is the best passer in the KHL?

EK – Sergei Zinoviev.

~~~~

YG – You are only eighteen, and have already had a shoulder surgery. What happened?

EK – It’s a mystery for me. I probably wasn’t paying attention as a kid. By the way, the doctors do not like how the surgery turned out. Either it was not completed, or they just made it worse. So, my shoulder is not doing very well.

YG – When did you have the surgery?

EK – May 19th of last year in Moscow. I’ll have to do it again. They know how to fix it in Austria or Germany. I just don’t know when I’ll do it. For now it is not bothering me too much, so I will finish the season as is.

YG – Your current coach, Valery Belousov, told a story about how he was keeping an eye on Alexi Cherepanov when he coached him, and even took away his car at one point. Are you being monitored the same way?

EK – So far he hasn’t taken away the car. And he hasn’t locked me in at the practice facility.

YG – Did you know Cherepanov?

EK – We were friends. We even lived together at a boarding school in Omsk, but I was with my parents then. We were gathering in our room in the evenings, and my mom made pelmeni. We were the only ones with a stove in our room. Lyoshka [Cherepanov] and his buddies were a bit older, and they made fun of me. I just liked listening to their conversations.

YG – Was Cherepanov really a tremendous talent?

EK – His line was always doing incredible things on the ice. But no one was saying that he was a genius. More on the modest side: “a decent kid, and a good prospect”.

YG – By the way, you have a wonderful car: a white porsche.

EK – That is true. There is only one like that in Chelyabinsk. I only had a certain amount of money, and I asked my friends to help. A few days later, I was shown the car. I liked it a lot.

YG – Did they have to bring it from somewhere?

EK – No, it’s used. At first I wanted to get a coupe, and then I realized that my first car should be a bigger one. After all, it’s my first winter behind a wheel. Next year, I am getting a BMW M3. I think I’ll still be in Chelyabinsk.

YG – Is it going to be hard to get rid of a car like that?

EK – Not really. What will be hard for me is leaving Chelyabinsk.

YG – How long were you driving without a license?

EK – About half a year. Never got stopped.

YG – In one of your interviews you mentioned that your dream car is Bentley Continental GT…

EK – I will be able to afford in it Washington. I don’t make enough for a car like that here. It costs about 11 million rubles. When I saw one in the streets of New York, I fell in love with it right away. Once in a while I look at a picture, and I want it even more than before. It’s a little coupe. There is one like that in Chelyabinsk.

YG – Who is the owner – a hockey player?

EK – An oligarch [Ed note: someone who works in the government].

YG – Have you ever driven it?

EK – No, but I got to sit in one.

~~~

YG – Are there any other material dreams in your life?

EK – I want to buy an apartment for my parents. That’s my main goal right now. I even feel sorry now to have bought the car so early. I should have saved more, and bought a place to live for my parents. Right now they live on 30 square meters, and their apartment is owned by their employer. The team promised to at least help with privatization.

YG – Do you also live there?

EK – I live with my girlfriend in an apartment I have been renting for the last month and a half.

YG – Do you have to deal with a lot of female admirers?

EK – Not really. I don’t have a big crowd of them chasing me. Sometimes they write me emails on Vkontakte. [Ed note: Vkontakte is a Russian social networking service. It's very similar to Facebook.]

YG – Dmitri Sychev has almost ten thousand friends on Odnoklassniki.

EK – I have a thousand. And about as many asking to be friends.

YG – Popularity is a great force.

EK – After the game against Spartak where I scored two goals, I walked into a restaurant and people got up and started applauding. I was so embarrassed, and turned red all over. In fact, I tend to stop at McDonalds now more often. No one recognizes me there. We have a big city. No one pays attention to anyone out on the street. I don’t like nightclubs. I prefer movies.

YG – Those two goals against Spartak – are they the most memorable?

EK – The most memorable goal for me was the one I had against Lada. It was my first in the KHL. I could not fall asleep after the game.

YG – Do you have trouble sleeping after games now?

EK – Now I sleep great!

YG – What can you do on the ice particularly well?

EK – Nothing really. I haven’t achieved anything yet. A young player has to keep improvisation to a minimum. Behind you there is always a veteran who will quickly put pressure on you, and will do as the coach says. Although, Belousov does not hold me back.

YG – And what is something you struggle with?

EK – I lose my cool very easily. I hate dirty play. If someone pushes me hard, I can just stop playing. Something like that happened to me in Canada while with our junior team. It took awhile for me to get used to it.

YG – You could have been at Avangard. What happened?

EK – It was quite simple. The coach said he doesn’t like transferred players. My parents and I packed our bags and went home the next morning.

YG – Who is that coach?

EK – Mikhail Anatolievich Komarov. Actually, he is a very good guy, and we are friends now. It wasn’t like that before. Maybe it was my fault.

YG – Your joke about transferring to SKA caused quite a storm on the internet.

EK – It wasn’t my joke! My friends started it with a link to some newspaper, and the headline there was “Kuznetsov traded to St. Peterburg for Kostya Panov.” He is also from Chelyabinsk. It was total nonsense. No way Chelyabinsk is going to let me go to another Russian club.

YG – Is there interest from other teams?

EK – Nobody has contacted either me or my agent for the last three years.

YG – Have you ever talked to Vyacheslav Bykov?

EK – Not yet. I would love to though. My dream is to play for the national team. For now, I only get about ten minutes of ice time per game, but I want to get up to twenty. I probably haven’t reached that level yet.

YG – Maybe you are being protected.

EK – What for?

Alex Semin cries after receiving his silver medal.

Today, Russia’s 27 game World Championships winning streak came to a devastating end in a post-olympic rematch against Jaromir Jagr’s Czech Republic team. And much like the match in the Olympics earlier in the year, the pivotal play of today’s World Championships gold medal game was a huge Alex Ovechkin hit. But this time, it was the Russian Machine accidentally laying out and injuring one of his own teammates, Sergei Fedorov (above), which led to Tomas Rolinek’s game winning goal in the second period. Riding stellar goaltending from Tomas Vokoun and an incredible team defense, the Czechs took a 2 goal lead into the third period that they would never relinquish. Our beloved Ruskies fall to the Czech Republic 2-1. Silver has never tasted so bitter.

Like one would expect, the Russians came out and played with fire. But much like the Canadiens/Capitals series, most of Russia’s chances came from the perimeter. And the Czechs waited and pounced on any mistakes Russia made. A sense of real urgency only revealed itself towards the end of the third period. And by then it was too late for Russia.

You can't blame Varly. Semyon Varlamov had 23 saves in today's loss.

Our own Fedor Fedin blames the coaching of Vyacheslav “Slava” Bykov and Igor Zakharkin for not realizing the potential of such a star-filled Russian roster. People in Russia may blame the superstars on Russia’s roster like Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin, but if you watched today’s game, it’s clear the system and coaching is not where it should be. Fedor believes strongly that former Red Wings player Igor Larionov should be named the new coach of the National Team. Make it happen, Russia. The clock’s ticking.

Moving forward, we extend our congratulations to Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin and Semyon Varlamov for winning silver and playing pretty incredibly considering their extremely difficult schedule this year. Playing in a 82 NHL Regular Season, the Olympics, the NHL Playoffs and the World Championships must have taken a huge toll on their bodies and we hope they take the next few weeks to relax and put this year behind them.

Below are a few screen captures from today’s game. Common theme: devastation.

Alex Semin smoking: THE DRAMA!!

Oh, the off-season.  While the Stanley Cup contenders whittle each other away, we Caps fans are left to look at the Russian media in confusion.  Today’s scrum over Alexander Semin smoking might set the standard for our hockey coverage  between now and September.  So, yay.

Using Fedor Fedin’s masterful translation skills and cultural insider status, we trace this thread to its beginning.  It all started when Ovie and Semin were in Russia before the World Championships.  They were dining at a restaurant when the intrepid and not-at-all-unscrupulous Russian press snapped some photos of Semin smoking a cigarette.  That’s when the insanity began.

CAVEAT: This isn’t exactly Dmitry Chesnokov-caliber journalism.  Let’s have a grain of salt and throw back this tequila shot of “news.”

LifeNews.ru:

It’s known that Ovechkin and Semin are party guys and love to hang out during leave in Russia. But it’s also known that Russian head coach Bykov is very strict about discipline.  But if the “sweet pair” from the NHL generates results in Germany, no one will blame them for the behavior violation.

Players came to the base in time– thanks to Ovechkin’s fast car. Despite the night’s adventures, Ovie and Sam [Ed. note - Somehow, "Sam" is Semin's nickname in Russia] looked vigorous and fit, showing they’re ready to revenge after Vancouver’s shaming in Canada.

But when the Russian twosome arrived in Cologne, the partying did not stop.

LifeSports.ru:

After the game against Kazakhstan, [the Russian] team went downtown to a restaurant in Cologne to celebrate Semin’s long-awaited goal. The players’ spirits were high, and some of them even allowed themselves a smoke.

Russian team left hotel in small groups to not attract attention.

[...]

Ovi didn’t smoke, but Sam took a  couple of puffs. Vitaly Atyshov and Ilya Nikulin had a smoke break as well.

And after today’s game, Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov responded to journalists asking about Marlboro-gate:

Sports.ru:

“Those are clones. Not our guys.  They’re clones. I don’t watch it all… I don’t watch videos, I don’t read the Web. I trust our guys. They know how to prepare to the game.”

Here’s video of his press-conference.  It’s totally in Russian:

Fedor tells us that this is a big deal in Russia.  It’s not a typical thing for an athlete to smoke, and that justifies pounds of ink and megapixels of pixels.

Sitting aloof in our comfy chairs, we find this hilaaaaaarious.  Mostly because we don’t care.  Smoking is terrible for your health (don’t do it, kids!), but Sasha Minor is in awesome shape.  Mischief in moderation isn’t going to ruin his health, especially since he’s skating only 10 minutes a game.  And when even the hard-ass Slava Bykov cracks a joke, we know everything’s cool.

But seriously, clones?

Dear God, the Russian Machine does bleed red blood like the rest of us.

The wounds from the Caps’ round-one playoff loss are still raw, but we are on the mend.  The downtrodden leader of the Caps’, Alex Ovechkin, has linked up with his countrymen to mend some of those wounds.  The world championships began this weekend in Cologne, Germany, reuniting Ovechkin, Semyon Varlamov, and Alex Semin with their former teammates, Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov.  Today’s match found the Capitals Russians facing off against the Slovakians, coached by former Caps benchmaster, Glen Hanlon.

The Russian goalie,  massive Vasili Kosechkin, did not face a flurry of pucks until late in the second period.  When the Slovaks finally mounted their offensive attacks, a sneaky wrister from former Capitals farmhand Ivan Majesky threatened to start a scoring spree.  The Russians managed to hold off the Slovaks’ recovery, earning them a first round win– Alex Ovechkin’s first in four games.

Ovechkin played a ton of minutes, including the entirety of a mid-game power play.  Somewhere George McPhee is double-dosing his antihypertensives.  Despite the workout, Alex seemed to be enjoying himself out there.  He and Alex “lil Sasha” Semin exchanged some flashy passes in the offensive zone and scored off of a great faceoff win by senior statesman Sergei Fedorov (Awwwww, look how happy he is up there!).  We’re not sure when, but Ovie opened a cut above his mouth, so he looked like he was drinking fruit punch all day.

The Slovaks took a good 30 minutes before they were able to marshall their forces, but they were surprisingly aggressive once they did.  A physical presence on both sides of the ice, they never allowed the Russians to strut.

That Slava’s (Vyacheslav Bykov) coaching career continues will baffle me for years.  I’m not sure what he brings to the bench besides looking like a second-string James Bond villain.

Sergei Federov foolishly sent the puck out of play from his own zone, causing the 6-on-4 power play that ended the game.  The Russians were on their heels for a moment, but master PK operative Victor Kozlov found the empty net, effectively nailing shut the Slovaks’ coffin.

In summary, Russia wins their first game in the World Championships 3-1. Alex Ovechkin scores the game-winning goal and is named the player of the game. He wins a sweet, new Rolex. I’m thinking I love hockey again!

Here are some reflections of the Canada and Russia game in the words of players, coaches and famous analysts back home in Russia. All quotes were translated by Fedor Fedin and pulled from interviews by “Soviet Sport,” “Sport-Express,” & “Sports Day By Day.”

Vyacheslav Bykov, Russian Head Coach:

“You can’t “order” the result. It’s a sport. We were in a situation where we met one of the best teams in the world in the quarterfinal and couldn’t win. What will be the consequence? I don’t know. I think, our successors will give a balanced grade for this. I don’t think that the decision to start Nabokov was a mistake. All the players of the Canadian team put very big pressure on us and we had to get out together. With Zhenya. [Ed. Note - Zhenya - short form of Evgeny]. [...]

All teams had the same conditions and I think that now it doesn’t make any sense if we blame tournament system. It’s hard to say, did additional game against Germany help the Canadian team? Anyways, I have never seen a team who ran 60 minutes without a break. Everyone wanted to see the Crosby / Ovechkin duel. Everyone made a hullabaloo about it, but the match is the game between teams. We tried different lines but the pressure by the four Canadian lines were much higher than ours”.

Igor Zaharkin, Assistant Coach, Team Russia:

“In short-term tournaments psychological motivation plays a huge role. It was a play-off against Canada. It required a special mood. [...]

The guys were a team! We didn’t hear any reproaches about time on ice, about special teams. Defensemen who missed their shifts encouraged their comrades. We had a “live bench”. The goalies weren’t jealous of each other”.

Alex Ovechkin, Team Russia:

“We didn’t play our game. At the start we were unsettled with the goal in the first attack. It were very had for us to find something special when the other team completely dominates. When the time-out was taken – that looked like we cheered up – but when we scored and then they scored twice it’s very hard to play. Zhenka Nabokov and Ilyuha Bryzgalov are not guilty in the goals they conceded. We, defensemen and forwards gave Canadians too many opportunities to score. [...]

It’s stupid to search for explainations now. We just lost, that’s all. [...]

For those who believe in us and love us I want to say: We did everything we could. There were no useless people. No one could say that we had bad team. We have a fine team, everyone fought. But that happened…”

Pavel Datsyuk, Team Russia:

“When did we figure out that we will not able to save the game? We never did. We always believe until the last second that we could still win.”

Vladimir Pluschev, Head Coach of the Russian Junior National team:

“I was shocked about the score and team’s mood for the playoffs. Characters of these stars must be more angry and ready to fight. But they clearly lost an important game”.

Igor Larionov, Double Olympic Champion, Team USSR, Former Hockey Manager:

“The trouble is, we have stopped to appraise the situation realistically. We have stopped to time ourselves by the NHL clock. We are trying to prove to ourselves that hockey [in North America] is bad and primitive, that we don’t need what they are doing here. But look what the Canadians did to us. Can you understand, very big things should stand behind words like “Russia” or “patriotism”. We have to do it day by day. Starting from the juniors. But it’s very deep theme. [...]

Russian fans knew who Crosby was but they didn’t know who Morrow, Toews, Perry, and Richards are. But those guys made the game for Canada. [...]

Understand me, this result was pretty predictable… To understand Canadian playing philosophy, it was enough to watch their previous games and observe how they were creating their own style . Maybe I saw it, but our coaching staff certainly did not. [Ed. Note - I'd love to see The Professor as a Russian Team coach, but I'm sure he wouldn't accept that offer, even if Russian Hockey Federation would make it.].

Alexey Yashin, former NHLer:

“Russian had a lot of advertising of ‘we’ll tear others in pieces.’ It parallels with World Championhip-2000. There was the same: “The best are here, come on”.

Viktor Tikhonov, legendary coach, former coach of CSKA (Red Army), Team USSR, Team Russia:

“Why was Ovi not good? Yeah, he hit Jagr. Cool. And Russia scored in that attack. But even in that game I found out that Czechs were hunting for Sasha. The Canadians just made some hits on him and he failed”.

Bonus: Russian showman, comedy artist and Pens fan Artashes “Tash” Sarkisyan:

“Everything slotted into place. Anyways, in my head everything is pretty clear. And that’s not only because I have Insider Information. I’m glad to introduce the person who made Russia first in the preliminary group and the only (absurdity in the team with that budget) coach on the team in this Olympics… Sergey Viktorovich (Sergei Fedorov’s full name). Hang up your skates. Retire. We need a compos mentis coach and it looks like it’s you…”.

Coaching

I’m sorry, Vyacheslav Bykov, but the ruble stops here. The Russian roster sported six shoes-in for the hall of fame, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it from the team’s performances against Slovakia and Canada. The man they call “Slava” failed to build cohesion among his team, as evidenced in a desperate offense and disparate defense. When we saw Ovechkin or Malkin abandon the passing game to mount futile, one-man offensives into hostile territory, that’s a clear symptom of an unregulated team. It was Bykov’s job to teach his players to trust one another and build competence among the forward trios. He simply failed, and that’s why Russia’s offense was a series of would-be Rambo assaults on a distant net instead of the well-oiled Kalashnikov it should have been.

It’s also the job of the head coach to make a hard decision and make it in a timely fashion. As Nabokov was fed to the Canadian wolves in the first period of Wednesday’s match-up, most coaches would have done the sensible thing and pull him. Summiting a three-goal deficit is difficult, after all, but not impossible. But Bykov did the unthinkable: nothing. Not only did he not pull the siege-adled keeper, he didn’t even shuffle the defensive pairings. In the first period alone, the Canadians thusly delivered an obscene 21 count of shots, 4 of which became goals, and rendered the last 40 minutes of hockey a mere formality for the Canucks. If we were to poll 12 NHL coaches on their decision in the same situation, we’d have a dozen dudes in suits calling Bykov a dummy.

Overabundance of KHL’ers

Slava is notorious for flouting his nose at the NHL. Although drafted in ’89, he declined to play for the Nordiques (okay, can’t fault him for that) and instead spent his career in the USSR and Swiss hockey leagues. Curious it is that both Russia’s coach and nine of its players were non-NHLers — a higher proportion than any other (medal-contending) team. I don’t want to cast aspersions on international hockey leagues, but those KHL’ers combined for a -9 against Canada and never looked equal to the task. If using KHL talent was some kind of political message from Team Russia, it probably backfired in a big way.

False Confidence

This is not to say that the Russian team was bad. They actually looked frighteningly good early on. But Russia had the distinct misfortune of playing Latvia first. It’s hard not to play like gods when the competition plays like ants. That 8-2 scrubbing might have tricked the Ruskies into thinking that their omega-level talent alone would be enough to get them on the podium. That is folly.

And even among the superstars, performances were uneven. Ovechkin was silenced in the loss against Slokavia. Alex Semin had a few slick passes, one monster check, but also a gamut of sloppy giveaways. Ilya Kovalchuk‘s only contribution to the tournament was the sixth of the eight goals scored against the Latvians in the first round. For the life of me, I cannot recall why the trade hype around him was so high.

Power Play, Neutered

For teams like the Washington Capitals, the power play is a knockout punch The daunting effectiveness of the unit (25.6%) sends a message to opponents: you’re dealing with an offensive juggernaut; commit a penalty at your own peril. But the Russians scored three measly times on nineteen opportunities despite having a PP unit (Kovalchuk, Semin, Ovechkin, Malkin, Gonchar) that give goalies nightmares.  To our confoundment, Bykov put Ovechkin in the crease and not the point, far from anywhere he could make the plays he’s known for.

Russian power plays had two inevitabilities: over passing leads to a takeaway and clear, or sloppy set up at center ice leads to a poke-check and clear. That’s the kind of trouble the Capitals had in early October, before Bruce Boudreau made some bold changes and ran enough odd-man drills to instill some discipline on his boys. Without someone willing to crack the whip like that, Russia’s PP floundered.

Discipline

And discipline might have been a crucial deficit, too. Alexander Ovechkin, as much as we love him, can be wont to exuberance. Evgeni Malkin, too, has been known to shun his team and play alone. Alexander Semin can be an unmitigated disaster when he wanders away from BB’s patronage. Even having a cerebral veteran like Sergei Fedorov on the bench did not do much to temper the attitude.  Judhing by their press coverage, the public face of the Russian team was two-fold: alternating between spurning and arrogant. A period of asceticism following the Slovakian upset was warranted, but what press did leak out was as boastful and foolish as the stars’ play.

Lack of Varly

Lastly, Semyon Varlamov is world’s first Soviet ninja/goalie. He’s unproven, young, recovering from an injury, and the perfect guy to play against Canada. Granted, Bykov would have been lambasted in the press if he had suited up Varly on Wednesday, but that wouldn’t have been any worse than the calls he actually did make that night. Remember last spring, when Semyon the Savior focused his chi and shut down the New York and Pittsburgh without much help from his defensive attendants? That’s exactly the sort of magic that could have propelled Russia past the Canadian onslaught. But nyet; it was not to be. Instead we were given a show by Evgeni Nabokov, a goalie who so hated his position that wandered halfway to the damn blueline a few times.  It was just not his night.

All RMNB staff writers except for Fedor (curiously a Russian himself, perhaps he had insider information?) picked Russia to medal in the tournament. Out of embarrassment we have decided to scrap our pool (current pot: $4.53, a Chipotle gift card, and a used Caps ticket to be redeemed for Wings). All predictions seem to do is mock the arrogant. We’ll focus our energy instead on our new love, a team that inspires us with its egalitarianism, its anonymous heroics, and its Garnier Fructis quality hairstyling.

All aboard the Team USA bandwagon!